148 



Anniversary Meeting. 



[Nov. 30, 



high estimation in which yonr attainments and labours in the higher 

 branches of mathematics are held by the Royal Society. 



A Eoyal Medal has been awarded to Mr. Alfred Russell Wallace, in re- 

 cognition of the value of his many contributions to theoretical and prac- 

 tical zoology, among which his discussion of the conditions which have 

 determined the distribution of animals in the Malay archipelago (in a 

 paper on the zoological geography of that region, published in the 

 Proceedings of the Linnean Society for 1859) occupies a prominent place. 



The case may be briefly stated thus : — The strait separating the islands 

 of Baly and Lembok is only fifteen miles wide ; nevertheless the animal 

 inhabitants of the islands are widely different, the fauna of the western 

 island being substantially Indian, that of the eastern as distinctly Australian. 



Mr. Wallace has described, in a far more definite and complete manner 

 than any previous observer, the physical and biological characters of the 

 two regions which come into contact in the Malay archipelago ; he has 

 given an exceedingly ingenious and probable solution of the difiiculties of 

 the problem, while his method of discussing it may serve as a model to 

 future workers in the same field. 



Another remarkable essay, " On the tendency of Varieties to depart 

 indefinitely from the Original Types," published in the Proceedings of the 

 Linnean Society for 1858, contains an excellent statement of the doctrine 

 of Natural Selection, which the author, then travelling in the Malay ar- 

 chipelago, had developed independently of Mr. Darwin ; and, apart from 

 its intrinsic merits, this paper will always possess an especial interest in 

 the history of science, as having been the immediate cause of the publica- 

 tion of the ' Origin of Species.' 



Mr. Wallace's ability as an observer and describer of animal forms is 

 shown in his numerous and valuable contributions to our knowledge of the 

 animals, and especially the Pigeons, Parrots, and Butterflies, of the Ma- 

 layan region. 



It must not be forgotten that a knowledge of the circumstances under 

 which the majority of these contributions to the higher branches of zoolo- 

 gical science were made must greatly enhance our respect for the author. 

 Mr. Wallace has spent the greater part of his life amidst the exhausting 

 and often dangerous fatigues of a traveller in tropical countries rarely ex- 

 plored by Europeans ; and some of his most valuable papers are dated 

 from places which some might consider so little favourable to study as 

 Ternate and Sarawak. 



Me. Wallace, 



I have the pleasure of presenting to you this Medal in recognition of 

 the great merit of your researches both in practical and theoretical Zoology, 

 carried out in countries where such pursuits are necessarily attended with 

 more than usual difiiculties and dangers. 



