184 Reports and Proceedinys — Geological Societi/ of London. 



of the Girvan district of Ayrshire. The palaeontology bears so closely on the structure 

 of this complicated region, that a detailed knowledge of it is indispensable to any 

 geologist who attempts to unravel that structure. 



Her collections have been of more than ordinary value, because of the careful 

 record that she has kept from the first of the exact locaKty and horizon at which each 

 fossil was collected. She has generously placed her specimens at the disposal of all 

 geologists and palaeontologists engaged in the study of the Palseozoic rocks and fossils, 

 and a large number of them have been described in the monographs of Davidson, 

 Nicholson, Etheridge, and others. When working in the Girvan district, the officers 

 of the Geological Sm-vey of Scotland checked their own collection by that of 

 Mrs. Gray, and paid a well-earned tribute to its value by publishing in their memoir 

 nn the Silurian Rocks of Southern Scotland a full list of all her fossils supplementary 

 to their own. My own personal indebtedness to the collections made by Mrs. Gray 

 and her family, when I was working at the geology of that district, was especially 

 great; and it affords me no ordinary gratification to be able to hand to you, for 

 transmission to her, the Balance of the Proceeds of the Murchison Geological Fund, 

 on behalf of the Council of this Society. 



Dr. Woodward, in reply, read the following letter which had been 

 forwarded to him by the recipient : — 



" Dear Dr. Woodward, 



"I am gratified to learn that you intend to be present at the anniversary meeting 

 of the Geological Society, and I thank you for your kindness in allowing me to 

 nominate you to receive for me on that occasion the Murchison Fund, awarded by the 

 Council of the Society in consideration of what they too generously characterize as 

 ' great services to Geological Science.' 



" My work in the Girvan district, among the fossils of the Silurian rocks, has been 

 to me a lifelong pleasiu-e, augmented of late years by the knowledge that my collection 

 has proved of service to the Geological Survey of Scotland, as well as to individual 

 geologists — to name among these but the late Dr. Thomas Davidson. 



" It is incumbent on me, however, to record that my husband, the late Mr. Robert 

 Gray, taking a keen interest in my pursuits, shared with me during many years the 

 agreeable task, not only of searching for fossils, but of helping to work them out 

 when found, so that it is difficult for me, in the present circumstances, to repress 

 a pang of regret that he cannot likewise participate in my satisfaction at the Geological 

 Society's very gracious recognition of what, to some extent, was om* joint work. 



" I value very highly the honour conferred upon me, and beg you to convey to the 

 Council my grateful thanks and siacere acknowledgments." 



The President then presented part of the Balance of the Proceeds 

 of the Lyell Geological Fund to Mr. George Edward Dibley, 

 addressing him as follows : — Mr. Dibley, — 



You have, for a number of years, devoted the leisure hours of a busy life to the 

 careful collecting of fossils from the Chalk, and have thereby added much to our 

 knowledge of the distribution of species in the several life-zones. The results of 

 these labours have been partly published in the Proceediags of the Geologists' 

 Association, and they include the record of the discovery of a specimen of especial 

 interest, as it is believed to be a representative of the Kzard-like Rhynchocephalia, no 

 example of which has been previously recorded from the Chalk. 



I have much pleasui-e in handing to you a moiety of the Balance of the Lyell Fund, 

 which has been awarded to you by the Council of this Society. 



Mr. Dibley replied in the following words : — Mr. President, — 



I beg to thank the Council of the Geological Society most heartily for theii" kind 

 appreciation of my efforts to further the accurate knowledge of our Cretaceous geology 

 by the systematic and patient collecting of fossils zone by zone, a method of research 

 so clearly demonstrated by you. Sir, in the older Palseozoic rocks. I can assure you 

 that it is a delight to me to be able to devote each week-end to this branch of natiu'al 

 science ; and 1 only trust that I may be spared to continue my labours on new ground 

 as well as on the old, so that I may be of further use in promoting the advance of 

 geological science. 



I may perhaps be allowed to add that, in thanking you for this honour conferred 

 upon me, it gives me especial pleasure to receive it at your hands. 



