PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 31 



County Museum under the curatorship of Mr. H. J. Moule. It is 

 now taking its place as an educational institution. The collections 

 being arranged in sectional and subsectional order, the student can 

 without difficulty find any object with ease, whether it be for 

 instruction, examination, or comparison. Should the contributions 

 to our shelves, through the liberality of members and friends, con- 

 tinue to flow in with equal alacrity as of late, the County Museum 

 will contrast favourably with many other provincial museums. I 

 do not wish to push the geological collections too prominently in 

 preference to those of the other sciences, but having more to say 

 upon them at this moment I shall begin with them first. Geology 

 has a peculiar claim upon us, for the rocks are, so to speak, 

 Dorset born. As the collections are arranged stratagraphically, 

 any one who is acquainted with the rudiments of the science will 

 recognise the horizon on which he is (figuratively speaking) 

 standing, and identify each geological epoch by its characteristic 

 fossils. A careful study of the works of Sachs, Zittel, and others 

 will be of great use to the student of botany who is desirous of 

 making himself acquainted not with the names and the varieties 

 of plants but with their structure and physiology, by which 

 their genealogies can be traced. A knowledge of osteology 

 and anthropology are equally essential. A Pliocene bed which has 

 been lately discovered at DewPsh has caused much interest in the 

 geological world, as it was until now supposed to be confined to the 

 counties of Norfolk and Suffolk. It is the most recent of the Ter- 

 tiaries and immediately preceding, probably, the appearance of man 

 upon earth. I commend to the notice of the members the large table- 

 case containing the tusk and molars of the Elephas meridionalis from 

 this bed with its associated sands, polished flints, and some creta. 

 ceous elements, borne down with them into the fissure, which 

 fortunately received the interesting relics, showing the existence of 

 a Pliocene bed in the West of England, and of which there had been 

 no previous evidence. A.mong the fossil Turtles in the County 

 collection, there is one which deserves a passing remark, 

 Palceochelys latiscutata (Lydek) from the Middle Purbecks of 



