20 president's addkess. 



volcanic eneri(v to have existed thereabouts in Post-Tiiassic and 

 probably Tertiary times. * 



No soundings are available about this focus of the Sydney 

 dykes. But further out to sea, viz., 46 miles east by south from 

 Bondi, the "Challenger" recorded a sounding (Station 164) of 

 960 fathoms. The position of this important .sounding was 

 accurately fixed by astronomical observations. Five miles south- 

 west by west of Station 164 she made another sounding (Station 

 164a) of 1,200 fathoms. This is supported by yet another 

 sounding, not of the "Challenger," of 1,100 fathoms, at a point 

 13 miles to the south-west of Station 164. 



As a rule, eastwards the depth increases very rapidly, but in 

 this exceptional case a hill actually projects some 720 feet above 

 the level of a point several miles to the westward or shoreward 

 of it. And as it is improbable that the "Challenger" chanced 

 to strike on the exact summit of Station 164, the elevation of the 

 peak may be greater still. 



Since "Challenger Station 164 " is an awkward and inexpres- 

 sive aiipellation, I propose, with the permission of the Society 

 and of Dr. Walter G. Woolnough, to name this submerged cone 

 Mount Woolnough, after our valued fellow member. 



Bej'ond Mt. Woolnough the floor is covered with globigerina 

 ooze, and sinks down graduall}^ to the red mud abyssal plain. 

 No tract of the terrestrial surface extends in so level, so 

 monotonous an expanse as do these great abj^ssal plains. East 

 from Sydney the northern end of one of these plains is traversed 

 for about four hundred mile.s, after which the ground ri.ses in a 

 succession of undulations to New Zealand. 



Prof. Milne writes, " the home of the earthquake is at the base 

 of the steep sub-oceanic slopes where most deformation is in 

 progress."! But our slopes have not troubled us much in this 

 respect, telling that for the present there is a cessation of pres- 

 sure movement. 



* Morrison, Kec. Geol. Survey, N. S. Wales, vii., 1904, p. 201. 

 t Milne, Journ. Geogr. Soc. 1897, p. 135. 



