256 DUBLIN UNIVERSITY 



Of course it would be a labour of many years before every county in 

 Ireland would have its own recorded Flora ; but the Committee would 

 lose no opportunity of increasing their knowledge of local plants, and they 

 looked to each Member, more especially their Corresponding Members in 

 Ireland, to help them in this important matter. 



The ballot having been opened, the following gentlemen were declared 

 duly elected : — 



Ordinary Members : — A. Lefroy, M. A., M. P.; Rev. J. Evans, A. B. ; 

 James Wilson, A. M. ; and F. W A Briscoe, Jun. Fresh. 



FRIDAY EVENING, APRIL 15, 1859. 



Professor W. H. Harvey, M. D., F. R. & L. SS., President, 

 in- the Chair. 



The Minutes of last Meeting having been read, were approved of, and 

 signed by the Chairman. 



Dr. E. Perceval "Wright, F. L. S., read the following paper — 



ON GWYNIA, MELASMA, AND MACANDREVIA THREE NEW GENERA OF PALLIO- 



BRANCHIATE MOLLUSCA, ONE OF WHICH HAS BEEN DREDGED IN BELFAST 

 LOUGH. BY WILLIAM KING, PROFESSOR OF GEOLOGY, QUEEN'S COLLEGE, 

 GALWAY. 



The Palliobranchs have, of late years, been much subdivided ; but it is 

 a question with many as to the value of the resulting groups — one party 

 maintaining that a certain group is a genus ; another, that it is a sub- 

 genus. To decide this question satisfactorily it is to be feared that 

 others even more difficult must be disposed of first ; as — "What is a ge- 

 nus? "What is a sub-genus ? But, as I have no intention of entering on 

 the discussion of these questions, I may be excused passing them over, 

 and merely stating, that I look on most of the groups alluded to as the 

 equivalents of genera, in the ordinary sense of the term. Those who 

 contend for their being mere sub-genera adhere to the grave error, 

 which has often been committed, by myself amongst others, of juxta- 

 posing and undervaluing groups which are very different in essential 

 characters, and really typical of widely separated families. There 

 are many cases in point : for example, the group Terebratula, as it was 

 generally understood about fifteen years ago. At that time, he was con- 



