120 Transactions of the [S'a',!^i^T?m 



Messrs, Field, of Lambetli, and his probity, methodical habits, and 

 untiring attention to business, secured for him the personal respect 

 and friendship of every member of the firm. His naturally vigor- 

 ous constitution was at last undermined by chronic bronchitis, and 

 he passed away in his sleep on the 15th day of November, 1869, 

 and in the 77tli year of his age. 



At the eight monthly meetings held during the past session 

 twenty-one papers have been communicated, viz. seven by friends 

 of our Fellows, and fourteen by Fellows themselves. 



The first paper in March, by the well-known and accurate 

 observer, Dr. Gulliver, points out the unique character of the fibres 

 of the crystalline lens of the lamprey, wdiich appear to be smooth 

 and not serrated. This departure from the general law of structure 

 is very remarkable. 



The exhaustive and elaborately illustrated paper by Mr. Suffolk, 

 " On the Structure of the Proboscis of the Blow-fly," and the paper 

 by Mr. Lowne " On the Eectal Papillae of the Fly," are admirable 

 specimens of patient investigation and manipulative skill. 



Valuable communications in reference to minute anatomy and 

 animal and vegetable physiology, by Messrs. Sanders, Kent, Mclntyre, 

 Carruthers, Wake, and Dr. Macintosh, have supplied us with new 

 and useful information, and led to enhvening and interesting 

 discussions. 



In bringing before us the forms of gigantic Lycopodiacese 

 belonging to the Carboniferous period, Mr. Carruthers set forth, in 

 a very able viva voce exposition, the several points of agreement and 

 difi'erence between the immense stems of ancient cryptogamic forests 

 and the stems of existing plants. During my own residence in 

 Halifax, in 1829 and two following years, I had frequent oppor- 

 tunities of examining the Lejndodendron selaginoides, figured and 

 described by Mr. Carruthers, and I can corroborate his statement 

 that the fossil-bearing nodules, known locally as "haum-pots" 

 occur over a space of many acres. One of these haum-pots, now in 

 the Halifax Museum, has entrapped, in the Coal-measures, about 

 12 inches of the skeleton and tail of an 8 or 10 lb. fish.* It was 

 duiing my residence in Halifax that the British Association, of which 

 I am now what is popularly known as "an old life member," 

 assembled for the first time at York under the presidency of the 

 Earl Fitzwilliam, and from that time to this our indebtedness, as 

 microscopists, to a goodly company of members of the Association, 

 will be acknowledged by us all. It is also gratifying to find that 

 our own labours have been recognized by the Association, and we 



* A plaster of Paris cast of this remarkable baum-pot fossil was sent to the 

 meeting by Mr. Waterliouse, of Halifax. The fish is probably a iine specimen of 

 the Cwlacanthus Phillipsii, described by Agassiz, haviug a cartilaginous vertebral 

 column with bony hollow appendages (hence its name) and beautifully sculptured 



