INAUGURAL ADDRESS 



ON 



THE FAUNA INDICATED IN THE LOWER KEUPER 



SANDSTONE OF THE NEIGHBOURHOOD 



OF LIVERPOOL. 



By H. C. BEASLEY, President. 



[Read 11th October, 1901.] 



I think no excuse is needed for the subject of my 

 address being rather an unusual one in our Society, 

 although it may even seem to some to be outside the 

 limits of our science. I can only say that to attempt the 

 study of Biology without Palaeontology, and some know- 

 ledge of Geology, could only be paralleled by an attempt 

 to study man, to govern him or to legislate for him, with- 

 out some knowledge of history and geography. I would 

 therefore ask you to carry your thoughts back to a time 

 when the portion of our Earth's surface now occupied by 

 South Lancashire and Cheshire was a comparatively 

 barren waste, the material of its surface continually kept 

 in motion by the wind, and occasionally by heavy rains, 

 temporary torrents and probably some more permanent 

 streams constantly changing their position, and affected by 

 the same conditions that to a greater or less extent still 

 prevail in the central portions of our continents — condi- 

 tions very ill calculated to preserve any organic remains, 

 but which have produced the beds of sandstone and con- 



