RESULTS OF METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 133 
On the Structure and History of the British Annelida. 
By Tuomas WILLIAMS, M.D., Swansea. 
At the meeting of the British Association, held at Swansea, I was appointed, 
in conjunction with Prof. E. Forbes and Thomas Bell, to collect into a report 
the undigested materials relating to the organization and habits of the British 
Annelida, which may be distributed throughout the scientific periodicals of 
this country. To this most interesting department of natural history, a eur- 
sory inquiry soon satisfied me, that the older English writers had contributed 
little or nothing, and that, with the honourable exception of the papers pub- 
lished from time to time by Dr. Johnston of Berwick, in the ‘ Annalsof Natural 
History,’ the subject on which a systematic and digested report was required 
by the British Association constituted the least cultivated branch of the zoo- 
logy of this country. It became evident, therefore, that a report, composed 
only of such scanty and insufficient materials, would be little worthy of the 
Transactions of the Association: I accordingly turned the whole oi my atten- 
tion to the collection of new species, and to the elucidation of the anatomy 
and physiology of the subject. It is already in my power to state to the As- 
sociation, that I have made numerous additions to the list of British species, 
and that on the subject of the organization of the known species, f have suc- 
ceeded in elucidating the anatomy of the branchial, circulating and ali- 
mentary systems. ‘To render the description of these parts intelligible, it would 
be necessary, in this preliminary report, to introduce numerous diagrams, 
which would materially add to the expenses already incurred. I have, how- 
ever, prepared a few of those original illustrations which will accompany the 
finished report, and which are now presented to the Section through the 
kindness of Prof. Edward Forbes. 
Swansea, July 23, 1850. 
Results of Meteorological Observations taken at St. Michael’s from the 
1st of January 1840 to the 31st of December, 1849. 
British Consulate, St. Michael’s, May 1, 1850. 
S1r,—I beg leave to inform you that the three barometers and thermometers 
sent out to me by Lieutenant-Colonel Reid, in application of the grant re- 
ferred to in your letter of October the 3rd, 1849, have arrived here, and that 
I have forwarded two of them to the Vice-Consuls at Flores and Fayal, re- 
serving the third for presentation to the Vice-Consul at Terceira, if he can 
make it convenient to keep a record of his meteorological observations. 
: I have the honour to be, Sir, 
Your most obedient humble Servant, 
Tuomas Carew Hunt. 
John Phillips, Esq., Assistant General Secretary 
of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. 
ote 
The Tables of Results follow on pp. 134 to 136. 
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