586 Proceedings. 



locality, which he placed in the Oligocene period, Dr. Marshall said that 

 from a preliminary cursory examination he had been led to believe that 

 all the leaves whose impressions are to be found in the bed would prove 

 to belong to a speoies of plants still quite common in New Zealand, but 

 a closer inspection showed that in nearly every case they were utterly 

 different from the plants at present growing in New Zealand soil. For 

 the most part, the leaves belonged apparently to a species of oak, elm, 

 birch, or beech. There were several kinds of beech-trees here, but the 

 fossil leaves differed more from those of the present New Zealand beech- 

 trees than they did from the beech-trees of England, and they indicated 

 a very close alliance with the flora of England. There were leaves also 

 which represented the remains of Magnolia. The Magnolia was a plant 

 which had entirely disappeared from the flora of Australia and New 

 Zealand, and was now characteristic of North America and Asia. Two 

 leaves certainly represented a species of rata very closely allied to the 

 large rata of the North Island. It would be kuown, the speaker con- 

 tinued, by those who paid any attention to the classification of fossil 

 flora that Baron Von Ettingshausen considered that in all parts of the 

 globe the Eocene and early Tertiary flora contained an assemblage of 

 species indicating a generalised flora. Towards the close of the Tertiary 

 age he supposed that one section of the flora — the principal element — 

 became dominant, while the other forms sunk to co-elements. He con- 

 sidered that climatic variations and changes must be held to account for 

 the dominance of the principal element in any country. An exact 

 determination of the flora in such a deposit as that of the Kaikorai 

 Valley would enable one to judge of the nature of the climatic changes 

 that in New Zealand had induced the dominance of such a peculiar " prin- 

 cipal element " as now characterized our flora. So far as the present 

 leaf-bed can be used in this connection, it appeared that, although the 

 climate during the deposition of these leaf- beds was, on the whole, pro- 

 bably a little milder than the present climate, a subsequent increase in 

 temperature took place, securing the preservation of such forms as Piper 

 and Metrosideros, while the oaks, elms, beeches, &c, became extinct. It 

 was to be hoped that a fuller description of the flora would be afterwards 

 given, with, if it were deemed advisable, the greater definiteness that was 

 gained from specific identifications and specific descriptions. At present 

 it was interesting to note the presence of Magnolia and Metrosideros and 

 Piper in our Tertiary flora. 



Mr. Malcolm Thomson, M.A., read an account of a new- 

 species of Annelid (Polijnoe comma) from New Zealand waters. 

 (Transactions, p. 241.) 



It lives as a commensal in the tube of a Terebellid. 



Professor Benham read a paper on the " Osteology and 

 other Parts of Gogia breviceps " (Trans ictions, p. 155), and ex- 

 hibited a number of ethnological specimens from Malekula, 

 New Hebrides, recently acquired by the Museum. 



Annual Meeting : 12th November, 1901. 

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

 New Member. — Mr. George Howes, F.E.S. 

 On the motion of the Chairman, the following resolution 

 was affirmed: "That the Otago Institute become registered 

 under ' The Unclassified Societies Act, 1895.' " 



