250 EEPOKT— 1886. 



well, help to bridge over one of the few gaps in our really surprisingly 

 complete succession of Eocene floras. 



We have continued to investigate the great series of plant remains so 

 assiduously collected by Mr. A' Court Smith, and with this object have 

 visited Gurnet Bay, as well as receiving several packages of fossils from 

 that place. While lamenting that they are of so fragmentary a nature, we 

 cannot overlook their importance as almost the last representatives of the 

 great series of floras which maintained themselves in our area throughout 

 the Eocene time. As an illustration of their value we may instance the fact 

 that while anything like true grasses seem to be wholly wanting in the pre- 

 vious floras, there are many more or less definite indications of them in 

 this. We have reason to hope that renewed working in the still younger 

 beds of Hempstead may lead to further discoveries, for, besides the better 

 known plants described by Heer, pine-cones and a fine aroideous fruit 

 have been obtained from them. 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE. 



1. Pinites Andreei, Coemans, from the Gault, Folkestone (British Museum). 



2. P. cylindroides, sp. nov., from the Lower Greensand, Potton (Woodwardian 



Museum). 

 2a. End of axis, with scales of same. 



3. P. Pottoniemis, sp. nov., from the same (Woodwardian Museum). 



4. P. Valdensis, sp. nov., from the Wealden of Brook Point (Woodwardian 



Museum). 



5. Another specimen (York Museum). 



6. P. Carruthersi, sp. nov., from the Wealden of Brook Point (Woodwardian 



Museum). 



7. Pinites, from the Wealden of Brook Point (Woodwardian Museum). 



8. Cycadostrohus elegans, C'arr., from the Wealden of Brook Point (Woodwardian 



Museum). 



The figures are about two-thirds the natural size. 



Rejport of the Committee, consisting of Professor McKendrick, 

 Professor Cleland, and Dr. McGregor-Eobertson {Secretai'y), 

 appointed for the purpose of investigating the Mechanism of 

 the Secretion of Urine. 



Your Committee have to report as follows : — A method of procedure, and 

 various points to be determined as to the proportion of the several con- 

 stituents of the urine in difi"erent states of the kidney and under the in- 

 fluence of drugs, have been decided on, and the microscopical examination 

 of the kidney after certain experiments has been undertaken ; but the 

 progress of the investigation was hindered by unavoidable circumstances. . 

 Your Committee therefore respectfully request to be reappointed. 



