xlvi PROCEEDINGS OE THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 1 896,, 



But we have to thank you also for a joint work with Mr. C. 

 Davies Sherborn, F.G.S., of the very greatest usefulness to palaeon- 

 tologists, 'A Catalogue of British Fossil Vertebrata,' 1890 — a 

 most trustworthy and excellent compilation, critically and carefully 

 prepared. 



That in the space of fourteen years you should have accomplished 

 so much good work, is due to the fact that you have never wavered 

 from the object which you had set before your mind to accomplish, 

 and even in your numerous journeys in Europe and to North America 

 you have ever kept your Ichthyological researches steadily in view. 



I trust that this Medal, and the good wishes which accompany it 

 from your friends here, will encourage you to the completion of your 

 labours on the Fossil Fishes, and that the remaining group of the 

 Teleosteans may enjoy the same careful and critical attention and 

 study at your hands as you have bestowed upon the other and earlier 

 groups. 



Mr. Smith Woodward, in reply, said : — 

 Mr. President, — 



I desire to express my thanks to the Council of the Geological 

 Society for the great honour that they have done me in making this 

 Award, and to yourself, Sir, for the very kind and complimentary 

 terms in which you have presented the Medal. During the last 

 thirteen years I have merely tried to make the best use of the 

 opportunities for research afforded by my official connexion with 

 the British Museum ; and the gratification experienced in the pur- 

 suit of duty of this kind is in itself so ample a reward for the labour 

 involved, that a naturalist thus circumstanced scarcely looks for 

 anything beyond it. When, however, the honourable marks of 

 approbation officially bestowed are unexpectedly coupled with so 

 highly esteemed a distinction as the award of the Lyell Medal by the 

 Geological Society of London, I feel doubly encouraged to persevere 

 and endeavour to merit the compliments that have been expressed. 



I was first led to take a special interest in extinct Fishes by 

 attending Dr. Traquair's course of Swiney Lectures on the subject 

 in 1883. I was thus enabled to apply to this field of research the 

 methods that I had previously learned from Prof. Boyd Dawkins 

 when a student in the Owens College. Since that time the kindly 

 encouragement of so many friends — yourself and the late Mr. William 

 Davies among the foremost — has made progress easy ; and the very 



