REPORTS OF 



member how often that which is true has 

 been found very different from that which 

 was plausible, and how out of the nettles 

 of danger we have plucked the flowers of 

 safety. At the present moment the three 

 propositions which were ever present to 

 the mind of Edward Forbes may be suc- 

 cessively maintained, as agreeing with 

 many observed phgenomena ; and around 

 them as a basis of classification may be 

 gathered most of the facts and most of the 

 speculations which relate to the history of 

 life. First, it may be admitted that plants and 

 animals form many natural groups the mem- 

 bers of which have several common charac- 

 ters, and are parted from other groups by a real 

 boundary line, or rather unoccupied space. 

 IText, that each of these groups has a 

 limited distribution in space, often res- 

 trained by high mountains or deep seas, or 

 parallels of temperature, within which it 

 has been brought into being. Thirdly, that 

 each group has been submitted to, or is 

 now undergoing, the pressure of a general 

 law, by which its duration is limited in 

 geological time ; the same group never 

 re-appearing after being removed from the 

 series. 



Proceedings of Section D. — Zoology 

 AND Botany. 



The President of this section, D, T. 

 Thomson, M.D., in his opening remarks, 

 regretted the inability of Sir John Lub- 

 bock to fill the place, the more, as he had 

 hitherto had so few opportunities of 

 making himself thoroughly acquainted with 

 the subjects they would have to discuss. 



Mr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, F.R.S., was 

 then called upon to read a report on 

 ** Dredging in the Channel Islands, Mol- 

 lusca. " 



Mr. J effreys prefaced the reading of his 

 report by alluding to the remarks of the 

 president of the association in his inaugural 

 address in the Town Hall as to the import- 

 ance of Dredging ; and the results arrived 

 at therefrom. The expedition which he 

 had conducted had received valuable assist- 



No. 35, October 1. 



SOCIETIES, 153 



ance from the Pev. A Merle Norman and 

 Mr. Ra,y Lancaster, and had proved very 

 interesting notwithstanding the difficulties 

 encountered' in consequence of the rocky 

 nature of the sea bed in those parts ; the 

 MoUuscaof this district resembled gene- 

 rally those of the Mediterranean, but not 

 more than four hundred different species 

 were to be found here. Comparing the 

 Channel Islands with the Shetland Isles, 

 examined last year, he found that there 

 were some eighty specimens to be found in 

 the Channel Islands not common to the 

 Shetland Islands, while there were some 

 sixty specimens to be found round the 

 Shetland Islands not present in the neigh- 

 bourhood of the Channel Islands, leaving 

 360 species common to both. The depth of 

 water was found to be not more than thirty 

 fathoms, being some sixty fathoms shallower 

 than near the Shetland Isles. Several 

 species were specially noticed. A Cerithium 

 vulgatum was dredged off Jersey. This is 

 a Mediterranean shell, and has not been 

 observed or recorded from any part of the 

 North Atlantic. Mr. Jeffreys considered 

 the discovery of this species on the Chan- 

 nel Isles as indicative of, if notproving, the 

 submergence of this part of the sea bed 

 within a comparatively recent period, per- 

 haps during the historical. 



Mr. M 'Andrew being called upon, con- 

 sidered that the report read by Mr. Jeffreys 

 threw considerable light upon the question 

 of distribution, but doubted whether the 

 Cerithium vulgatum was ever found alive 

 north of Cape Vincent. He had found it 

 in the Mediterranean in very deep water, 

 which should be noted as a new point. 



MARINE FAUNA OF THE CHANNEL ISLANDS. 



The Rev. A. Merle ]Srorman,A.M., being 

 called upon to read the report of the com- 

 mittee appointed to investigate the Marine 

 Fauna of the Channel Islands, remarked 

 that he laboured under considerable disad- 

 vantage on account of the expedition 

 being unprovided with the necessary 

 microscopes and books. Tlie Marine 

 Fauna, upon wliich he had to report, re- 



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