British Association, 40(17 



Quercus is perfected in one year ; and he looks upon this fact, coupled with the period 

 of the last moult of the larva, as the strongest proof of its being a distinct species." 



Read an extract of a letter addressed to Mr. Douglas by Mr. Edleston of Man- 

 chester, in which that gentleman offers specimens of Plusia bractea to any entomologist 

 who may apply for them. 



Eead also the following extract of a letter to Mr. Douglas, from Mr. John Scott, 



of Renfrew : — 



■ 



" Before receiving your letter I had been making inquiries respecting Gelechia 

 cerealella, and find that two years ago a cargo of grain (barley) was laid in the granary 

 from Alicante, in Spain, but that since this there had been British barley also deposited ; 

 it might happen that the moths were first reared from foreign grain, and have gone on 

 accumulating ever since. I have now upwards of a hundred specimens set, and ob- 

 serve in one of my glasses today, a male and female in copula. It has as much right 

 to be considered British as the beetle, Calandra granaria." 



The quarterly part of the Society's ' Transactions' was on the table.—/. W. D. 



Proceedings of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. 



Section C. — Geology and Physical Geography. Prof. Sedgwick, President. A 

 paper was read, intituled, 



" On the Remains of the Hippopotamus, found in the Aire Valley Deposit, near 

 Leeds,'' by H. Denny. The bones exhibited were obtained from the brick-field at Wort- 

 ley, near Leeds, and consisted of a large humerus, an ulna and radius, and numerous 

 portions of the skull and jaws, teeth, tusks, &c. They belonged to three individuals ; 

 two adults of different size, and a third younger animal, judging from the smooth and 

 pointed canines and the separate epiphyses of the bones. They appeared not to have 

 been drifted from a distance, but to have belonged to animals which lived and died on 

 the spot : one of the skeletons was entire when first discovered, resting on its side, with 

 the bones in their natural position. The clay in which the bones were found is part of 

 a local deposit, consisting sometimes of sand and gravel formed from the neighbouring 

 rocks of millstone grit ; it is from ten to twenty feet deep, and ceases at a height of 

 about ninety-five feet above the present level of the river. It contains trees and 

 hazel-nuts, and remains of the red deer, horse, pig, and goat. A few remains of the 

 elephant had been found lower down in the same valley, but they were broken and 

 water-worn. 



Prof. Phillips referred to two pieces of pottery alleged by the brick-makers to have 

 been found with the bones ; one of these was of a different colour from the clay, and 

 the other was a glazed fragment, apparently of very modern date. Mr. H. E. Strick- 

 land referred to other valley deposits in which remains of the hippopotamus occur, and 

 stated his belief that although more ancient than the historic period, they belonged to 

 the most modern geological age, — to a time subsequent to the glacial period, and after 

 the river valleys had assumed their present form. 



