REPORT OF THE RAY SOCIETY, 



FOR THE YEAR, ENDING JUNE 19, 1847. 



THE Council of the Ray Society are gratified at being able to present their 

 Fourth Annual Report under circumstances not less favorable than those of 

 last year. Since the Anniversary Meeting at Southampton the whole of the 

 works due to the subscribers for the third year have been distributed, including 

 Meyen's Geography of Plants, the Third Part of Alder and Hancock's work 

 on the Nudibranchiate Mollusca, and Burmeister on the Organization of 

 Trilobites. The Council feel that on no occasion have they had greater 

 reason for referring with satisfaction to their publications of the year. The 

 paucity of works on the geography of plants in the English language has 

 made the translation of Meyen's work on that subject an acceptable boon to the 

 British student of botany, whilst the elegance and accuracy of the translation 

 h.ive been a theme of general commendation. The Third Part of the great 

 work of Messrs. Alder and Hancock has been issued during the past year, and 

 the Council feel great pleasure in drawing attention to this part, as offering, if 

 possible, an improvement upon the other two in the accuracy of its details, 

 and the style in which its litbotints have been executed. The work of Pro- 

 fessor Burmeister on the Organization of Trilobites cannot have failed to have 

 given satisfaction to those interested in zoological or geological pursuits. 

 Besides having secured impressions from the original plates, the Council suc- 

 ceeded in obtaining from Professor Burmeister his invaluable assistance in 

 making the work not merely a translation, but another edition amended and 

 enlarged by the author. Notes and additions have been also made by the 

 English editors. 



During the past year the Council have distributed the volume of Reports 

 on Zoology and Botany, due to first year's subscribers, to those who had be- 

 come Members of the Society subsequent to the exhaustion of the whole of 

 the first impression of that work. The Council can therefore still supply 

 new subscribers with complete sets, although the stock for the first year is 

 now becoming exceedingly low. 



For the present year (1847) the Council has decided on publishing a Fourth 

 Part of the work of Messrs. Alder and Hancock, and this work they hope to 

 complete in two more parts. The Council confidently appeals to this great 

 work as a proof of the value of the Ray Society, as when completed it will 



