! 470 
the Devonian System, and 18 drawers illustrating the Trap Rocks 
of Devon and Cornwall. There are also 10 new drawers, illustra- 
ting the Carboniferous, or Mountain Limestone, of England and the 
Isle of Man. Many Fossils also have been arranged in the Series ~ 
from the English Chalk. 
Valuable additions have been made to our Scotch Collection of 
Plants and Fishes from the Coal measures; and 120 specimens of 
fishes from the Old Red Sandstone near Forres, have been presented: 
by Lady Gordon Cumming, and named by Agassiz. All our other Ich- 
thyolites. from the British Series have also been named by Agassiz. 
In the Ivish Collection 28 drawers have been arranged from the 
Mountain Limestone, presented by the Earl of Enniskillen, Sir P. 
Egerton, Mr. Weaver and Mr. Griffith. 
In effecting these arrangements, the determination of the organic 
remains has been made by Mr. Lonsdale, and the description of the 
names, localities, and references to books duly registered by Mr. 
Woodward, your Assistant Curator, who has been advantageously 
occupied also in preparing enlarged Illustrations of the papers read 
at our Evening Meetings, and in assisting the students and numerous 
visitors in your Museum. 81 other drawers have also been labelled 
and catalogued by Mr. Woodward. 
Baron de Meyendorf has presented to us a fine specimen of 
erystallized native gold from Ekaterinenburg, and a specimen of 
platinum from Tagil. : 
About 150 volumes have been added to our Library, including all 
. the published numbers of D’Orbigny’s “ Paléontologie Francaise.” 
The maps and charts published last year by the Board of Ordnance 
and the Admiralty, have also been presented to our Collection. 
In reviewing public transactions connected with Geology, con- 
ducted beyond. the limits of our establishment, and of the deepest 
interest to us, as furthering our primary object, of advancing the 
knowledge of the structure of the earth, we gratefully acknowledge 
the cooperation of Her Majesty’s Government in the departments 
of Woods and Forests and of the Board of Ordnance, and also that 
of the Trustees of the British Museum, the British Association for 
the Advancement of Science, and of the Institution of Civil Engi- 
neers ; and in these cooperations we recognize an increasing feeling 
and general acknowledgement, not only of the scientific importance, 
but also of the pecuniary value and statistical utility of geological 
investigations ; in directing the researches of industry to those points 
where they may be profitably applied, and in preventing such waste- 
ful expenditures of capital, as, under ignorance of the internal struc- 
_ture of the earth, and the peculiar productions of each geological 
“formation, we have, in times past, seen thrown away in ruinous 
searches after coal, where the slightest knowledge of geology would 
have given certain information that no coal could possibly be found. 
Never more shall we witness a recurrence of such unpardonable 
waste of public money as that which is said to have been lavished in 
sending lime from Plymouth to build the fortress of Gibraltar on 
a rock, itself exclusively composed of limestone. 
