Geological Society of London. 185 



From the great excess of Herbivorous forms, and the position of the 

 fissure, the author assumed that the latter lay in the line of the annual 

 migrations of the Bison and Reindeer, during which some individuals 

 might fall in ; and he explained the presence of the carnivores by their 

 having followed the migratory herds, in order to prey upon stragglers, 

 as is now the case with the Reindeer in Siberia, and the Bison in North 

 America. He further showed, from the examination of the young 

 teeth of the Bison and Reindeer, that these animals must have passed 

 this way at different seasons of the year, and indicated that the deposit 

 must be regarded as of Pleistocene age, though whether pre- or post- 

 glacial is an open question. 



III. — Aknttal General Meeting. — February 19, 1875. — John 

 Evans, Esq., Y.P.R.S., President, in the Chair. 



The Secretary read the Reports of the Council, and of the Library 

 and Museum Committee. The general position of the Society was 

 described as satisfactory, although, owing to extraordinary expenses 

 during the year, the excess of income over expenditure was but small 

 in comparison with former years. The Society was said to be pro- 

 sperous, and the number of Fellows to be rapidly increasing. 



In presenting the Wollaston Gold Medal to Professor de Eoninck, 

 of Liege, F.M.G.S., the President addressed him as follows : — 



Monsieur le Docteur de Eoninck, — It is my pleasing duty to place 

 in your hands the Yfollaston Medal, which has been awarded to you 

 by the Council of this Society in recognition of your extensive and 

 valuable researches and numerous geological publications, especially in 

 Carboniferous Palaeontology. These researches are so well known, and 

 have gained you so world-wide a reputation, that I need say no more 

 than that your Palseontological works must of necessity be almost 

 daily consulted by all who are interested in the fauna of the Carboni- 

 ferous period. Already in 1853 the numerous and able Palaaontological 

 works which you had published in the preceding twenty years had 

 attracted the grateful notice of the Council of this Society, who in 

 that year begged you to accept the Balance of the proceeds of the 

 Wollaston Fund, in aid of the publication of your work on Encrinites, 

 then in progress. It was in the same year that the Society had the 

 satisfaction of electing you a Foreign Member of their body ; and now, 

 after a second period of rather more than twenty years devoted to the 

 study not only of Geology and Palaeontology, but also of chemical 

 analysis, I have the pleasure of conferring upon you the highest addi- 

 tional honour it lies in the power of this Society to bestow, by pre- 

 senting you with the Medal founded by the illustrious Wollaston, who 

 was himself also a Chemist as well as a Geologist. If anything could 

 add to the satisfaction we feel in thus bestowing the Medal, it is your 

 presence among us this day, which will enable you more fully to 

 appreciate our unanimous sense of the high value of your labours in 

 the cause which we all have at heart. 



Prof, de Eoninck, in reply, said : Monsieur le President, Messieurs, — 

 La langue Anglaise m'etant trop peu familiere pour me permettre de 

 m'en servir, afin de vous exprimer toute ma reconnaissance pour le 

 grand honneur que vous venez de me faire, en me decernant la Medaille 



