ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. XXXlll 



In N'ovember 1855 he advocated the formation of a mining school, 

 in which naturally his attention was chiefly absorbed by the local 

 attractions of the North of England Coal-fields. At the same time he 

 recorded his due acknowledgment of the efforts made to establish 

 an OfHce of Mining Records in London, which, first taken up by Sir 

 Henry Delabeche, and subsequently promoted by Sir 11. Murchison, 

 was then ripening into what it has since become — a valuable school 

 of mining science. 



In 1855 he gave an excellent account of the sinking for coal 

 through the Magnesian Limestone, accompanied by detailed sections. 

 In 1863, together with Mr. Boyd, he prepared a geological paper on 

 the AYash or Drift in the county of Durham, tracing the denudation 

 over a great extent of country. He was elected a Pellow of this 

 Society in 1843, and was also a Fellow of the Royal Society. He 

 died on the 19th December 1865, in his 71st year. 



Mr. LovELL Reeve, the son of Mr. Thomas Reeve, of Ludgate 

 Hill, was born April 19, 1814. After distinguishing himself at 

 school by his proficiency in Greek and Latin, he was at the age of 

 l3 bound apprentice to a grocer on Ludgate Hill, where the acci- 

 dental arrival of a sailor with a handkerchief of shells, of which 

 he became the purchaser, led to his becoming an ardent student of 

 natural history. Prom this small beginning his collection gradually 

 increased, and in this he was assisted and encouraged by forming an 

 acquaintance with a Mr. Walker, a compositor, also a zealous con- 

 chologist, as well as with Dr. Gray of the British Museum. In 

 1833 he attended the third meeting of the British Association at 

 Cambridge, and in the Natural-History Section he was appointed 

 Conchologist to a general exploring- expedition into the fens between 

 Cambridge and Ely. 



When his seven years of apprenticeship were over he proceeded to 

 Paris, where he made his first contribution to the literature of Con- 

 chology, in the form of a paper '• On the Classification of the Mol- 

 lusca." This was read at a meeting of the Academy of Sciences. On 

 his return to London he devoted himself with increased earnest- 

 ness to his favourite study, and in a short time produced his ' Con- 

 chologia Systematica,' in two 4to volumes, illustrated by 300 

 plates of sheUs, published by Messrs. Longman in 1840-41. But 

 the cost of publishing this expensive work exhausted his funds, even 

 to the sacrifice of his share in his deceased father's property. 



About this time the fortunate and almost accidental purchase of a 

 valuable collection of shells at Rotterdam, made with great care at 

 the Moluccas by the Dutch Governor, General von Ryder, enabled 

 Mr. Reeve to return to his favourite occupation. By these and other 

 means he was soon enabled to undertake the publication of an illus- 

 trated work on the species of shells, entitled 'Conchologia Iconica,' 

 the value of which has been recognized by every paleeontologist who 

 is aware of the importance of accurate delineation of living species 

 for the purpose of comparison with specimens of extinct forms. It 

 was a fortunate moment when Mr. Lovell Reeve undertook this 



VOL. XXII. c 



