prp;sident's address. 11 



rocillopora{xxiv.,TpTp 192, 413)clrifted from the north. Thedugongs 

 on which tlie Blacks of Botany Bay and the Macleay River once 

 feasted* had a similar origin. Tropical fish which journey down 

 the stream are cited by Waite.f Further south stranded 

 Nautilus shells were noticed at Twofold Bay by Dr. Cox,f and 

 at Flinders Island in Bass Strait by Dr. Milligan.§ 



The investigation of this current is the largest, most fruitful, 

 and fascinating problem within the reach of the Sydney marine 

 biologist. 



Perhaps the first observation of the Notonectian was made by 

 Bass and Flinders on March 25th, 1796. They stood out to sea 

 from Port Jackson Heads, and when they steered back again 

 towards the land in the afternoon expected to fetch Cape Solander. 

 To their surprise they sighted Mt. Kembla instead, and realised 

 that a strong current had carried them some twenty miles beyond 

 their reckoning. || 



The day after leaving Sydney on his way to Cook Strait, New 

 Zealand, Capt. Dumont D'Urville of the "Astrolabe" found on 

 December 21, 1826, a current running to the south-east at the 

 rate of twenty -four miles in as many hours. ^ 



Commodore Wilkes of the American Exploring Expedition 

 traversed this current several times, his tender the " Peacock " 

 observing it seventy miles off the land. He found it variable in 

 breadth and strength, but running at certain seasons of the year 

 with great rapidity, reminding him of the Gulf Stream. On his 

 first arrival in Sydney in November, 1839, he found its tempera- 

 ture to be 73°, which on his return from the Antarctic in March, 

 1840, had risen to 75°.** 



* Etheridge, Rec. Austr. Mas., vi., 1905, p. 17. 

 t Waite, Mem. Austr. Mus., iv., 1899, p. 16. 



+ Cox, The Nautilus, xi., 1897, p.43. 



§ Proc. Roy. Soc. V. D. Land, i., 1850, p. 292. 



II Flinders, Voy. Terr. Austr., i., 1814, p.xcviii. 



H D'Urville, Voy. Astrolabe, Histoire ii., 1830, p.4. 



** Wilkes, Narrative U. S. Explor, Exped., 1845, ii., p. 362; iii., p.S/ 



p. 472. 



