316 MEETING OF THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 
the usual isinglass wash, though I fancy it somewhat obscures the 
character of the surface of the leaves, and this is often a useful help in 
determining the genus. I had not anticipated such a result, and did 
not take any notes of this, but from the recollection I have of the 
appearance of the leaves when first seen, I am almost certain it was 
much clearer then than now. I hope to have an opportunity of again 
examining this bed, and I shall endeavour to take both drawings and 
descriptions of the leaves before the air and light have in any way 
injured them. 
After a fortnight, the bad weather put a stop to our work. We 
had, however, succeeded in obtaining a good collection, numbering 
altogether some 470 specimens. The leaves are, on the whole, well 
preserved, but the bed in one part yielded forms so indistinctly marked 
as to be almost worthless. I have in course of preparation descriptions 
of all the leaves in this, as well as in my own collection, which I will 
lay before one of the learned societies of London. Were they now 
complete this would not be the suitable place for reading them, and 
the publication of them in a report, without drawings, would much 
lessen their value. 
I have brought drawings of some of the larger leaves, which show 
that the aid afforded by this Association for examining this bed has 
helped us to obtain, not only finer specimens than former writers had 
at their disposal, but also many fresh forms. 
I decline to attempt to say the number of new species we are able 
to add to the list in the Survey memoir, for not only is the determi- 
nation of fossil leaves at all times very unsatisfactory, but that list was 
not intended for a monograph, and has neither drawings, except a few, 
nor the exactness of description requisite for identification. Then, too, 
the nomenclature of fossil leaves is very unsatisfactory, the same frag- 
ment of a leaf having often half-a-dozen different names. 
Discovery or ANcIENT TREES BELOW THE SURFACE OF THE 
LAND, AT THE WESTERN Dock NOW BEING CONSTRUCTED AT 
Huw. By Dr. Foster, of Hull. 
The paper stated, that at a depth of forty feet below the level of the 
adjoining land, trees (almost entirely of oak) are to be met with in all 
positions, having been broken off within three feet of the root. Some 
were of gigantic size. These trees could not be less than 3000 years | 
old. : E» 
