Geological Society of London. 187 



" To-day I have attempted, in a very imperfect manner, to bring 

 into the focus of my discourse a summary of the fossil Malacostraca, 

 to which our modern Crustacea chiefly belong. It is true that the 

 evidences of the existence of this division prior to the Mesozoic 

 epoch are but few and scanty ; nevertheless, even in Carboniferous 

 times, if not in still earlier ones, we catch a gleam of the light of the 

 living life-forms of to-day, shining clearly, though afar off, down the 

 corridors of time, revealing ancestral forms, the prototypes of those 

 which people so abundantly our modern seas, proving that the living 

 present and the far distant past are indissolubly linked together, and 

 that the stream of life has flowed, from its parent source, through all 

 time, at first in tiny rills and murmuring streamlets, yet ever 

 growing stronger, ' from running brooks to rivers wide,' pressing 

 ever and for ever, onwards from the river to the sea. 



" As to the minute details of the course which the evolution of 

 Crustacean life has followed in past times, we can, in many cases, 

 only infer, we cannot absolutely prove our proposition. Thus we 

 have no doubt that the aquatic Eurypterida gave rise to the terrestrial 

 Scorpionida, but we cannot show any direct evidence, because we 

 have Euryptertis and Scorpio side by side in Upper Silurian rocks, 

 but the earlier evolutionary history is wanting, Again, Nebalia- 

 like forms are most probably in the direct line of the ancestry of 

 the modern Malacostraca, and in the Carbonifei'ous period we have 

 Cumacea-Mke forms, which have probably been derived from 

 Ceratiocaris and have given rise to higher Malacostraca ; but 

 Macruran and other forms of Podophthalmata and Edriophthalmata 

 were already in existence in the Devonian, and both Cumacea3 and 

 Nebalias continue to exist unchanged to the present day. 



" Looked at broadly, however, the Crustacea show the same 

 upward and onward development which marks other living forms 

 whose geological history can be traced. The great extinct orders of 

 Eurypterida and Trilobita have disappeared ; the other Entomostracan 

 orders have survived, but they no longer occupy the whole field ; 

 with the close of Palaeozoic times the Malacostraca have developed 

 in strength, and now occupy the stage associated with the Tracheata 

 proper, and the King-crabs and Scorpions, which latter, like the 

 Ostracoda and Phyllopoda, are survivals from a pre-Silurian age. 



" Truly, ' The old order changeth, yielding place to new.' " 



(The address was illustrated by about 100 drawings and 

 specimens of Crustacea.) 



The ballot for the Council and Officers was taken, and the following were duly- 

 elected for the ensuing year: — Council: H. Bauerman, Esq.; W. T. Blanford, 

 LL.D., F.R.S.; Prof. T. G. Bonney, D.Sc, LL.D., F.R.S. ; Prof. W. Boyd 

 Dawkins M.A., F.R.S. ; H. T. Brown, Esq., F.R.S. : Sir John Evans, K.C.B., 

 LL.D., F.R.S., ; Sir A. Geikie, D.Sc, LL.D., F.R.S. L. & E. ; Prof. A. H. 

 Green, M.A., F.R.S.; J. W. Gregory, D.Sc; F. W. Harmer, Esq.; R. S. 

 Hemes, Esq., M.A. ; Henry Hicks, M.D., F.R.S. ; Rev. Edwin Hill, M.A. ; 

 T. V. Holmes, Esq. ; R. Lvdekker, Esq., B.A., F.R.S. ; Lieut. -General C. A. 

 McMahon; J. E. Marr, Esq.," M.A., F.R.S.; Prof. H. A. Miers, M.A. ; E. T. 

 Newton. Esq., F.R.S. ; F. Rutley, Esq. ; A. Strahan, Esq., M.A. ; J. J. H. 

 Teall, Esq., M.A., F.R.S. ; H. Woodward, LL.D., F.R.S. 



