66 



ANNUAL ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT, 



B. B. WooDWAKD, E.L.S., F.G.S., etc. 



(Delivered litk February, 1908.) 



MALACOLOGY versus PAL^aiOCONCHOLOGY. 



Ladies and Gentlemen, — 



By long custom an annual address usually assumes the form of 

 a summary of some sort, and most frequently that of a review of the 

 status of the object for the advancement of which the Society addressed 

 exists, or of some particular branch thereof. 



In this wise I ventured last year to put before you some ideas 

 concerning what evidences there might be of evolutionary processes 

 among the Mollusca, and to-night would invite your attention to what 

 may be called the case of Malacology 'versus Palseoconchology. 



This title rather emphasizes a condition of affairs that certainly 

 ought not to exist, but which, unhappily, does exist even yet, namely, 

 that the gulf between the students of the recent and of the fossil forms 

 of Mollusca is still far wider than of right it should be. Each goes 

 too much his own way without taking account of the work of his 

 fellow, at the same time complaining, and often with justice, that the 

 other pays no heed to his discoveries or conclusions. 



Surely it is not asking too much of the morphologist that, though 

 apparently endowed with a plethora of recent material to work on, 

 he should nevertheless check the results of his investigations as to the 

 phylogenetic relationships of the groups with which he raaj^ be dealing 

 by the corresponding work of his palseontological brethren so far as 

 they will serve him. 



On the other hand, no condemnation is too strong for the palseontologist 

 who wilfully ignores the teaching of the morphologist and persists in 

 classing together convergence forms, well-known at the present day 

 (e.g. Breissensia and Septifer), that have no natural relationship. 

 Such only do harm to the Science by retarding its progress, and it 

 must be regretfully added that in this they are only too frequently 

 assisted by some students of recent forms, who occupy themselves 

 exclusively in compiling faunal lists on antiquated lines. 



Despite these dissonances among its devotees it is satisfactory to 

 realize that some very substantial progress has been made in the 

 study of Malacology as a whole, that becomes apparent when to 

 the morphologist' s conclusions as to the phylogeny of the phylum the 

 touchstone of the geological record is applied. 



For this purpose let us take the most recent classification of the 

 main groups of the Mollusca from the morphological point of view, 

 that of Dr. Paul Pelseneer in the fifth volume of the " Treatise on 

 Zoology, edited by Sir E. Ray Lankester" {Ij.1). If from this, which 

 seems to be the system most widely recognized at the present day, 



