186 Reports and Proceedings — Geological Society of London. 



two of the most remarkable zoological books published during the last decade of the 

 nineteenth century. I refer to "Mammals, Living and Extinct, " by Sir William 

 Flower and him, and to the " Dictionary of Birds " by Professor A. Newton. Of late 

 years he has devoted himself more especially to the study of recent forms ; but in his 

 work on the Geographical History of Mammals he has successfully brought his wide 

 knowledge of the mammalian life of past times to bear on the important question of 

 geographical distribution. 



As an old fellow-student of his at Cambridge it gives me the greatest pleasure 

 to be the means of transmitting to him the Lyell Medal on behalf of the Council 

 of the Geological Society. In making the award the Council desire especially to 

 commemorate the important services which he has rendered to Vertebrate Palaaontology. 



Dr. Bather, having expressed on behalf of the recipient the 

 latter's regret that an engagement at Norwich prevented him from 

 being present in person to receive the Medal, read the following 

 communication from Mr. Lydekker : — 



' ' The award of a Lyell Medal would under any circumstances be a cause of great 

 gratification to the recipient. But I have special reason to be gratified at the reward 

 that the Council have been good enough to bestow on me, because in matters scientific 

 I seem to have passed unconsciously through a kind of evolutionary process, and to 

 have departed further and further from the line of study connected with the Geological 

 Society. During my term of service on the Geological Survey of India I was largely 

 occupied with Geology proper, although devoting a considerable proportion of my 

 time to Vertebrate Palaeontology. For several years after my return to this country 

 that fascinating subject occupied the greater share of my attention. But of late years 

 I have been led by the force of circumstances to transfer my time more and more to 

 recent animals and geographical distribution. Moreover, i regret to say, much of 

 my time has been given to popular or semi-popular writing rather than to strictly 

 scientific work. Under these circumstances it is especially gratifying to find that the 

 Geological Society is not unmindful of my past efforts to add to our knoAvledge of 

 extinct Vertebrates ; a task which I hope, as opportunity occurs, may to some extent 

 be resumed in the future. To you, sir, as representing the Council, I have the 

 pleasure of tendering my best thanks for the honour now conferred upon me ; and 

 I may add that my pleasure is intensified by receiving the award at the hands of 

 a Cambridge contemporary who has risen to the distinguished position now occupied 

 by yourself." 



The President then handed another Lyell Medal, awarded to 

 Prof. Anton Fritsch, F.M.G.S., of Prague, to Prof. H. G. Seeley 

 for transmission to the recipient, addressing him in the following 

 words : — Professor Seeley, — 



The Council of the Geological Society have awarded a Lyell Medal to Dr. Anton 

 Fritsch, of Prague, in evidence of their appreciation of the value of his published 

 works upon the Palajontology of Bohemia. In 1872, 1878, and 1887 Professor 

 Fritsch gave us a series of volumes on the Cephalopoda, Eeptiles, Fishes, and 

 Crustacea of the Bohemian Cretaceous Rocks. But he is best known by his researches 

 in Palfeozoic Palaeontology. Twenty years ago, after the publication of the first 

 results of his labours on the Fossils of the Pilsen Coal-basin, this Society made to 

 him an award from the Lyell Geological Fund. It is fitting, therefore, that he 

 should receive the Lyell Medal on the completion of this great work, which represents 

 twenty-five years of strenuous labour, and has gained for its author a position of 

 great eminence in the paloeontological world. 



Much of the material with which he has had to deal would probably have been 

 neglected by less accomplished observers. By careful drawing with his own hands, 

 and by the aid of electrotype reproductions of perishable parts, he has brought 

 vividly before us a new Permian terrestrial fauna, remarkable for its labyrinthodontia, 

 fishes, arachnida, insects, and myriapoda. Professor Fritsch has not only described 

 a vast amount of new palaeontological material, but he has also used the knowledge 

 thus gained for the purpose of "elucidating the affinities of the different extinct groups- 

 with each other and with their nearest livings allies. 



