Ixx I'roci'etluii/s, 



round liali. Later on their visual organs became contiguous to 

 cacli other, one eye shifting its position. By the time this 

 cliangc had taken place, the creature's body becixme twisted half 

 round, and laid upon its side. The consequence was, this trans- 

 formation occasioned the misplacement of all the parts ; and yet, 

 notwithstanding this, the balance of deformity was marvellously 

 maintained, insomuch that the ordinary observer might fail to 

 notice the peculiarities referred to. 



In America very few soles were found, and the Government of 

 that country were striving to propagate them. The National 

 Fish Culture Association had forwarded several consignments for 

 tills purpose, but the difliculty was to secure male soles, there 

 being only one to about live hundred females. 



Mr. Carter then referred to fish autocrats or sovereigns of 

 clans, and stated that he had found, by repeated experiment, that 

 trout were subservient to leaders, and that when a sovereign 

 succumbed to the wiles of the genus hunio, another fish occupied 

 his throne. 



In conclusion, Mr. Carter referred to the destruction of spawu 

 and immature fish, detailing the various liiuds of depredators. 

 He said that if all the eggs of fishes became incubated the 

 waters would be choked with life. The number of ova shed by 

 a single cod equalled the number of cod-fish brought annually to 

 the London Market, viz., 9,000,000. But many of the ova faded 

 to come to life, whilst a large proportion was devoured by fishes. 

 All this was provided against by nature, who gives to all mem- 

 bers of the finny tribes extraordinary power of re-production, but 

 at the same time she employed destructive agents to keep down 

 superabundance of fish life. Although Nature provided for her 

 own losses, she did not undertake to repair the wanton injury 

 perpetrated by man, who devastated the nurseries where the 

 parents so carefully laid their offspring, and caught and destroyed 

 many thousand tons of immature fish weekly. A great deal 

 was being done towards culturing fish by the National Fish 

 Culture Association ; but in order to carry out this important 

 work on an extensive and systematic scale, it behoved the 

 Government to assist in the same way as was done by the 

 American Commissioners. 



The paper on the evening of the 13th of April was by Mr. W. 

 Topley, F.G.S., the subject being " Eecent Earthquakes." Mr. 

 Topley observed that aliliough no general explanation of earth- 

 quakes could be given, it was well known that certain regions 

 were more liable to them than others, and that there seemed to 

 be a close connection between earthquakes and volcanic erup- 

 tions. The eruption of Vesuvius, that destroyed Herculancum 



