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Proceedings of the Royal Society 
and unique species in all the different forms of life, which make, in 
fact, a tropical outlier , just as the tops of the mountains, 10,000 feet 
high, supply us in their botany with boreal outliers. Not the least 
interesting fact ascertained is the peculiar character of the fishes 
of the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan, many of which are peculiar, 
some Nilotic; hut whether peculiar or African, exhibiting remark- 
able affinities with the African forms of the entire and central 
lakes as far south as the Nyanza and the Zambesi river; and 
pointing to a time, perhaps at the close of the Miocene period, 
when this depression formed the northernmost of a long chain of 
fresh-water lakes, extending as far as south-east Africa. 
Tlie following Gentlemen were elected Fellows of the 
Society : — 
J. W. Laidlaw, Esq. 
W. Williams, Esq. 
Monday, 11th February 1868. 
Professor PLAYFAIR, C.B., Vice-President, in the 
Chair. 
The Chairman said — Gentlemen, before beginning the business 
of this meeting, I wish to refer to the lamented death of two of the 
office-bearers of this Society. Dr Burt, a member of our Council, 
was well known as a public-spirited citizen, who had long usefully 
devoted himself to the development of our institutions, and who, 
by his genial disposition and honesty of character, endeared him- 
self to all those who enjoyed his acquaintance. The other loss has 
had a more marked relation to us, because in the death of Sir 
David Brewster this Society has lost its President, and this country 
one of her most distinguished philosophers. This is not the time 
to refer to the benefits which Sir David Brewster has bestowed 
upon science. These have been so numerous and important that 
we may expect a special evening to be devoted to this considera- 
tion. If Professor Tait, who is so capable to do justice to the 
merits of his deceased friend, were to undertake this subject, I am 
sure the Royal Society would hail with pleasure the announcement 
