32 PEOCEEDINGS OP THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



ciation of the value of his long-continued researches on the fossil 

 Polyzoa, especially those of the western part of Scotland, and of his 

 investigations into the structure of the shells of the Carboniferous 

 Brachiopoda. In his absence, I have much pleasure in placing the 

 amount in your hands for transmission to him. 



Professor Moeeis, in reply, said : — 



Mr. Peesident, — 



I have much pleasure in receiving the balance of the Murchison 

 Fund for Mr. J. Young, who regrets his inability to attend, and has 

 sent me the following letter to read to the Society : — 



" Hunterian Museum, 



" University of Glasgow. 

 " Feb. 7th, 1883. 

 " Dear Sir, — 



" Will you kindly convey to the President and Council of the 

 Geological Society the gratification I feel at the honour they have 

 conferred upon me by associating my name with those of the former 

 recipients of the Murchison Geological Fund, and at the same time 

 express my regret that circumstances prevent my being present at 

 the Meeting of the Society to receive the award in person from the 

 hands of the President. 



" I appreciate the honour all the more as having been altogether 

 unexpected by me. It has been my greatest pleasure during my 

 life to employ my leisure time as an humble investigator of the 

 Carboniferous strata and fossils of the West of Scotland ; but I never 

 imagined that my work would merit the distinction which the 

 Council of the Society have bestowed upon it. 



" My work among the Scottish Carboniferous fossils has led me to 

 collect and study carefully under the microscope, not only the 

 Microzoa but also the shell-structure of many of the larger organisms 

 found in the strata ; and that I have been fortunate in discovering 

 some new forms, and also in finding some new points of structure 

 in others already known and described, I attribute chiefly to the 

 methods of research which I employed, and to the fact that the 

 organisms found in our strata are often better preserved than is 

 usual elsewhere. 



" It has been for me sufficient reward to have been able to assist, 

 in however small a degree, several eminent palaeontologists in their 

 researches among some of the fossil groups, such as the Brachiopoda, 

 Foraminifera, and Entomostraca, by sending them specimens from 

 our western Scottish Coalfield, many of which have been figured and 

 described. But the honour which the Society has now conferred 

 upon me will, I trust, encourage me to further research among the 

 Scottish Carboniferous fossils, in which, especially among the Polyzoa 



