499TH ORDINARY GENERAL MEETING. 
MONDAY, DECEMBER 7ru, 1909. 
Proressor E. Huut, LL.D., F.R.S. (VICE-PRESIDENT), 
IN THE CHAIR. 
The Minutes of the preceding Meeting were read and confirmed. 
The following elections were announced :— 
Members: Cecil Broadbent, Esq. 
Colonel F. B. P. White. 
Colin MacLarty, Esq. 
Professor F. Roget, of Geneva. 
Rev. Prebendary Shelford, M.A. 
Associates: F. P. Trench, Esq., M.B., F.R.C.S.Ed. 
Rev. F. Cecil Lovely, B.A. 
Rev. F. Webster Maunsell, M.A. 
In the absence of the author the following paper was then read by the 
Secretary :— 
THE IVORY ISLANDS IN THE ARCTIC OCEAN. 
By the Rev. D. GaTH WHITLEY. 
N many recent and valuable works of science, the distribution 
| of the remains of the Mammoth in Siberia have been 
described. We now understand fully that the bones and tusks 
of Mammoths are found over the whole of Siberia, and that they 
are particularly abundant in the northern portions of that 
country. The remains of the Mammoth in fact increase in 
numbers as we travel from southern to northern Siberia, until 
we find them in their greatest abundance on the shores of the 
Arctic Ocean. We also frequently find that many perfect bodies 
of Mammoths and rhinoceroses are found in the frozen soil of 
northern Siberia.* These carcases are, when discovered, quite 
perfect, and have been preserved in this condition, by the 
perpetually frozen soil in which they are buried. It is therefore 
absolutely necessary to believe that the bodies were frozen up 
immediately after the animals died, and were never once thawed, 
until the day of their discovery. No other theory will explain 
the perfect preservation of the bodies of these great elephants. 
* Tsherski, J. D., Mem. Acad. Imp. St. Petersburg, vol. x!, 1892. 
