Proceedings of the British Association. 253 



narrow valleys separate the various ridges, and radiate from the 

 central cones. Dr. Dieffenbach enumerates many localities at which 

 he observed mineral springs, particularly between the Bay of Islands 

 and Hokianga, where their temperature varied from 124° to 154°, 

 and having an alkaline taste; the surface was covered with sub- 

 limations of sulphur. Along the delta of the Waikato, hot-springs 

 rise from the escarpments of the hills, forming deposits like those 

 of Iceland and St. Michael, Azores, containing 75 per cent, of 

 silica. There is also a cold silicifying spring near Cape Maria. 

 Dr. Dieffenbach has examined into all the traditions respecting the 

 existence of the Moa, or great bird of New Zealand, and concludes 

 that it has never been seen alive by any natives of New Zealand ; 

 the rivers in which its bones have been found flow between banks 

 from 30 to 60 feet high, and as they are continually changing their 

 course the remains of the moa may have been derived from tertiary 

 fluviatile strata. 



Friday. 

 Section D.— ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY. 



The Rev. L. Jenyns read a paper ' On the Turf of the Cambridge- 

 shire Fens/ — This turf was not formed by sphagnum, as most peat, 

 but from various species of aquatic plants which had been accumu- 

 lated for a long period of years above the remains of forest trees 

 which lie buried at the bottom of the moor. There are two dis- 

 tinct kinds of turf, the upper and the lower. The former is the more 

 compact and heavy of the two. The latter consists entirely of the 

 bark, wood, and branches of the submerged trees. The turf is not 

 now rapidly formed on account of the improved system of drainage. 

 Formerly it was supposed to grow about twenty inches in sixteen 

 years. 



Dr. Falconer said, that he had observed in Cashmere, at the 

 bottoms of lakes, turf of a very similar kind to the lower bed 

 just mentioned. It consisted of the remains of various aquatic 

 plants, as Chara, Potamogeton, Utricularia, and Nelumbium. The 

 inhabitants obtained it from the bottom of the lake by means of 

 a rake, and used it as fuel. — Mr. Babington stated that the character 

 of the Scotch and Irish bogs was different from that of the fens 



