508 



to dispense with their agency more and more in proportion as our 

 knowledge increases. 



ORGANIC REMAINS. 



Gentlemen, you have been already informed that the Council 

 have this year awarded two Wollaston Medals, one to Captain 

 Proby Cautley of the Bengal Artillery, and the other to Dr. Hugh 

 Falconer, Superintendent of the Botanic Garden at Saharunpore, 

 for their researches in the geology of India, and more particularly 

 their discovery of many fossil remains of extinct quadrupeds at the 

 southern foot of the Himalaya mountains. At our last Anniversary 

 I took occasion to acknowledge a magnificent present, consisting of 

 duplicates of these fossils, which the Society had received from 

 Captain Cautley, and since that time other donations of great value 

 have been transmitted by him to our museum. These Indian fossil 

 bones belong to extinct species of herbivorous and carnivorous 

 mammalia, and to reptiles of the genera crocodile, gavial, emys, and 

 trionyx, and to several species of fish, with which shells of fresh- 

 water genera are associated, the whole being entombed in a for- 

 mation of sandstone, conglomerate, marl, and clay, in inclined stra- 

 tification, composing a range of hills called the Siwalik, between 

 the rivers Sutledge and Ganges. These hills rise to the height of 

 from 500 to 1000 feet above the adjacent plains, some of the loftiest 

 peaks being 3000 feet above the level of the sea. 



When Captain Cautley and Dr. Falconer first discovered these 

 remarkable remains their curiosity was awakened, and they felt 

 convinced of their great scientific value ; but they were not versed in 

 fossil osteology, and being stationed on the remote confines of our 

 Indian possessions, they were far distant from any living authorities 

 or books on comparative anatomy to which they could refer. The 

 manner in which they overcame these disadvantages, and the en- 

 thusiasm with which they continued for years to prosecute their 

 researches when thus isolated from the scientific world is truly ad- 

 mirable. Dr. Royle has permitted me to read a part of their cor- 

 respondence with him when they were exploring the Siwalik moun- 

 tains, and I can bear witness to their extraordinary energy and per- 

 severance. From time to time they earnestly requested that Cuvier's 

 works on osteology might be sent out to them, and expressed their 



