PROCEEDINGS OE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES. 



139 



esteem in which the Geological Society hold those labours, and placed it, 

 together with a diploma to that effect, in the hands of the Foreign Secre- 

 tary, for transmission to M. Deshayes. Dr. Falconer thanked the So- 

 ciety on behalf of his distinguished friend, and stated that he should have 

 much pleasure in conveying to him this mark of the Society's approbation. 



The President then proceeded to read his Anniversary Address, pre- 

 facing it with biographical notices of lately deceased Fellows of the Society, 

 namely, Lucas Barrett, Esq., the Marquis of Lansdowne, John Taylor, Esq., 

 Professor E. Mitscherlich, and S. P. Pratt, Esq. ; he also gave a sketch of 

 the chief labours of the late Eev. Stephen Hislop. In the address, the Pre- 

 sident discussed the breaks in succession of the British mesozoic strata ; 

 thus endeavouring to discover how far, and in what manner, the same kind 

 of reasoning as that employed in the last address is applicable to Secondary 

 formations. First, however, he examined the numerical relations which 

 different classes of animals bore to one another in palaeozoic times, com- 

 paring them with their development in Secondary epochs. The general 

 conclusion arrived at was, that a long interval of time, often stratigraphi- 

 cally unrepresented, is an invariable accompaniment of a break in the 

 succession of species ; and the more special inference was that, in cases of 

 superposition, in proportion as the species are more or less continuous, — that 

 is to say, as the break in life is partial or complete, first in the species, but 

 more importantly in the loss of old and the appearance of new genera, so 

 was the interval of time shorter or longer that elapsed between the close 

 of the lower and the commencement of the upper formation. 



The ballot for the Council and officers was taken, and the following were 

 duly elected for the ensuing year : — President : W. J. Hamilton, Esq., 

 F.E.S. Vice-Presidents : E. A. C. GodwimAusten, Esq., F.E.S.; Edward 

 Meryon, M.D. ; J.Carrick Moore, Esq., F.E.S. ; Sir E. I. Murchison, 

 K.C.B., F.E.S. Secretaries : P. Martin Duncan, M.B. ; Warington W. 

 Smyth, Esq., M.A., F.E.S. Foreign Secretary : Hugh Falconer, M.D., 

 F.E.S. Treasurer: Joseph Prestwich, Esq., F.E.S. Council: John J. 

 Bigsby, M.D, ; Robert Chambers, Esq., F.E.S.E. & L.S. ; P. Martin 

 Duncan, M.B. ; Robert Etheridge, Esq. ; John Evans, Esq.,F.S.A.; Eev. 

 Eobert Everest ; Hugh Falconer, M.D., F.E.S. ; E. A. C. Godwin- Austen, 

 Esq., F.E.S. ; William John Hamilton, Esq., F.E.S. ; J. Gwyn Jeffreys, 

 Esq.; M. Auguste Laugel; Sir Charles Lyell, F.E.S. & L.S. ; Eobert 

 Mallet, Esq., C.E., F.E.S.; Edward Meryon, M.D. ; John Carrick 

 Moore, Esq., F.E.S.; Professor John Morris; Sir E. I. Murchison, 

 X.C.B., F.E.S. ; Joseph Prestwich, Esq., F.E.S. ; Professor A. C. Earn- 

 say, F.E.S. ; Warington W. Smyth, Esq., M.A., F.E.S. ; Alfred Tylor, 

 Esq., F.L.S. ; Eev. Thomas Wiltshire, M.A. ; S. P. Woodward, Esq. 



February 24. — 1. " On further Discoveries of Flint Implements and 

 Fossil Mammalia." By Mr. J. Wyatt, of Bedford. 



The opening of a section at Summerhouse Hill gave the author an 

 opportunity of ascertaining whether the gravels at that Lower Level ex- 

 hibited any features different from those of the Upper Level at Biddenham. 

 Although, as might have been expected, some of the species of mammals 

 were found to be common to the two localities, yet that under notice fur- 

 nished some species of mammals, as well as of shells, together with a few 

 types of flint implements, differing from those met with at higher levels. 

 Mr. Wyatt described the section at Summerhouse Hill in detail, showing 

 that it tended to support Mr. Prestwich's opinions respecting the formation 

 of gravel-beds; he also described the flint implements he had recently 

 found, comparing them with known specimens from the Valley of the 



