2 Proceedings of the Boyal Physical Society. 



the scientific work which it discharged. The publication of 

 its Proceedings, which commenced in the year 1854, went 

 on continuously until April 1866, when they were inter- 

 rupted for a season. This was undoubtedly a serious dis- 

 couragement to the younger naturalists, who found in this 

 Society and in its publications a vehicle for communicating 

 their observations both to their fellow naturalists in the 

 city, and to the scientific world generally. It was therefore 

 thought by several members that the time had arrived when 

 an effort should be made to revive the publication of the 

 Proceedings, and to put fresh vigour into the work of the 

 Society. No one felt this more strongly than the late Mr 

 Kobert Gray, and, from the date of his appointment as Secre- 

 tary, the Society acquired a fresh life, and by continuing 

 its work with great activity has promoted the progress of 

 science amongst its Fellows. Since the year 1880 the 

 Proceedings of the Society have again been published with 

 regularity, and form several handsome, well-illustrated 

 volumes. 



To go no further back than the past session, I would state 

 that eighteen papers were read, and a number of exhibits of 

 various specimens were made, by the Fellows. The papers 

 embodied a wide range of subjects. The anatomy of the 

 Flatworms was discussed by Mr W. E. Hoyle, and the same 

 naturalist gave an account of recent researches into the 

 Siphonophor?e. Mr F. E. Beddard, in continuation of his 

 researches into the minute structure of the ovary in Mono- 

 tremes and Marsupials, gave an account of the Graafian 

 Follicle in Bideliiliys. Mr George Brook communicated a 

 X^aper on the British species of Lepadogaster, and he, along 

 with Mr T. Scott, read an account of some rare or previously 

 undescribed Crustacea in the sea area of the Clyde. 



On ornithological subjects we had communications both 

 from Mr John Swinburne and Mr Harold llaeburn, whilst 

 geological or palaeographical questions were considered in as 

 many as seven papers. Thus Dr Traquair described his 

 observations on Carboniferous Selachii; the effects of the 

 earthquake in the Eiviera were discussed by Mr Hugh 

 Miller ; both Mr B. N. Peach and Mr J. Bennie described 



