pue«ident’« address. 
1-17 
seed, and the .singular fructification of which ho had observed and 
described. 
' At the February meeting, ^Ir. J. II. Gurney, Jun., exhibited a 
remarkable rufous variety of the Snipe recently killed at Cromer 
Hall. The marked features in the bird were the general ruddy 
tint of the feathers, and somewhat exceptional markings on the 
upper portions of the back. It could not be referred, from its 
smaller size, to Gould’s lius.set Snipe, of which largo race two 
specimens were on the table, and the opinion seemed general that 
it was a very interesting erythrean variety of the Common Snipe, 
Within the limits of a short addre.ss it is only possible to allude 
in a very cursory, and perhaps unsatisfactory manner, to those 
highly interesting and fascinating problems which lead us to the 
conclusion that the advent of life occurred at the Poles of our 
earth. A series of very remarkable discoveries of a rich fossil 
flora in the most northern regions of the globe has, in a great 
me,vsure, been the initial cause of such a conception ; and the same 
lino of reasoning and observation whic’i conclusively shows how 
much the existing flora of the earth owes to the past Miocene flora 
of the iS’'orth Polar region.^, may be foirly used in an endeavour to 
elucidate the still more complicated problem, namely, the advent 
of animal life, which I propose to submit for your consideration. 
We are not indebted to the observations, nor to the theories of 
any single individual, however eminent, for the enlargement of 
our views on this subject : it is the outcome of the laborious 
research of many intelligent and illustrious observers. A wonderful 
series of facts connected with the past history of the Polar regions 
has been collected within the last half century, which has 
engaged the attention of some of the most able, intellectual, and 
scientific minds of our time. I cannot within the limits of my 
address pretend even to give a recapitulation of the names of the 
distinguished men of science who have given their attention to 
this subject, but I think those of the late Professor Oswald Heer 
of Zurich, Professor Asa Gray of the United States, Count de 
Saporta of France, and our countrymen, the late Sir Charles Lyell, 
I. 2 
