Miscellaneous — Royal Medal to Dr. Traqiiair. 47 



The model was first placed on exhibition on the oecasion of the visit 

 of foreign geologists at the Centenary of the Geological Society of 

 London and evoked their enthusiastic admiration. It measures 

 23 X 15 cm. The wax of which it is made will stand any extremes 

 of temperature likely to be met with in a museum, and the colours 

 are believed to be quite permanent ; they are based upon those of the 

 recent Limulus, and Sir Ray Lankester has shown great interest in 

 their selection. The model, which, it may be mentioned, has been 

 subjected to the careful scrutiny of Professor Holm himself, certainly 

 looks quite as natural and lifelike as any specimen of a recent 

 Arthropod exhibited in the museum. 



The Geological Department hopes to have a limited number of 

 copies of this model, which it will be prepared to exchange with other 

 museums. Naturally a model of this nature, which has taken a very 

 long time to make, demands an exchange of considerable value, but 

 for information on this matter inquiries should be addressed to 

 Dr. A. Smith "Woodward, F.R.S., the Keeper of the Geological 

 Department, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, S.W. 



Royal Medal to Dr. R. H. Traqtjaie, F.R.S., F.G.S. 



In the Anniversary Address to the Royal Society by Lord 

 Rayleigh on November 30th, 1907, the President said His Majesty 

 has approved the award of a Royal Medal to Dr. Ramsay 

 H. Traquair, F.R.S. Dr. Traquair is honoured on the ground of 

 his long - continued researches on the fossil fishes of Palaeozoic 

 strata, which have culminated, within the past 10 years, in his 

 discovery of new groups of Silurian and Devonian fishes, and in his 

 complete exposition of the structure of Brepanaspis, Phlydenaspis^ and 

 other remarkable forms. For nearly forty years Dr. Traquair has 

 been busy with the description of fossil fishes, mostly from the 

 Palaeozoic rocks of Scotland, and he is deservedly held to be one of 

 the most eminent palaeontologists of the day. He has been highly 

 successful in the interpretation of the often very obscure and frag- 

 mentary remains which he has had to elucidate, and his restorations 

 of fishes have won such credit as to appear in all modern text-books 

 of Palaeontology. It may be said that his work, notwithstanding the 

 great difiiculties of the subject, has well stood the test of time. 

 Dr. Traquair has done much to advance our knowledge of the osteology 

 of fishes generally. His earliest memoirs on the asymmetrical skull of 

 flat-fishes and on the skull of Polypterus remain models of exactness. 

 His acquaintance with osteology enabled him to show how former 

 superficial examination of the Palaeozoic fishes had led to wrong inter- 

 pretations. He demonstrated that Chirolepis was not an Acanthodian, 

 as previously supposed, but a true Palaeoniscid. In 1877 he satis- 

 factorily defined the Palaeoniscidae and their genera for the first time, 

 and conclusively proved them to be more nearly related to the 

 Sturgeons than to any of the other modern Ganoids with which they 

 had been associated. He thus made an entirely new departure in the 

 interpretation of extinct fishes, replacing an artificial classification by 



