822 
EXCAVATIONS AT WALSALL. 
plants a little of that protection which is already accorded by 
Legislature to animals and prehistoric monuments, and of 
steadily discouraging and, where possible, of preventing any 
undue removal of such plants from their natural habitats ; 
and we trust that they will bring these views under the 
notice of their respective Societies.” 
At the recent meeting of the Association I again brought 
this matter under the notice of the Committee of Section D, 
having in the meantime strengthened my position by com¬ 
munications from various parts of the country, and with such 
success, that upon its recommendation, Mr. Wills, Mr. 
Badger, and I were appointed by the General Committee of 
the British Association, at its meeting September 8tli, a 
Committee—“ To collect information as to the disappearance 
of native plants from their local habitat, and to report 
thereon.” Mr. Wills is to be most heartily congratulated 
upon such a result within two years of his first drawing 
special attention to the subject. It now only remains for me, 
as your Delegate, to solicit, in the name of the Conference, 
the active and sympathetic interest in the work of all 
members of this Society, and of all readers of the “ Midland 
Naturalist,” especially in the compilation of personally- 
vouched-for statistics of plant extirpation or disappearance, 
and in the cultivation of a healthy public sentiment upon 
the question. 
At a subsequent date I hope to lay before you an account 
of the Natural History Exhibition forming a part of the 
great collection, illustrating the various natural products and 
industries of the district, which was brought together in 
Bingley Hall as a special adjunct to the meeting of the 
Association. 
EXCAVATIONS AT WALSALL. 
I beg to submit the following short account of some 
vegetable and animal remains found during the making of 
excavations for a deep sewer through land formerly called the 
Racecourse, and also for a subway under the railway at the 
bottom of Bridgeman Street, both in Walsall. 
The Racecourse, the greater part of which has very 
recently been converted into a Goods Wharf for the Midland 
Railway Company, lies chiefly in a valley, through which the 
