of a meeting of the Microscopical Society, on October 20th, 1841, 

 with K. Owen, Esq., F.R.S., President, in the Chair, when the 

 Secretary, Mr. John Quekett, read a paper " On the Minute 

 Structure of Bat's Hair ". 



Apparently the first appearance of the name of Francis is in the 

 Preface to vol. i. of the Second Series, January 1848, after twenty 

 (half-yearly) volumes of the Annals (the short title by which the 

 journal was at this time known and referred to, as it still is) had been 

 completed : — " The editors continue to avail themselves of the aid 

 of Dr. Wm. Francis, whose services they take this opportunity of 

 acknowledging, as from the commencement of the Work they have 

 had the advantage of his constant and valuable assistance in its 

 regular superintendence." From 1852 onwards the journal is 

 " Printed and pubhshed by Taylor and Francis ", the names 

 which appear on its cover to-day. 



For the rest of the history of the Annals we can take only a few 

 glimpses into the Tables of Contents, at considerable intervals. 

 In the early volumes of the Third Series, beginning in 1858, we meet 

 many of the old famihar names — H. J. Carter (still working as 

 Surgeon in the East India Co.'s service), P. H. Gosse, J. E. Gray, 

 Spence Bate, Allman (who gives us here figures of the gonophores 

 of the Hydromedusae which are still in use as diagrams in text- books 

 and lecture-rooms), and others. Edw. Forbes, Strickland, and 

 George Johnston are dead ; new arrivals include Philip Lutley 

 ScLATER (Birds), Albert Gunther, Strethell Wright, Hincks 

 (Zoophytes), W. Baird (Crustacea), W. K. Parker, A. M. Norman 

 (Crustacea, in a series of " Contributions to British Carcinology ") ; 

 Darwin writes " On the Agency of Bees in the Fertilization of 

 Papihonaceous Flowers, and on the Crossing of Kidney Beans " ; 

 the philosopher G. H. Lewes, whose main work lay in another field, 

 has a paper " On the Chylaqueous Fluid of the Actiniae ", and H. W. 

 Bates one on " Contributions to an Insect Fauna of the Amazon 

 VaUey. Coleoptera; Longicornes " . Foreign authors still contri- 

 bute largely, important papers being seized on and translated 

 (whether with or without authorization does not appear !) ; so we 

 have KLrohn, Liljeborg, Fritz Muller (on Parasitic Crustacea, 

 and on Liriope), Sars, Leuckart (on Sacculina, and other forms), 

 H. G. Bronn (" On the Laws of Evolution of the Organic World 

 during the Formation of the Crust of the Earth ", a month or two 

 before the theory of Natural Selection was given to the world by 

 Darwin and Wallace at the Linnean Society), and many of 

 VON Mohl's botanical papers. 



In the next decade a glance at the hsts of Contents shows, besides 

 many of the former names, those of W. T. Blanford, Wyville 

 Thomson (" On the ' Vitreous ' Sponges " and " On the Depths of 

 the Sea "), G. S. Brady (Entomostraca), W. C. M'Intosh (Annehds), 

 Perceval Wright, C. T. Hudson (Rotifers), Pickard-Cambridge 

 (Spiders), Saville Kent (Corals). Particularly notable are papers 

 by Darwin (1869 — "Notes on the Fertilization of Orchids", 



