Wcllingtoii Philosophical Society. 527 



was to him a valuable piece of testimony. The evidence given by na- 

 tural science on the subject appeared only to land them on the horns of a 

 dilemma. One geologist stated that the stone of which the bird was com- 

 posed was the pipe-stone of the North American Indian ; another asserted 

 that the carving was Japanese ; while the ornithologist pointed out that 

 the bird (whose species was unmistakable) was never found north of the 

 equator — not even far }iorth in New Zealand. He did not desire that the 

 paper should yet be printed, but that the question should be left open ; 

 and he would endeavour to obtain sworn evidence from those who were 

 present at the finding of the carving, if it should turn out that Mr. 

 Walker's assertion as to his having purchased it on board some New 

 Zealand coaster should be proved to be incorrect. 



The resolution proposed by Mr. Maskell was carried. 



3. Sir James Hector read an account by Mr. Skeet of the 

 appearance, observed from the coast at White Rock, of what 

 appeared to be rocks far out at sea. A sketch was shown, 

 giving the position of the supposed rocks. 



Mr. Travel's said that it was most probably a large log, with birds 

 upon it. Such a sight had been observed once at Nelson, and had caused 

 some excitement. 



Exhibits. — Mr. Hudson exhibited a vahiable collection of 

 New Zealand Micro-lcpidoptcra, which had been described in 

 recent papers on the subject published in the " Transactions." 



Sir James Hector exhibited several drawings of fishes 

 recently collected by Mr. Drew, of Wanganui, some of which 

 were either rarely met with or were new additions to the fauna. 

 Among the former was the red mullet, a valuable food- fish that 

 was highly prized by the ancient Romans. It was first found 

 in New Zealand by Captain Cook, and nearly a hundred years 

 elapsed before another specimen was caught, and the speaker 

 had only seen five or six altogether ; yet it must be tolerably 

 abundant. Among the specimens new to New Zealand waters 

 were the following : Chilodactylus zonatns, of the Japan seas, 

 and Duymceria sp. {D. JlagclUfene, Japan). Another fish had 

 also been received from Captain Ftxirchild, which was probably 

 the species of wrasse or Labrns described by Dr. Solander, of 

 Cook's expedition, and which had not since been identified. 



Fourth Meeting : .28th August, 18S9. 



Charles Hulke, F.C.S., Vice-president, in the chair. 



Neiv Members. — J. B. Harcourt and F. Wallace Mackenzie, 

 M.B.Ed. 



Papers. — 1. " On the Chinese Settlement iu New Zealand 

 and Australia," by Coleman Phillips. 



Abstract. 

 Mr. Phillips, in bis paper, desired to obtain the opinion of members 

 of the Society upon Chinese immigration, as a philosophical question. 



