PIIESIDENX'S ADDRESS. 207 



a depth of 25-30 fathoms; whilst about the .same time Professor 

 Haswell, of the Sydney University, recorded ' a similar find in the 

 harbour of that city. This welcome extension of our knowledge of 

 the range of these remarkable animals was but a question of time ; 

 bnt, as concerning the British seas, it may be remarked that there 

 have long been placed on public exhibition in the Molluscan galleries 

 of the British Museum of Natural History, specimens of Neomenia 

 carinata dredged by Dr. J. Murray during 1887-8 in 50-70 fathoms 

 at Upper Loch Etive and Loch Hourn ; and that in 1891 Professor 

 Haddon recorded * the capture of a Neomenian on the west coast of 

 Ireland at 80, if not also at 55, fathoms. 



We note with pride that steps are being taken towards rearrange- 

 ment of our matchk'ss national collection of recent Mollusca. In 

 this our Vice-President, Mr. E. A. Smith, and those who are helping 

 and advising him, are performing a public service ; and it is worthy 

 of remark that, as the work progresses, Dr. H. Woodward, Mr. Crick, 

 and tbeir associates in the Geological Department, are giving us 

 descriptions of fossil molluscs no less valuable and unique. Specimens 

 such as those of the Palaoctojnis Newboldi from the Cretaceous of 

 Lebanon,^ and of Acanthoteuthis speciosa from the Lithographic Stone 

 of Eichstiidt,* like so much that is preserved in our National Museum, 

 may well arouse the envy of our foreign contemporaries. Co-operative 

 action is the secret of their acquirement. During the present year 

 the observant eye of Mr. C. Davies Sherborn was attracted, while 

 walking with a friend (Dr. Rowe), by a monstrous Ammonite on the 

 beach near Brighton. No time was lost in communicating with 

 the authorities, who despatched our friend Crick and an assistant to 

 the scene. Sufficient this for anyone familiar with the conduct of 

 affairs of the Geological Department of our treasure-house ; and, as 

 the result, there now adorns the collection a 4 4 -inch exauqile of 

 Ammonites [llaploceras) Icptoplujllum, which is an object to behold and 

 live up to. 



General progress in the study of our recent Mollusca has been 

 during the year largely associated with the work of expeditions — 

 couspicuously with those of the " Albatross " and " Princess Alice," 

 of the German Plankton, and the Horn Expedition— of which I propose 

 to treat in a more fitting portion of my Address. The voyage of the 

 " Caudau " has furnished material for papers by Joubin and Locard, 

 and the Mollusca collected by the Dutch Expedition to Central Borneo 

 have been I'eported upon by Scliepman.^ 



Of faunal papers on Land Mollusca, I would name tliose of our Vice- 

 President, Mr. Edgar Smith, referring to Celebes, Batchian, Ternate, 



^ W. A. ILiswell, Joiirn. Sydney Univ. Medic. Soc. (Hermes Medic. Siippkm.), 



vol. i, p. xxxi. 

 - A. C. Haddon, Proc. Roy. Didilin Soc. (n.s.), vol. vii, pp. 2.58 and 260. 

 •* II. Wo.idward, Quart, jouru. Geol. Soc, vol. Hi, p. 229; Geol. Mag., 1806, 



p. 567. 



* G. C. Crick, Geol. Ma^-., 1897, p. 1. 



* M. M. Scliepniau, Notes Leyden lliis., vol. .xvii, p. l-lo. 



