441 



structions is recorded in the volumes of your Transactions, and a 

 mere recapitulation of such of his writings as illustrate our subject is 

 uncalled for on this occasion ; but I cannot avoid remarking, that a 

 Memoir on Zootomy, lately read before us, has proved a posthumous 

 tribute to his fame. Of all the comparisons which he had instituted 

 in his Ossemens FossUes between the lost and living species, no one 

 showed more ingenuity, and deep acquaintance with the laws of ani- 

 mal ceconomy, than that in which he pointed out the close analogy 

 subsisting between the gigantic Megatherium of South America, and 

 the existing tribe of Sloths. 



Well, therefore, may English geologists rejoice, that the discovery 

 of another individual of this species has enabled one of our Fellows, 

 eminent for his skill in comparative anatomy, to confirm the views of 

 our great zoological master. 



Thus, Gentlemen, the name of Cuvier, associated, as it has been, 

 with discoveries forming the true basis of geology, is also interwoven 

 with the most recent advances of this Society; and, as an appeal is 

 now made to the naturalists of all nations to unite in a tribute to his 

 memory, may those who have reaped such fruits of his genius, and 

 are so justly proud of having sympathized in his living fame, hasten 

 to record their obligations on the pedestal of that monument which is 

 to be erected on the field of his greatest glory. 



I now proceed to lay before you a sketch of the progress of geology 

 in our own country during the past year. Deviating from the chrono- 

 logical order in which the different memoirs were considered at the 

 last anniversary, I shall on this occasion, for the sake of greater per- 

 spicuity, class them under scientific heads : in so doing, I shall en- 

 deavour to connect our advances with the general progress of geology 

 upon the continent, by passing allusions to such works of foreigners 

 as the active nature of my own employment has permitted me to 

 consult. 



Recent Deposits. — In the class of historic alluvia, the Rev. J. 

 Yates has described a partially submerged and ancient forest near the 

 mouth of the river Dovey, chiefly composed of the Pinus sijlvestris, 

 and supposed to have been destroyed by the accidental demolition 

 of a sea-dyke. A similar case of a submerged wood had previously been 

 traced on the shores of Hampshire by Mr. C. Harris, who in commu- 

 nicating the discovery to Mr. Lyell, has proposed a most ingenious, 

 and probable explanation of the cause of these appearances *. 



In attempting to account for the existence of large and shady 

 forests on spots where the coasts are now entirely shorn of vegetation, 

 we must embrace in our consideration the similar phenomena which 

 are so numerous, as almost to form a submarine fringe around our 

 island ; and from these we may conclude, that when the whole 

 country was densely clothed with wood, the forests might have ex- 



* Principles of Geology, vol. ii. p. 274, Second edition. 



