3. "Supplemental Notes on the Plant-beds of Central Asia." By the Rev. S. Hislop. In a Letter to the Assistant-Secretary. Mr. Hislop, in noticing the discovery of more remains of plants, insects, and fishes at Kota on the Pranhita, stated that he certainly now thought that the ichthyolitic beds of Kota (probably Lower Jurassic in age) are higher in relative position than the plant-sandstone of Nagpur, which, with the Sironcha sandstone underlying the Kota limestone, belong to the Damuda group. He remarked also that, in his opinion, the Tœniopteris of Kampti would prove that the Damuda and Rajmahal groups cannot be widely separated.
NOTES AND QUERIES.
Mammalian Remains.—Fractured bones of Bos primigenius have been found on the road between Kelvedon and Coggesham, Essex, by W. H. Thelwall, Esq., who has submitted them to me for identification.—Yours faithfully, Charles Carter Blake.
Fossil Cocoons of Leeches.—Dr. Gergens, of Mayence, has lately suggested that the so-called fossil eggs of snakes, found in some of the freshwater deposits of Germany, may be fossil cocoons of leeches (N. Jahrb. 1861, p. 670). Under these circumstances it maybe worth while for those who possess specimens of the egg-like bodies found in the freshwater strata of the Isle of Wight (and which have been thought to be either coprolitic or the eggs of Bulimus, or of freshwater tortoises), to re-examine them, and compare them with the sponge-like oval cocoon of the common leech. Mr. F. E. Edwards figures several of these oviform bodies in his Monograph on the Eocene Gasteropods, published by the Palæontographical Society.—Hirudo.
Hampshire Basin.—Sir, — Would you kindly solve the following questions for me, to which I have not been able to find any satisfactory answers in the text-books which are commonly available?
1. What was the extent of the Hampshire Basin; and when did the upheaval of the present range of chalk hills to the north and west take place; and did the sea, which covered the present New Forest district, ever wash against these latter?
2. When did the severance of the line of chalk between Ballard Head, in Dorsetshire, and St. Christopher's Cliff, in the Isle of Wight, take place?
3. Could the following animals be said to be coexistent at any period of the Middle Eocene formation (and what?),—Dichodon cuspidatus, Hyænodon, Paloplotherium annectens, and Spalacodon?
4. What was the climate of the country when the freshwater deposits took place at Hordell?—Your constant reader, W. B. H., Lymington.
1. The Hampshire basin was not an isolated area, but continuous with the London basin; the deposits in the two areas differing according to depth of sea, presence of rivers, etc. The uprise of the chalk hills took place probably during some portion of the Pliocene period. The New Forest district, as now existing, has been covered either by the sea or by a lake in the Pleistocene period. 2. In the Pleistocene period.
3. Yes; during the Middle Eocene period Paplotherium, Palæotherium, and others, existed with Hyænodon, in the western European area.
4. Probably much warmer than at present—subtropical.
