386 The Talceontographkal Society of London. 



in the chair, when it was resolved that a Society be constituted, the 

 object of which should be " to figure and describe as completely 

 as possible a stratigraphical series of British fossils." The meeting 

 further determined that the annual subscription should be one 

 guinea, that the word Pala^ontographical should be the name, and 

 that the Society should consist of a President, Treasurer, Secretary, 

 and Council of sixteen members. On that day Sir Henry De la 

 Beche was elected President, Mr. S. V. Wood, Treasurer, and Mr. 

 (afterwards Professor) J. Morris, Secretary. The members of the 

 first Council were Professor T. Bell, Mr. J. S. Bowerbank, Mr. 

 F. E. Edwards, Sir P. Egerton, Dr. H. Falconer, Dr. W. H. Fitton, 

 Mr. J. W. Flower, Prof. E. Forbes, Mr. S. B. Ibbetson, Mr. (after- 

 wards Sir) C. Lyell, Prof. J. Phillips, Mr. (afterwards Sir) J. 

 Prestwich, Mr. D. Sharpe, Mr. J. Smith, Mr. N. T. Wetherell, and 

 Mr. A. White. Of these one alone survives, Prof. Sir J. Prestwich. 1 

 In the May of the same year, Prof. Morris sent in his resignation, 

 and Mr. Bowerbank was appointed his successor. 



The first Annual Eeport was read on the 23rd March, 1848, when 

 it was stated that 640 names had been forwarded for membership, 

 that 363 subscriptions had been received, and that the first volume, 

 '• The Univalves of the Crag," by Mr. S. V. Wood, was ready for 

 delivery. This book contains the earliest list of members, and 

 shows that 568 persons and thirty libraries were entered on the 

 list at that date. 



On August 14, 1848, a report was presented to a special 

 meeting at Swansea (where the British Association was assembled), 

 in which it was mentioned that offers of monographs had been made 

 on the Conchifera and Foraminifera of the Crag, the Shells of the 

 London Clay, the fossil Eeptilia of Great Britain, the Crustacea of 

 the London Clay, the Corals of the Secondary formations, the Shells 

 of the Fresh- water formation above the Crag, the Tertiary Shells of 

 the Clyde, the Spongiadae of the Chalk formation, the Fossils of the 

 Magnesian Limestone, the Belemnites of the British formations, 

 the Fossil Testacea of the Great Oolite, and the Entomostracous 

 animals of the Chalk, Gault, and Greensand. 



In the second Annual Eeport, read 23rd March, 1849, there is 

 evidence that the Society had become established. The local 

 secretaries are spoken of as being forty in number, and the enrolled 

 members as many as 732. It is added that 615 persons had paid for 

 the first volume, and that the receipts for the years 1848-9 were 

 (irrespective of the balance from the previous year) £690 19s. Each 

 succeeding year realized larger funds, until the maximum was 

 reached in 1867, when over 800 subscribers had joined the Society. 

 It is remarkable how many persons must have been enrolled as 

 subscribers during the past forty-nine years, seeing that the whole 

 of the original members have, with eight exceptions, passed away. 

 Four of these are still subscribers. At present the subscriptions 

 from Libraries exceed those from private individuals in the proportion 



1 Sir Joseph Prestwich died at his residence, Darent Hulme, Shoreham, Kent, 

 a few days after the anniversary, namely, on 23rd June, 1896. 





