ANNIVERSARY MEETING. WOLLASTON MEDAL. 143 



special interest. to him; and in this department he has made himself 

 unquestionably the highest authority in England. He has already 

 embodied the results of his examination of fossil corals that have 

 been submitted to him from various parts of the world in six sepa- 

 rate communications, in which the determinations, whether generic 

 or specific, have been deduced from a most diligent examination of 

 the component structures, and where, with his characteristic fidelity 

 and modesty, he has shown a careful regard to the labours of others, 

 so far as their works were accessible to him. These communications 

 have been, — 1st, On Six Species from the Upper Cretaceous Beds 

 of New Jersey ; 2ndly, On Ten Species from the Miocene Tertiary 

 Formations of North America ; 3rdly, On Twenty-six Species from 

 the Eocene Tertiary Formations of the same country ; 4thly, On Six 

 Species from the Palaeozoic Formation of Van Diemen's Land, in 

 the Appendix to Mr. Darwin's work on Volcanic Islands; 5thly, 

 On the Corals of the Palaeozoic Series of Australia and Van Diemen's 

 Land, in the work of Mr. Strezlecki ; and 6thly, On some cha- 

 racteristic Palaeozoic Corals of Russia, in the Appendix to the first 

 volume of Sir Roderick Murchison's great work on that country. 

 His contributions to the works of Mr. Darwin and Mr. Strezlecki 

 are peculiarly interesting, as being the first descriptions of corals 

 from the palaeozoic rocks of the southern hemisphere, some of which 

 are at present peculiar to Australia. 



Turning then to Dr. Fitton, the President continued, — I am 

 happy to place in your hands, for your friend, this Medal, and this 

 other part of the Award; for no one better knows, or is more ca- 

 pable of appreciating, the great scientific attainments of Mr. Lons- 

 dale; nor can any one be more thoroughly acquainted with, or 

 more justly estimate his high moral qualities. 



On receiving the Medal Dr. Fitton replied on the part of 

 Mr. Lonsdale : — 



Sir, — I have been requested by Mr. Lonsdale, on receiving from 

 your hands the Medal which the Council of the Society has awarded 

 to him, to express to you and to the Society his deep sense of the 

 honour which this mark of your approbation conveys ; and if I were 

 to act under the impulse of his own feeling, I believe that I should 

 be called upon to add, that you have overrated his merit. But 

 I cannot allow myself to go so far, even as the representative of my 

 friend, since I firmly believe that the Society will have but one opi- 

 nion upon this subject, and that the honour is most justly bestowed. 



In the paper by which the Donation entrusted to us by Dr. Wol- 

 laston was announced (or rather his " Bequest" for it was one of the 

 last acts of his life), the illustrious donor appears to have foreseen 

 that in the allotment of its produce, personal attachment might pos- 

 sibly influence our judgement in favour of our officers who distin- 

 guish themselves in the discharge of their duties ; for while he leaves 

 to the Council the disposal of the fund, " in such a manner as shall 

 appear conducive to the interests of the Society in particular, or of 

 the Science of Geology in general," he has expressly added, that 



