xlvi PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May I9II, 



in time. The first important outcome of your work was the classic 

 paper on the evolution of the genus Mieraster published by this Society 

 in ] 899. The lines of advance in these organisms having thus been 

 made out, you proceeded to use the characteristic forms as time- 

 indices, with the result that you were able, not only to make a 

 satisfactory subdivision of the White Chalk in Kent, but to extend 

 the zonal lines thus marked out throughout the country. In this 

 manner you carried on the work so ably begun by Prof. Charles 

 Barrois, and erected a worthy superstructure upon the solid 

 foundations laid by him. The influence which your research has 

 •exerted upon other investigators in stimulating them to work, either 

 in direct association with yourself or independently, but always 

 assisted and encouraged by your active help and sympathy, is 

 a sufficient testimony to its value. 



Dr. Howe replied in the following words : — 

 Mr. President, — 



That every man is glad to have his work recognized is, I 

 suppose, a truism ; but, while I deeply appreciate the all too kind 

 remarks which you have just made, I cannot but feel that the 

 recognition is on far too generous a scale. Yery warmly I welcome 

 the reference which you have made to my amateur colleagues in 

 the field. We have but one common aim, and that is to trace 

 the centres of distribution of species in the Chalk, together with 

 their vertical and horizontal range, and especially to work out the 

 fascinating problems in evolution in which that formation is so rich. 

 And, if a certain little biological indiscretion, which I had the 

 temerity to offer to the Council in the year 1899, has borne fruit 

 in this last direction, I shall not regret the anxious complications 

 which attended its somewhat protracted parturition. 



But, while I claim all praise for the amateur worker, let us not 

 forget the labours of one whose philosophical and masterly grasp 

 of the whole Cretaceous System has laid us all under a lasting 

 obligation. I refer, of course, to Mr. A. J. Jukes-Browne. 



All of us, however, professional and amateur worker alike, owe 

 our allegiance to, and draw our inspiration from, that great French- 

 man, Charles Barrois. But for him, we should still be floundering in 

 the pre-zonal chaos of a ' Chalk with flints ' and a ' Chalk without 

 flints.' As I have said, when speaking in another place, I ask no 

 better verdict from posterity than to be regarded as a faithful 



