126 



March 19, 1849. 

 J. B. YATES, Esq., in the Chair. 



Mr. Charles Reed and Mr. Richard Sharp were elected 

 members of the Society. 



Mr. A. Higginson exhibited the skull of an animal found 

 in a deposit of Peruvian Guano. Erom its anatomical pecu- 

 liarities, there could be no doubt but that it had belonged to 

 a great antbear (myrmecophaga jubata). 



Mr. Yates read a few extracts from an unpublished 

 manuscript which gave several interesting particulars respect- 

 ing the Star Chamber, in the time of Henry VII. One of 

 the extracts was a minute to summon the London Corporation 

 before it, to show cause why they had opposed the grant of a 

 charter to the Honorable Company of Tailors, now the " Mer- 

 chant Tailors' Company." 



Mr. Sansom then read a paper on the Structure and 

 Character of the Musses, of which the following is an 

 abstract: — 



Until within the last few years Mosses were comparatively 

 little known; and, even now, we must confess that much, very 

 much, remains to be done, before it can be said that we have 

 more than a barely superficial knowledge of that tribe of 

 plants. 



We hear of collectors who travel in search of plants, but 

 how few do we find who ever trouble themselves to collect 

 Mosses, which all alike seem to despise: — who can tell us 

 why ? If it be, that they are overlooked on account of their 

 unpretending and diminutive size, or because of their being 



