19 



Dr. Gregory pointed out the resemblances between the fishes 

 and other vertebrates, and also the differences, chief among 

 the latter being that between fins and limbs, and traced the 

 development of the fin from a simple fold of skin to the flexible 

 paddle attained by a few forms. One of the greatest gaps in 

 evolutionary history is that between even the most advanced 

 fish paddle and even the most generahzed limb. The speaker 

 discussed the claims of the various sub-classes of fishes to be 

 considered as the ancestors of the terrestrial animals. The 

 two possibilities are the DipnoanS; which have modern rep- 

 resentatives in the limg-fishes of Africa, Australia and South 

 America, and the Crossopterygian fishes of the Devonian period, 

 represented today only by Polyptenis and Callamoicthys of 

 Africa. The evidence is strongly in favor of the Crossopteryg- 

 ians. The paper was fully illustrated with lantern-slides, 

 and specimens of fossil fishes were on exhibition after adjourn- 

 ment. 



March 14, 1916. — Annual Dinner, held at the Hotel Evelyn, 

 the President presiding, and attended by twenty-five members 

 (including Messrs. Halter, LaDow, Kieran and duVivier who 

 did not attend the Annual Meeting), seven guests of the Society 

 (Mrs. J. A. Allen, Dr. and Mrs. Frederic A. Lucas, Mr. H. E. 

 Anthony and Miss Demerell, Mr. W. DeW. Miller, and Mr. 

 R. C. Andrews), and thirteen guests of individual members, 

 besides Dr. J. A. Allen, a Resident Member and the Society's 

 guest of honor, to whom was presented the Society's medal, 

 in recognition of the value of his contributions to the sciences 

 of mammalogy and ornithology. 



Dr. Allen replied in part as follows: 



Mr. President, and Members of the Linncean Society of New York: 



I thank you heartily for this evidence of your kindness and of your 

 appreciation. 



Thirty-one years ago I entered upon my duties as a curator in the Amer- 

 ican Museum of Natural History. A cordial welcome was officially ex- 

 tended to me by this Society a few weeks after my arrival in New York, 

 by a dinner at the Murray Hill Hotel on the evening of May 5, 1885. Mr. 

 E. P. Bicknell was then President. A long address was made by Dr. 

 C. Hart Merriam, lauding my achievements as a naturalist and explorer. 

 This was followed by other speeches of less length but of equal cordiality 



