﻿Yol. 64.] ANNIVERSAKr ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. IxXlX 



Survey. The papers published by the Society from Dr. B. N. Peach 

 and Dr. Home have made known the existence of the OleneUus- 

 fauna in these fossiliferous strata, thus definitely placing them in 

 the Cambrian System and demonstrating the pre-Cambrian age of 

 the Torridon Sandstone.^ The Lower and Upper Silurian rocks of 

 Ireland have in recent years had much fresh light thrown upon 

 them by the papers of Mr. Gardiner and Prof. Reynolds published 

 in our Quarterly Journal.^ 



Here let me remark parenthetically that a distinctive feature 

 in the succession of authors whose papers have been published 

 by the Society during the last twenty years is to be seen in the 

 advent of women as original observers and writers of geological 

 papers. That women could take a keen interest in our science^ 

 and could do much for its advancement, had been long ago made 

 evident by the career of Mary Anning, by the collections and 

 writings of Etheldred Benett, and by the well-known letter wherein 

 Mrs. Graham gave so graphic a description of the geological effects 

 of the great Chile earthquake of 1822, printed in our Transactions 

 and quoted by Lyell. But for many long years our printed records 

 contained no communications from the other sex. In the year 

 1887, however, owing to some general impulse, of which it would 

 be interesting to trace the causes, women began to send in to the 

 Society papers descriptive of their observations, which have found a 

 place in the Quarterly Journal. The number of this fair company 

 of contributors has steadily increased, and their papers have not 

 only been published by us, but the authors have in more than one 

 instance been deemed worthy recipients of the honour of our 

 Awards. The subjects of these papers are, in some cases, petro- 

 graphical, involving the microscopic study of thin rock-slices ; but 

 for the most part they treat of fossils, either from the stratigraphical 

 or from the palaeontological side. The subdivision of the older 

 Palaeozoic recks into life-zones has especially appealed to these 

 authors, and valuable papers on the subject have been contributed 

 by them. I need only refer here to those of Misses Crosfield & 

 Skeat,^ Elles,* Wood,= and Slater." 



1 Q. J. xlviii (1892) 227 & 1 (1894) 661. 



2 Q. J. lii (1896) 587; hii (1897) 520; liv (1898) 135; Iviii (1902) 226. 



3 Q. J. lii (1896) 523. 



* Q.J. lii (1896) 273: liii (1897) 186; liv (1898) 463; Ivi (1900) 370; Ixii 

 (1906) 195. 



« Q. J. lii (1896) 273 & Ivi (1900) 415. 6 q, j. i^ii (1906) 195. 



