THE ANNUAL CONVERSAZIONE 
I 3 I 
and Mrs. R. Marshman Wattson, Mr. Wilfred Mark Webb, 
F.L.S. (Honorary Secretary), Mrs. Wilfred Mark Webb, Mr. 
Percival Westell, M.B.O.U., Mr. and Mrs. Douglas Wilson, 
Dr. Henry Willson, Mr. Yeatman Woolf, F.Z.S., Mrs. Yeatman 
Woolf, Mr. MacLeod Yearsley, F.R.C.S., F.Z.S. 
The proceedings were opened by a concert, kindly arranged 
by Mrs. Dudley Buxton, at which Dr. Dudley Buxton, Chairman 
of the Council, presided, and the Misses Izard and Messrs. 
Durand and Crauford Kent were good enough to give their 
services. 
At 8 p.m. the President, Lord Avebury, delivered an address, 
which was printed in our June number. 
A vote of thanks to the President was proposed by Sir John 
Cockburn, K.C.M.G., who tellingly reminded the company of 
what Lord Avebury had done for Natural History. The Rev. 
T. R. R. Stebbing, M.A., F.R.S., Secretary of the Linnean 
Society, seconded the motion, which he said was a necessary 
duty, but a difficult one, seeing how often Lord Avebury must 
have received votes of thanks. 
The motion was carried with much applause, and afterwards 
Sir John Cockburn tendered the thanks of the meeting to Lord 
Avebury, who returned the compliment. 
A vote of thanks to the Civil Service Commissioners and to 
His Majesty’s Office of Works, proposed by Mr. Wilfred Mark 
Webb, the Honorary Secretary, who hoped that gratitude would 
also be expressed to all those who had helped in the arranging 
and carrying out of the soiree, and most particularly to Mr. 
Hubert H. Poole, the Honorary Librarian. Professor Boulger 
seconded the resolution, which was carried unanimously. 
Lord Avebury then vacated the Chair, as he had to leave 
early to go to Court, and made a tour of the exhibits while the 
concert was resumed. At the close, a vote of thanks was passed 
to the musicians on the proposition of Mr. Muhlberg (Member 
of Council), seconded by Mr. W. Van Praagh, speaking on 
behalf of the visitors. 
Later on in the evening the Rev. H. N. Hutchinson, B.A., 
F.G.S., gave an extremely interesting lecture on “ Extinct 
Monsters.” 
Dealing first with the main principles of comparative anatomy 
by which Cuvier and Owen were enabled to build up the 
skeletons of extinct animals from small fragments, the lecturer 
followed the order of the progressive development of animal 
types from the huge Devonian “ lobsters ” to the Jurassic reptiles, 
and so onw’ards. Ichthyosaur, plesiosaur, Brontosauvus, Megalo- 
saurus, Iguanodon, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, and the pterosaurs 
were each in turn graphically described and illustrated by a 
brilliant series of coloured lantern slides, mostly restorations by 
the skilful pencil of Mr. J. Smit, under the guidance of the 
lecturer. Coming to Tertiary times, Mr. Hutchinson then traced 
the evolution of the Mammalia, dealing especially with the 
