32 proceedings of the geological society. [may 1 894, 



Award of the Wollaston Medal. 



In handing the Wollaston Medal (awarded to Geheimrath 

 Professor Karl Alfred von Zittel, For.Memb.G.S.) to Dr. Henry 

 Woodward, E.R.S., for transmission to the recipient, the President 

 addressed him as follows : — 



Dr. Woodward, — 



The Council of the Geological Society have this year awarded the 

 Wollaston Medal to Geheimrath Dr. Karl Alfred von Zittel, Pro- 

 fessor of Geology and Palaeontology in the University of Munich, in 

 recognition of the important services which he has rendered to 

 palaeontological science during a long period of time. Without 

 alluding in detail to his early work on Austrian geology, much 

 of which was published at Vienna, I wish to point out that, as 

 Oppel's successor at Munich, he has continued to advance our 

 knowledge of the Mesozoic fauna of Central Europe, and more 

 especially of the interesting passage-beds betwixt the Jurassic 

 and the Cretaceous ; whilst the memoirs which he has published 

 on these subjects derive additional value from their excellent 

 illustrations. 



Twenty years have now elapsed since K. A. von Zittel joined the 

 expedition of Gerhard Rohlfs to the Libyan Desert, and his con- 

 tributions to the geology of that region are probably the most 

 important that have as yet appeared in relation to Egypt and the 

 adjacent countries. It was on his return from this expedition that 

 he commenced his magnum opus, ' The Handbook of Palaeontology,' 

 the first part of which was published in 1876 and the last part, 

 relating to the Mammalia, in 1893, thus occupying an interval 

 of 17 years of continuous labour. If proof were needed of 

 the thoroughness of his work, we obtain it in his treatment of 

 the fossil sponges, which he found in so chaotic a state that he 

 applied himself to working out their relations independently, and, 

 having discovered the key in the microscopic structure of their 

 skeletons, was thus enabled to establish a system of classification 

 which has been found equally applicable to recent forms. 



It is scarcely necessary to remind you that our Wollaston 

 Medallist has occupied the Chair of Palaeontology at Munich 

 for 28 years, during which time he has not only perfected the 

 collections at the museum, but his personal teaching has attracted 

 to his lectures students from almost all parts of the civilized world. 



