xlv. 



on the Portesham elephant, which was read on his behalf, since he was 

 unable to attend : 



' ' The so-called Portesham fossil elephant, of which we have lately 

 heard, is, I need scarcely say, a myth, and may be put alongside of the 

 astronomer's ' Elephant in the Moon. ' There is nothing of animal in it. 

 As to the origin and growth of the animal in question, we know this much, 

 that it once lay at the bottom of a great lake, and we can suppose how one 

 of those trees which were so numerous at this period may have formed the 

 nucleus of a deposit. The opening that runs through the centre probably 

 resulted from the decay of the supposed trunk (not the trunk of the 

 elephant), while its calcareous covering was imperishable. The alternating 

 ridges on its upper surface may be ripple marks. On the floor of the forest 

 at Lulworth Cove there are many examples of prostrate trees with a 

 calcareous envelope. A section of one of these would probably show the 

 silicified trunk, or the space which it once filled. Of course we can only 

 conjecture, as we are speculating on events that were in operation at a 

 vastly remote period, if we only take 100,000 years, which is but a decimal 

 in geological time. If the members of the Club interested in the geology 

 of the district were to visit the Portesham quarries belonging to Mr. 

 Manfield, in which the specimen referred to was found, they would receive 

 much interesting information from Mr. Manfield, jun., under whose super- 

 intendence the works are carried on. Ijwould further add that though 

 elephants are of modern creation, and nowhere found fossil, but only in 

 superficial deposits, large land animals existed during the ' Purbeck' 

 period, animals of whose existence we have as yet no further evidence 

 than impressions of their footsteps. They have been found in the Dorset- 

 shire ' Purbecks,' while in the strata immediately above similar footsteps 

 have been recorded, measuring 27in. in length by 24in. in width, with a 

 stride of 42in. At Sir C. Lyell's last visit to Weymouth he wished us to 

 be on the look-out for these footprints wherever a large surface of the 

 ' Purbeck' limestone was exposed, and the same advice may now be 

 offered to any rising local geologist." 



The Rev. O. P. Cambridge exhibited examples of the following rare 

 insects (Lepidoptera) : (Enutra pilleiiana, Pterophorus paludum, lately 

 taken at Bloxworth, and Coleophora flavaginalis (new to Britain), from 

 Portland, bred by Mr. Eustace Bankes. 



A considerable number of the members left Abbotsbury by the 4.40 

 train, the remainder by the 6.40. This brought the Summer work of the 

 Society to a successful close. 



A Winter Meeting was held in the County Museum, Dorchester, on 



