Proceedings. XXV 
an ox, the ox being one of the most universal standards of value, 
and is so now in South Africa. In Central Africa hoes, and in 
China knives, have been modelled as currency in lieu of the real 
article. As it was necessary that currency should be difficult to 
copy or forge, it naturally followed that metals soon attracted 
attention, and we find bars of copper doing duty as currency. 
As an additional precaution these bars (and sections of them) 
were officially stamped ; hence we get the first coin. Later again 
these rough lumps were neatly rounded, and made gradually 
shapely, until we arrive at the true coin, still bearing in many 
instances the effigy of the object it symbolized. The use of gold 
and silver was another proof of the anxiety to construct a 
currency that could not be debased by fraud. 
This paper, which was of considerable length, was published 
in the ‘Bankers’ Magazine’ for May, 1899. 
April 18th.—Mr. R. J. Hinton read an address on ‘‘ Some 
Wonders of Bee Life,” in which he gave a very interesting 
account of the anatomy, physiology, and life-history of the bee, 
illustrated by diagrams and specimens. 
May 16th.—‘ On Deep-sea Deposits obtained by the ‘ Chal- 
lenger’ and other Scientific Expeditions,” by W. Murton 
Holmes. 
The lecturer said that the history of deep-sea exploration 
was of quite recent origin. Previously to 1864 it was the 
general opinion among men of science that life did not, and 
could not, exist below a certain depth of the sea. There were, 
according to Edward Forbes, fixed zones of depth:—(1) the 
Littoral Zone between low and high water marks; (2) the 
Laminarian Zone, from low water to a depth of fifteen 
fathoms; (8) the Coralline Zone, from the fifteen-fathom line to 
a depth of fifty fathoms ; and (4) the Zone of Deep-sea Corals, 
extending from the edge of the Coralline Zone to an unknown 
lower limit. ‘‘ In this region,” he says, ‘‘as we descend deeper 
and deeper, its inhabitants become more and more modified, and 
fewer and fewer, indicating our approach towards an abyss 
where life is either extinguished, or exhibits but a few sparks to 
mark its lingering existence.” 
In 1864 a crinoid, or lily-star (Rhizocrinus lofotensis) was dis- 
covered by G. O. Sars off Norway in water 700 ft. deep, and 
abundance of animal life was procured in further dredging 
operations in depths of from 700 to 800 ft. This discovery led 
to the fitting out of surveying ships with improved apparatus. 
Among these were the ‘ Lightning,’ which surveyed the North 
Atlantic Ocean in 1868, and the ‘ Porcupine,’ which made 
surveys off the West Coast of Ireland and in the Bay of Biscay 
