recorded by himself at the time. The object of the expedition was the difficult task of selecting a suitable locality for the formation of a final settlement for the Sepoy Mutineers, and to this all else was of necessity subordinated. The difficulty of making observations of any kind was greatly injured by the constant hostility of the brave and bold savages who opposed them on every possible occasion. On completing the urgent work entrusted to the Andaman Committee, Dr. Mouat urged the late Lord Canning to permit the expedition to go back and thoroughly explore both the Andaman and Nicobars, but the exigencies of that time prevented a compliance with his request, the scientific interest and importance of which that great viceroy fully recognised. JANUARY 12TH, 1886. FRANCIS GALTON, Esq., F.R.S., President, in the Chair. The Minutes of the last meeting were read and signed. The following presents were announced, and thanks voted to the respective donors: FOR THE LIBRARY. From SIR JOHN LUBBOCK, Bart.-Ymer Tidskrift utgifven af Svenska Sällskapet för Antropologi och Geografi. 1881. la-4e Häft.; 1882. 1, 2, 6, 7, 8e Häft.; 1883. la Häftet. From C. H. E. CARMICHAEL, Esq., M.A.-Report of the Royal Society of Literature, 1885. From Messrs. TRÜBNER & Co.-A Compendium of the Castes and Tribes found in India. By Eustace J. Kitts, B.S.C., M.R.A.S. From ALEXANDER AGASSIZ, Esq.-Twenty-fifth Annual Report of the Curator of the Museum of Comparative Zoology at Harvard College, for 1884–5. From Dr. J. KOPERNICKI.-Charakterystyka Fizyczna Ludności Galicyjskiej. Seryja II. Opracowana przez Drów J. Majeria i I. Kopernickiego. From the DIRECTOR OF THE UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY.Fourth Annual Report, 1882-3. From the AUTHOR.-The Periodic Law. By John A. R. Newlands. The Prytaneum, the Temple of Vesta, the Vestals, Perpetual From the AUTHOR.-Notes on the Geological Position of the Human Skeleton lately found at the Tilbury Docks, Essex. By T. V. Holmes, F.G.S. Gli Antichi Oggetti Messicani incrostati di Mosaico esistenti nel Museo Preistorico ed Etnografico di Roma. Memoria del Socio Corr. Luigi Pigorini. Dalsze Poszukiwania Archeologiczne w Horodnicy nad Dniestrem. Opisal Dr. L. Kopernicki. From the ACADEMY.-Actas de la Academia Nacional de Ciencias en Córdoba. Tom. V, Ent. 2. Antiqvarisk Tidskrift för Sverige, utgifven af Kongl. Vitter- Vol. I, From the SOCIETY.-Proceedings of the Royal Society. No. 239. Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. 1886, 1885, Nos. Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. No. 263. Viestnik hrvatskoga Arkeologičkoga Družtva. Godina VII. From the EDITOR.-Journal of Mental Science. New Series, No. 100. "Nature.' Nos. 841-845. "Science." Nos. 147-151. American Antiquarian. Vol. VII, No. 6. Revue d'Ethnographie. Tom. IV, No. 4. Matériaux pour l'Histoire de l'Homme. 1885, Decembre. Archivio per l'Antropologia e la Etnologia. Vol. XV, Fas. 2.~ The election of Mrs. C. BROOK (H.H. the Ranee of Sarawak) was announced. Mr. BRYCE WRIGHT exhibited an ancient bronze sword, found by the late Captain Sir William Peel, R.N., at Sandy, Bedfordshire. Mr. G. F. LAWRENCE exhibited some palæolithic flint implements found by him in gravels at junction of the Thames and the Wandle. The following paper was read by the author: The ARCHEOLOGICAL IMPORTANCE of ANCIENT BRITISH LAKEDWELLINGS and their relation to ANALOGOUS REMAINS in EUROPE. BY ROBERT MUNRO, M.A., M.D. It appears to me that the time has now arrived when an effort should be made to interpret the historical value of the antiquities recovered from the sites of ancient lake dwellings, now so numerously discovered and recorded in this country. For the purpose of furthering this object I have prepared a short epitome of the main facts of these discoveries, together with certain inferences which they appear to me to suggest, with the view of eliciting the opinions of members of this Institute, many of whom are particularly competent to deal with the problem. However much variety or novelty may add to the interest attached to such discoveries, it must never be forgotten that their scientific value is to be determined by the extent to which they can be made to enrich our knowledge of the past phases of human civilisation. When we consider that ancient authors are not altogether silent on the habit which prevailed among some races of erecting wooden abodes in lakes and marshes, and that some of the Swiss lake villages were occupied as late as the Roman period, and that frequent references have been made in the Irish annals to stockaded islands, and that a similar custom is found to be still prevalent among some of the ruder races of mankind in various parts of the globe-it is somewhat remarkable that the investigation of these rich repositories of the remains of prehistoric man should have been so long overlooked. To the late Sir W. R. Wilde we are indebted for the first systematic examination of any of the Irish crannogs. This was as early as 1839, and consequently preceded the discovery of the Swiss lake-dwellings by fifteen years. The first examined was that of Lagore, in county Meath, full particulars of which are given in the first volume of the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. After this other crannogs were discovered in rapid succession, and it soon became apparent that they existed very generally over the county. When Sir W. R. Wilde published his Catalogue of the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy in 1857, he states that no less than forty-six were known, and adds that he had no doubt that many others would be exposed to view as the drainage of the country advanced, a statement which has been amply verified because every succeeding year has seen an increase to their number. According to this author crannogs "were not, strictly speaking, artificial islands, but cluans, small islets or shallows of clay or marl in those lakes which were probably dry in summer time, |