164 
Proceedings of the Wernerian Society*. 
PHYSICAL CLASS. 
Alexander Irving, Esq. President. John Robison, Esq. Secretary . 
Counsellors. 
Sir William Arbuthnot, Bart. Dr Home. 
James Jardine, Esq. Professor Wallace. 
Sir William Forbes, Bart. Dr Edward Turner. 
LITERARY CLASS. 
Henry Mackenzie, Esq. President. P. F. Tytler, Esq. Secretary. 
Counsellors. 
Sir William Hamilton, Bart. Sir Henry Jardine. 
Rev. Dr Lee. Sir John Hay, Bart. 
Right Hon, Lord Advocate. Dr Hibbert. " 
Art. XXIX. — Proceedings of the Wernerian Natural History 
y* 
Society met for the winter 1825-6 (its eighteenth ses- 
sion), on Saturday, 19th November last. 
Mr Henry Witham of Lartington, read a notice of the oc- 
currence of the common Cockle, Cardium edule , in a living 
state, in fresh-water ditches, at Cocklesbery in Yorkshire, at the 
distance of forty miles from the sea, and greatly above its pre- 
sent level. He exhibited specimens of the shells, from which 
he had, on the spot, extracted the living animal : these shells 
did not differ in the slightest degree from those of the cockle 
which inhabits our sandy sea-shores. The animal, however, Mr 
Witham mentioned, had somewhat less of the salt taste or fishy 
flavour than the cockles sold in our markets. 
A memoir by Mr David Don, Librarian of the Linnean So- 
ciety, “ On the Classification of the Genera Gnaphalium and 
Xeranthemum of Linnaeus was next laid before the meeting. 
There was then read the first part of Mr Thomas Buchan- 
an’s sketch of the comparative anatomy of the Organ of Hearing, 
containing remarks on the structure of the ear in the Shark tribe, 
illustrated by preserved specimens. 
There was likewise read a communication by Mr Blackadder, 
regarding the existence of a hard rock of Conglomerate in the 
midst of the large gravel-beds near Edinburgh ; and Professor 
This 
