Reports and Proceedings — Geological Society of London. 185 



The President, in handing the remainder of the Balance of the 

 Proceeds of the Lyell Geological Fund, awarded to Mr. Sydney S. 

 Buckman, to Dr. Bather, M,A., for transmission to the recipient, 

 addressed him in the following words : — Dr. Bather, — 



In the year 1897 the Council of the Geological Society awarded to MiT Buckman 

 the proceeds of one of their Funds, in acknowledgment of the important work which 

 he had already accomplished among the Jurassic luvertebrata, and of his investiga- 

 tions into the stratigraphical details of their containing formations, expressing their 

 confidence that he would be certain to continue and extend that work. 



Their confidence has been more than justified ; for since that time, not only has 

 he issued important supplements to his Monograph on the Inferior Oolite Ammonites, 

 published by the Pahieoutographical Society, and continued his stratigraphical studies 

 on Dundry Hill, and on the Bajocian and Contiguous Deposits in the Northern 

 'Cotteswolds, but he has broken new ground in his memoir on " Homoeomorphy 

 among Jurassic Brachiopoda," that will doubtless have far-reaching I'esults. He 

 has also published iuteresting and suggestive papers upon river-development, especially 

 with regard to the genesis of the Severn and the Wye. 



For a quarter of a century he has devoted his energies and gemus to the advance 

 of geology and pahieontology, and each year he has presented to science something 

 valuable and original. The Council of the Geological Society, wliile sensible of the 

 inadequacy of this recognition of his labours, hope that he will accept it as an earnest 

 of their appreciation of his scientific work. 



Dr. Bather, in reply, said : — Mr. President, — 



In receiving this award on behalf of my friend Mr. Buckman, it had not been my 

 intention to depart from the precedent that commends silence to the recipients of 

 funds as the most suitable expression of their gratitude ; in fact, I took care to leave 

 at home the speecli he ^vl■ote out for me. But since this somewhat recent precedent 

 has twice been broken this afternoon, I might seem Avanting, both in courtesy to 

 yourself and in loyalty to Mr. Buckman, if I did not give the gist of his remarks. 



Mr. Buckman is aware that his pala^ontological work, especially that relating to 

 -Ammonites, has met with considerable criticism. He is therefore particularly grateful 

 for this recognition on the part of the Council of the Geological Society. The 

 principles that have animated his work on the Ammonites have been applied by him 

 also to the Brachiopods. They are, in fact, principles that are working a vast 

 revolution in the whole of palajontology. The interpretation of the phenomena of 

 homojomorphy — that is to say, the appearance of species, often at different periods, 

 perplexmgly similar in outward form though descended from different stocks — will 

 lead to much more exact identification of fossUs. This preciser palseontology, in 

 conjunction with field-work among the Secondary rocks on the lines indicated in 

 Mr. Buckman's last paper contributed to this Society, will, he is confident, have 

 . a distinct practical value, since it is bound to throw light on the position of concealed 

 coal-basins. Unfortunately, such wealth as may be obtained in consequence of this 

 .purely scientific research will, under present laws, fall not to the nation but to land- 

 owners ; least of all will the students, to whose researches it is due, receive any 

 material benefit — except, perhaps, such an award as this, for which I have to offer 

 to you. Sir, Mr. Buckman's sincere thanks. 



The President then proceeded to read his Anniversary Address, in 

 which he first gave obituary notices of several Fellows deceased 

 since the last annual meeting, including the Rev. Professor 

 T. Wiltshire (elected a Fellow in 1856), Dr. A. E. C. Selwyn 

 (elected in 1871), Mr. J. C. Mansel-Pleydell (el. in 1857), 

 Mr. W. H. Penning (el. in 1868), Mr. W. Gunn (el. in 1876), 

 Mr. J. Macpherson (el. in 1890), Mr. A. Vaughan Jennings 

 (el. in 1891), Mr. J. Landon (el. in 1887), Mr. A. L. Collins 

 (el. in 1892), Major J. W. Powell, Foreign Correspondent (el. in 

 1892), Mr. A. Hyatt, Foreign Correspondent (el. in 1897), Lord 

 Pirbright (el. in 1861), Mr. F. Stevenson (el. in 1877), and 

 Dr. Hugh Exton (el. in 1883). 



