180 Heports and Proceedings — Geological Societg of London. 



In awarcliug the Balance of the Proceeds of the Murchison Fund to Mr. Hall, 

 the Council is desirous of recoguizing the value of his many contributions to Australian 

 Geology, and especially of his detailed researches on the Zonal Distribution of the 

 Graptolites of Victoria. His work has thrown much light on the Lower Palaeozoic 

 history of Australia ; while his discovery of the coincidence of the Ordovician 

 auriferous belts with certain graptolitic zones is an illustration of the bearing of 

 palseontological research on economic questions. 



His application of the zonal method of research to the Kainozoic deposits of 

 Victoria has done much to elucidate the later geological history of the colouy, and 

 his bibliographic labours have, I am told, greatly facilitated the work of his scientific 

 colleagues in Victoria. We hope that this award will be of some assistance to him 

 in further researches. 



In presenting the Lyell Medal to Dr. Eamsay Heatley Traquair, 

 F.E.S., of Edinburgh, the President addressed him in the following 

 words : — Dr. Traquair, — 



The Council of the Geological Society, in presenting you with the Lyell Medal, 

 desires to express its sense of the great value of your many contributions to 

 Palaeontology. More than thirty years have elapsed since the publication of your 

 first papers on Fossil Fishes, and during the whole of that period you have been 

 giving evidence of your keen insight into the structui'e of these interesting forms of 

 life. I can only refer to one or two of youi" more important works. 



Your memoirs on the structure of the Palajoniscidaj and Platysomidaj are, I believe, 

 masterpieces of descriptive palteontology, and must for ever remain most vahiable 

 works of reference. Of great importance, from a geological point of view, have been 

 your researches bearing on the fish fauna of the Old Eed Sandstone of Scotland. 

 You have not only shown the complete divergence between the fauna of the Orcadian 

 Series and that of the Lower Old Red Sandstone south of the Grampians, but you have 

 also pointed out that in certain areas the fishes in different divisions of that formation 

 are arranged in life-zones — a fact which has been of service to the field-geologist. 



Your last, and perhaps your greatest, work is yoiir monograph on the remarkable 

 Fossil Fishes from the Silurian rocks of the South of Scotland. Your keen insight 

 and wide knowledge of fossil ichthyology enabled you to show, among other points, 

 that the group of the Heterostraci, which hitherto contained only the Pteraspida;, 

 must be considerably enlarged, and that a transition could be seen from the shagreen- 

 covered Coelolepidffi to the plate-covered Pteraspidce. You have also arrived at the 

 conclusion that the Heterostraci, though not actual Selachians, liad in all probability 

 a common origin with the primitive Elasmobi'anchs. These results must be of the 

 highest interest to biologists. 



I have great pleasure in handing to you the Medal, together with our best wishes 

 that you may long be spared to carry on your most valuable researches. 



Dr. Traquair replied as follows : — Mr. President, — 



Permit me to thank the Coimcil of the Geological Society for the honour which 

 they have this day conferred upon me, and you, sir, for the kind words which you 

 have spoken regarding my work. 



I am much gratified to hear that some of that work has been of use to the 

 stratigraphical geologist, as it is indeed impossible for the paleontologist who has 

 himself collected in the field to avoid taking an interest in his subject from the 

 geological standpoint also. 



The impulse, however, which led me to take up Fossil Fishes as a speciality was 

 entirely biological. While still a boy at school I broke open an ironstone nodule 

 containing a piece of a Palaeoniscid fish, and was thereupon seized by an intense 

 curiosity to know how the bones of its head were arranged. As I did not find the 

 information that I desired in the books, I resolved some day to try and work out 

 the problem myself. Need I remark that, when in due time I got fairly to work 

 on the subject, I found that fossil ichthyology presented a field sufficient to supply 

 not only myself, but many others, with original work for our lifetimes ? 



If the work that I have accomplished in this field falls far short of the realization 

 of early dreams, it is still gratifying for me to find that I have been able to do enough 

 to merit this expression of the Society's approbation. 



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