10 



out, and the proceeds invested in the purchase of £1900 

 London and South-Western Railway Company's new 4 per 

 cent. Preference stock. The amount required to purchase 

 this stock having been £23 15s. lid. more than that raised 

 by the sale of the Consols, this small balance has been 

 charged to the Society's general account. 



II. OFFICE, Hanover Square. 



1. Scientific Meetings. 



To the fourteen meetings for the despatch of scientific 

 business held in the Society's Rooms in Hanover Square in 

 1878, 160 communications were made. Of these 117 were 

 from Fellows, 3 from Foreign Members, and 26 from 

 Corresponding Members of the Society. The remaining 

 14 papers were from individuals not belonging to the 

 Society, and were communicated to it by the Secretary 

 or by other Members. The corresponding number of com- 

 munications in the year 1877 was 137- 



These communications were submitted to the Committee 

 of Publication, by whom the following orders were made 

 respecting them. Five were ordered to be printed entire 

 in the 'Transactions' of the Society, and 128 in the 'Pro- 

 ceedings,' such illustrations being in each case allowed as 

 the Committee considered necessary for the purpose. Of 

 the remaining communications, abstracts or extracts were 

 considered to be sufficient for publication. 



2. Scientific Publications. 



The volume of the Society's 'Proceedings' for 1878, 

 which is now on the table, contains 1056 pages, illustrated 

 by 62 (mostly coloured) plates. This is the largest 

 volume of ' Proceedings ' yet issued since the commence- 

 ment of the work. 



Six Parts of the Society's ' Transactions ' were issued 

 during the year 1878, namely: — 



Vol. X. Part IV. (March, 1878). 



On the Structure and Development of the Skull in 

 Sharks and Skates. By W. K. Parker, F.R.S. (with nine 

 plates) . 



