186 NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF DUBLIN. 
by foreign botanists, who could best appreciate the value of his scienti- 
fic researches, I shall give a free translation of part of a letter I received 
lately from Dr. Nylander, who is universally acknowledged to be the 
first authority in Europe on lichens. He, speaking of the decease of the 
late Adiniral, states—‘I had great pleasure to be so long in correspon- 
dence with him, and to exchange my ideas with his. I esteemed and 
loved him above all I have been in correspondence with, for his noble 
character, and for his conscientious desire to be precise in his observa- 
tions. Among those who have occupied themselves with lichens in the 
British Isles he was evidently the first. I regret his death hardly less 
than if he had been my father, and with tears in my eyes I write these 
lines.’ During the earlier years of life, Admiral Jones studied geology - 
and paleontology more than botany, and made good collections in Irish 
fossils, which will also be retained in this country. In concluding this 
brief memoir, in order to show how strong the dominant propensity for 
natural science was with him, I may simply state a fact well known to 
his friends, which is, that during his parliamentary career he annually 
carried his collections to London, and studied them there when he was 
not engaged in the House or on Committees.” 
Mr. Lalor moved, and Mr. Moore seconded, a special vote of thanks 
to Walter T. Jones, Esq., for his kindness in carrying out the views of 
the late Admiral Jones, in presenting to the Society the fifth fasciculus 
of Irish lichens to-night laid on the table. 
The meeting then adjourned. 
THURSDAY EVENING, APRIL 2, 1868. 
Davin Moors, Ph. D., F. L. 8., M. R. I. A., in the Chair. 
Read, the Minutes of the preceding Meeting, which were signed. 
After which was read the following Paper :— 
Norrs oN THE Pytoric APPENDAGES OF THE Common Trout. By 
ALEXANDER MACALIsTER. 
Ir we examine the animal series from below upwards, we will find that, 
whenever any new organ is brought into being, its first appearance is 
usually only a rudiment of the condition which it attains in the higher 
and more developed forms of life; and in this respect we can trace a 
similarity between the life history of any individual and the life history 
of the race; for, in the embryo, organs are invariably originated in 
simple forms, and, by undergoing changes in complexity, gradually at- 
tain to their adult conformation. Thus in the pyloric appendages of the 
fish we find the first trace of a glandular appendix to the pylorus and 
duodenum, which reaches its perfection in the form of the pancreas of 
the higher fishes; and, as these organs in some of our common fishes 
present us with some little variety, it may be interesting to trace them 
in a few of the most familiar individuals of the class. The common 
Trout exhibits them in a very characteristic form. In this fish the 
