421 



The author concludes by calling attention to some general prin- 

 ciples, which arise out of the present inquiry, but which are appli- 

 cable to all departments of Natural History, regarding the kind and 

 extent of comparison on which alone specific distinctions can be 

 securely based. 



June 21, 1855. 

 The LORD WROTTESLEY, President, in the Chair. 



A. Follett Osier, Esq., Charles Vincent Walker, Esq., and Robert 

 Wight, M.D., were admitted into the Society. 



The following gentlemen were elected Foreign Members of the 

 Society : 



Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet. 

 Julius Pliicker. 

 Heinrich Rathke. 

 Carl Riimker. 



Pursuant to notice given at last Ordinary Meeting, the question 

 of the readmission of Edward Tuson, Esq., was put, and, the ballot 

 having been taken, decided in the negative. 



The following communications were read : 



I. " On a supposed Aerolite or Meteorite found in the Trunk of 

 an old Willow Tree in the Battersea Fields." By Sir RO- 

 DERICK IMPEY MURCHISON, F.R.S., Director- General of 

 the Geological Survey of Great Britain. Received June 

 2], 1855. 



In bringing this notice before the Royal Society, it is unnecessary to 

 recite, however briefly, the history of the fall of aerolites or meteorites, 

 as recorded for upwards of three thousand years, though I may be 





