720 Proceedings. 



5. Pearl oyster, seven months' growth, found on the 

 bottom of an h-on ship at Samoa. 



6. Shells {Crenella impacta) , Queen Charlotte Sound; pre- 

 sented by Miss Mestayer. 



7. A Meg ale spider, with eggs. 



An interesting point in connection with the kumi contro- 

 versy was mentioned by Mr. E. Tregear. 



He said that Mr. P. W. Christian had left behind him a great deal 

 of work to be edited by the Polynesian Society. That day he was 

 reading the proofs of the vocabulary of Nukuora, a little island in 

 Micronesia. There was hardly a word in it that was not the purest 

 Maori, and the islanders' word for lizard was "kumi." 



Mr. R. C. Harding questioned whether the word might not haye a 

 particular meaning as opposed to a general meaning. 



In reply, Mr. Tregear said the word was used in compound forms, so 

 that it was evidently the general word for lizard. 



Sixth Meeting : 2^nd November, 1898. 

 Sir VV. L. Buller in the chair. 



New Members.— The Eev. Mr. Masters, Mr. M. C. Smith, 

 and Mr. W. Welch. 



A letter from Mr. Coubrough, sending a circular about 

 ironsand, was read, and laid on the table. 



The Chairman called attention to the death of the late Mr. 

 Charles Hulke. 



He said he was sure that every member would deplore the loss of so 

 active a member of the Society. He was a former President, and always 

 took a great interest in the proceedings. He had known Mr. Hulke 

 personally for twenty years, and could speak of him as a thoroughly 

 conscientious and honourable man. He was a perfect enthusiast in his 

 profession— that of a teacher— and was well informed on aimo.st every 

 subject. He was an excellent analytical chemist, and did much useful 

 practical work in that line. He was a good German linguist, and one 

 of the earliest volumes of their Transactions conramed, he believed, liis 

 translation of Dr. Otto Finech's pamphlet, being a criticism of his (Sir 

 W. BuUer's) Essay on the Ornithology of New Zealand. Mr. Hulke's 

 last appearance among them was at the conversazione held at the i\Iu- 

 seum HI the early part of the session. He appeared then to be in perfect 

 health, and he remembered him making some yery original observations 

 on the live tuataras exhibited on that occasion in the Maori House. 

 By his death at a comparatively early age the Society had sustained a 

 serious loss. 



Papers. — 1. " On the Ornithology of New Zealand," by 

 Sir \V. Buller. [Transactions, p. 1.) 



