203 



ready been noticed in the Anniversary address of my predecessor 

 in this chair. 



From the same pen we have also a description of the bones of 

 the Iguanodon and other large reptiles, discovered at Sandown 

 Bay in the Isle of Wight and near Swanwich in the Isle of Purbeck. 

 In both localities the formation is the same with that of the sand- 

 stone of Tilgate Forest, in which Mr. Mantell first discovered the 

 remains of the Iguanodon, an herbivorous reptile of extraordinary 

 stature. Dr. Buckland describes an external metacarpal bone (six 

 inches in length, five inches in its greatest breadth, and six pounds 

 in weight) of the right foot of some reptile, supposed, from the 

 stratum in which it is found in Sandown Bay and from the bones 

 with which it is associated, to be an Iguanodon. It is in linear 

 dimensions twice as large as the corresponding bone of a large 

 elephant : and we must consider the small proportion which the legs 

 of a reptile bear to the length of its body, in order to form any 

 notion of the gigantic proportions of this quadruped. 



Finally, I have to notice a communication from Mr. Hennah, 

 containing a systematic and descriptive catalogue of the fossils of 

 the transition limestone of Plymouth, read at our last meeting. 



Such, Gentlemen, have been the memoirs presented to us since 

 our former Anniversary. I have brought them before you in that 

 order in which they seem to cast light upon each other ; and I 

 have indulged in no comments but such as sprang immediately 

 from the subjects themselves. 



I rejoice in the number and activity of our provincial institutions ; 

 and still more, that the same spirit which has of late years induced 

 so many Englishmen to combine for the furtherance of natural 

 knowledge, is extending to our colonies in America and Asia. 

 From the labours of so many ingenious men, united for the same 

 end, and with opportunities for observation so widely different, the 

 happiest results may be anticipated. 



I should wish to say something on the general structure of the 

 Alps ; and to describe the speculations of one of our Foreign Mem- 

 bers and best fellow-labourers on the different epochs of eleva- 

 tion. These are inviting topics, to which, on a future occasion, I 

 may perhaps return : but had I even time for their discussion, it 

 would not be well for me, at present, to trust myself in so wide a 

 field. 



Of the various works poured out during the past year from the 

 German and French press, on subjects connected with geology, 

 it is impossible for me to offer an analysis or even an enumeration. 

 Most of them are the productions not only of great talent, but of 

 great good sense ; not only of great labour, but of labour happily 

 directed. And it is no small matter of pride to this Society, that 

 its researches have been highly valued by the naturalists of the 

 Continent. They have not given their praises to us grudgingly ; 

 but have sometimes scattered them with a lavish hand ; and have, 

 I fear, awarded to us higher honours than we ourselves can be 



