1870.] Pre- Carboniferous Floras of North-Eastern America. 333 



present, and experimentalists cannot be too much on their guard against 

 the occurrence of these abnormal effects. I think I have done a service 

 to them, especially to those engaged in the delicate investigations of animal 

 electricity, by drawing their attention to the subject. 



May 5, 1870. 



Lieut-General Sir EDWARD SABINE, K.C.B., President, in 



the Chair. 



In conformity with the Statutes, the names of the Candidates recom- 

 mended for election into the Society were read from the Chair, as follows: — 



William Froude, C.E. 



Edward Headlam Greenhow, M.D. 



James Jago, M.D. 



Nevil Story Maskelyne, M.A. 



Maxwell fylden- Masters, M.D. 



Alfred Newton, M.A. 



Andrew Noble, Esq. 



Capt. Sherard Osborn, R.N. 



Rev. Stephen Parkinson, B.D. 

 Capt. Robert Mann Parsons, R.E. 

 William Henry Ransom, M.D. 

 Robert H. Scott, Esq. 

 George Frederic Verdon, C.B. 

 Augustus Voelcker, Ph.D. 

 Samuel Wilks, M.D. 



The Bakeriax Lecture was delivered by John W. Dawson, LL.D., 

 F.R.S., &c, Principal and Vice-Chancellor of M'Gill College, 

 Montreal, " On the Pre-Carboniferous Floras of North-Eastern 

 America, with especial reference to that of the Eriau (Devonian) 

 Period/'' The following is an Abstract. 



The attention of the author was first directed to the Devonian as distin- 

 guished from the Carboniferous flora by the discovery, on the part of Sir 

 W. E. Logan, in 1843, of some remarkable remains of plants in the Sand- 

 stones of Gaspe, Canada. In 1859, after visiting Gaspe to study these 

 plants in situ, the author published descriptions of them, and more parti- 

 cularly of the two characteristic Lower-Devonian genera Prototaxites and 

 Psilopkyton, in the Journal of the Geological Society. 



Subsequently additional material was obtained by personal investigation 

 of the Devonian of Maine and New Brunswick, and, through the kindness 

 of Prof. James Hall, from that of New York. These additional plants 

 were also published in the Journal of the Geological Society. 



Still more recently, a thorough re-examination of the Gaspe beds, the 

 systematic exploration of the plant-bearing beds near St. John by Prof. 

 Hartt, and fresh collections made by Prof. Hall have enabled the author 

 to prepare a catalogue of 121 species, and to attempt a thorough revision 



