ON THE FOSSIL ECHINODERMATA OF THE WESTINDIES. 193 
fact that the sugar-cane and the grass tribe generally will 
not thrive where silicic anhydride is not present in an 
assimilable form. Much remains to be done, however, 
before any definite conclusions can be drawn ; but it is to 
be hoped that further investigation will lead to the discovery 
of the true cause of the disease. 
mh July , 1879. 
Robert J. Lechmere Guppy, Esq., F.L.S., Vice-President, 
in the chair. 
Henry Ludlow, Esq., B.A., was elected a member. 
Mr. Ernest Francis, Secretary of the Association, being 
about to proceed to British Guiana as Government chemist of 
that colony, a vote of thanks was unanimously accorded to 
him for his services to the Association, and he was elected a 
corresponding member. 
The following paper was read : — 
On Common S.\lt as a Poison To Poultry. By Ernest 
Francis, F.C.S. 
On the Fossil Echinodermata of the Westindies. By 
R. J. Lechmere Gappy, F.G.S., etc., etc. 
{Abstract.) 
The author stated that in 1868-9 Professor P. T. Cleve, of 
the University of Upsala, travelled in the Westindies and 
investigated the geology and mineralogy of several of the 
islands, an account of which he published in 1870. He 
made collections of fossils, among which was a fine series 
of echinoderms from the islands of S. Barts and Anguilla. 
These were studied by M. Cotteau, wdio distinguished thirty- 
