158 
ANNUAL MEETING. 
The Annual Meeting of the Club was held at Gloucester, on 
Thursday, the 3rd of April, 1879, when you did me the honor 
to re-elect me as your President, together with our former 
Vice-Presidents, and our old and well-tried Secretary and 
Treasurer. 
The President having, according to custom, read his Annual 
Address to the Club, Dr. Wricut, F.R.S., gave a “Sketch of 
the Paleontology of the Lias Formation, considered in reference 
to the theory of Animal Evolution.” The Lecturer commenced 
by reminding his audience of the relative position of the Lias, 
as related to the Trias below and the lower Oolite above, and 
to the extent of the area which the Lias sea occupied in central 
Europe during the time its various beds were accumulating. 
With a well executed map he traced out the dry land and the 
seas of the period, and showed the shore line of the Lias sea 
in what was now England, France, Germany, Switzerland, the 
Austrian Alps, Italy, &c. The Lias stood conspicuous amongst 
the other Mesozoic strata in the completeness of its record, for 
the chapters of its life history were written in imperishable 
characters on its dark shales and limestones; and these could 
be deciphered with a certainty that was very remarkable, and 
it presented in this respect a favourable field for tracing the 
course of life during the long period of time through which 
the strata were accumulating. It was an exception there- 
fore, to the general assertion that the geological record was 
imperfect, and consequently the results deduced from its study 
merited in an especial manner the thoughtful consideration 
of Cotteswoldians, seeing that along the slopes of the hills 
and the picturesque valleys of the range its beds were well 
developed. 
Everyone who has discussed the theory of the transmutation 
of species with the disciples of Mr. Darwin has soon found 
himself in a difficulty to answer that philosopher’s remarkable 
chapter on the imperfection of the geological record; for Mr. 
Darwin, in his graceful way, says: “ Geology assuredly does 
