PRESIDENT S ADDEESS. 



179 



Alfhoug-h onr Income is a very modest one, it has been found 

 sufficient for our needs, and the Society has not only been able to pay 

 its way but has also a credit balance with its Bankers to defray future 

 expenses of printing and publication ; so that financially we are 

 standing upon a firm basis. 



Another subject of congratulation lies in the fact that we incur 

 no expense for rent of premises. Thanks to the kindness of the 

 President and Council of the Linnaean Society, we are now permitted 

 to hold our monthly meetings in that Society's apartments at 

 Burlington House, a privilege for which we cannot but be extremely 

 grateful, not only as contributing to the comfort and convenience of 

 members, but also as affording a place of meeting of the very best 

 kind that could be obtained in London. 



We have now, however, said sufficient concerning ourselves, save 

 to deplore the loss which we have sustained by the death of one, 

 probably the most eminent, of our Corresponding Members. I allude 

 to the decease of Dr. Paul Pischer, of Paris. This eminent Malacologist, 

 who died on the 29th November, 1893, took from the first a lively 

 interest in our Society, and, had he lived, it was his intention to have 

 contributed papers to our " Proceedings." 



Born 7th July, 1835, Paul Fischer was for many years Assistant- 

 Naturalist to the Chair of Pala?outology in the Museum d'Histoire 

 Naturelle at Paris. He was evidently not an ambitious man, for he 

 does not appear to have sought any higher post, although his wide 

 scientific knowledge in every way qualified him for such. 



He was a prominent member of the Commission on Submarine 

 Dredging, and also of several scientific Societies ; but it is from his 

 published works that we know most about him. Dr. Fischer was a 

 prolific writer, being author of upwards of 300 Memoirs, and joint- 

 author with his co-Editor of the "Journal de Conchyliologie " (M. 

 Crosse) and with MM. Delesse, Tournouer, Bernardi, and others, of 

 about 100 additional papers. 



Dr. Fischer wrote upon many branches of Zoology ; such as the 

 Brachiopoda, the Bryozoa, the Hydrozoa, and the Porifera ; nor were 

 the Vertebrata entirely neglected. Geology also interested him to a 

 certain extent, if we may judge from his " Observations on the Lower 

 Tertiary beds of Madagascar" and on the geology of the southern 

 part of that island ; but it is principally by his researches in the 

 domain of Malacology that he is best known to the scientific world. 



After contributing a series of articles to the Journal de Conchyliologie 

 (1856-57) on the anatomy of little known Molluscs, we find him 

 dealing with the respiratory organs of the Pulmonata ; the general 

 structure of Xanthomya and Hyalimax ; the anatomy of the genus 

 Septifer and of the American Cyrente; whilst his other papers on 

 kindred subjects are far too nnmei'ous to be referred to here separately. 

 Amongst his larger works we may mention his joint memoir with 

 M, Crosse on the MoUusca collected by the Scientific Mission to 

 Mexico and Central America; also with M. Tournouer, on the inverte- 

 brate fossils of Mont Leberon in Vaucluse ; and the Mollusca collected 

 during the voyage of " La Travailleur " and the " Talisman." 



