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MICEOSCOPICAL AND NATUEAL HISTOEY SECTION. 
Open Meeting, December 7th, 1885. 
Dr. Alcock, President of the Section, in the Chair. 
Professor Hekdman, of University College, Liverpool, 
delivered an address, in which he described tlie results of 
tlie work undertaken by the Liverpool Marine Biology 
Committee. The chair was occupied by Dr. Alcock (the 
president of the section), who said he hoped that would not 
be the last occasion on which their meetings would be 
honoured with the presence of ladies. — Professor Herdman 
said that during last summer the Liverpool Marine Biology 
Committee were always able to get some fifteen or twenty 
enthusiastic marine biologists to go on dredging and other 
expeditions, and at the present time about the same number 
of gentlemen were devoting a great deal of time to the in- 
vestigation of the animals . which were then collected. He 
sincerely hoped that next summer their number would be 
larger, and that they would have at least 25 men willing to 
give a certain amount of time to dealing with specific groups 
of animals. It would at once be concluded from a superficial 
examination that the coast of Lancashire had a very poor 
marine fauna, but a more careful investigation showed that 
among the sand and mud banks on the coasts of this county 
a very considerable number of animals lived, and many of 
them were members of the most interesting groups. When 
he began the agitation on that subject in Liverpool some 
people said that there were very few animals to be found 
near Liverpool, and that those were already well known 
But during last summer’s work the Biology Committee 
PKOGEEDiNas— L it. &Phil. Soc,— Yol. XXY. — No. 6 .— Session ISSS-’G, 
