STRUCTURE OF CORALS. 107 



POLYZOA. 



Fenestella nodulosa. 



Brachiopoda. 

 Productus Llangollensis. 



„ giganteus. 



,, spinulosus. 



Spirifera (species of) 

 Terebratula hastata. 



,, (? Spirifera) glabra. 



I brought some of my precious specimens home with me, being 

 much pleased with the opportunity of being able to contribute by 

 their help to the interest of our meetings. Having no means of 

 ready access to the necessary Geological authorities or text books at 

 the time, I was glad to be able to avail myself of the help of 

 Mr. Newton, who prondunced them to be fossil Corals, and also 

 kindly took the trouble to identify and name them for me. I had not 

 then been able to examine their structure, but our members may re- 

 collect that I disjDlayed some sections, which had been very nicely 

 made by Mr. Smith, on our Gossip night, August 9th. 



Well, they were Corals. But I began to ask myself : What is a 

 Coral ? What do I know about Corals ? Of course I had a general 

 knowledge of them, but I was compelled to confess to myself that 

 it was of a very hazy kind. Something I knew, certainly, of their 

 structure and zoological place, but it was not all of a precise kind, 

 nor such as I could — in default of the necessary precision — easily 

 and honestly communicate to others, and I was far from being 

 content with it. I then began to use my privilege of " Socratic 

 questioning" — only to find that many of my friends were in very 

 much the same condition as myself. A little more egotism, Gentle- 

 men, and I have done. When I was a young man, my reading was 

 not well directed — it was far too promiscuous and desultory. I was 

 omnivorous, in fact. Much of the information thus gathered has 

 clung to me — not always of the most useful kind, I fear. Still 

 more has slipped away — alas ! of the more useful. Yet, all has 

 not gone. I have now in my mind, stored there for more years than 

 I care to remember, the substance of a paper which is to be found 

 in one of the best of our English classics — the " Spectator." I am 

 tempted to quote it to you now, because it embodies and insists 

 upon that recognition of the labour of others, which I have taken 



