Otago Institute. 585 



Fourth Meeting : 13th August, 1901. 

 Mr. G. M. Thomson, President, in the chair. 



Neiv Member. — Dr. Young, of Invercargill. 



Dr. Benham, curator of the Museum, took the opportunity 

 to bring under the notice of members a few specimens re- 

 cently added to the Museum. 



The first was a specimen of the squid, occasionally cast ashore in 

 the harbour. Another was the New Zealand cockchafer (Prionoplus 

 reticularis), mounted to show its life-history from its early stages till 

 it becomes the full-grown beetle. Specimens of Phalangium chelifer- 

 oides, Mantis, and weta, mounted in alcohol, were exhibited, and then 

 two specimens of the leaf insect. One of these was from Fiji, and the 

 other had been sent to the Museum by Mr. Goyen, who got it from a 

 man in the Catlin's district. Dr. Benham said it was not a native of 

 these islands. After exhibiting two scorpions from India, he then showed 

 a couple of lizards, one of a common variety found on the Peninsula, 

 and another which appeared to be new to science. It was found at Fort- 

 rose by a man who thought it was a tuatara. Seeing an advertisement 

 in a paper offering £1 for a tuatara, he brought it up to Dunedin. It 

 was a beautifully coloured lizard, having brown, red, and green markings. 

 He had not had time to work ic out thoroughly, but as far as he could 

 judge it was an entirely new variety. A couple of living specimens of 

 Paryphanta hochstetteri from Pelorus Sound were also on view. 



Dr. Colquhoun read a paper entitled " Tennyson and 

 Science." 



Fifth Meeting : 10th September, 1901. 



Mr. G. M. Thomson, President, in the chair. 



An advance volume of the " Transactions of the New 

 Zealand Institute " was laid on the table. 



Mr. T. D. Pearce, M.A., read a paper on " Erasmus." 



There were exhibited by Mr. C. Brown some fossil leaves 

 from the Kaikorai Valley, and a fossil fish from the same 

 beds, collected by Mr. S. Thomson. 



Dr. P. Marshall made some remarks on the leaves, and Professor 

 Benham identified the fish as a species of Hemirhamplms. 



Sixth Meeting: 8th October, 1901. 



Mr. G. M. Thomson, President, in the chair. 



Dr. P. Marshall delivered a highly interesting address on 

 " Leaf -beds in the Kaikorai Valley," and laid on the table 

 a paper which he had prepared on the subject. 



The existence of leaf-beds in the neighbourhood of Dunedin, he said, 

 had long been known, but their exact position seemed of late years to 

 have been forgotten. After describing the geological formation of the 



