Wellington Philosophical Society. 19 



author had introduced two fundamental ideas where one shoiild have predominated : he 

 had not taken care to distinguish sufficiently between natural species and artificially 

 established varieties. What held true of natural species might not at all be true of 

 artificial varieties. 



2. " A Metaphysical Suggestion," by Professor M. W. Riclimond. 



Exhibit. — Professor Kirk exhibited a pig-fish, which had been recently 

 caught in Oriental Bay, Wellington. 



Fifth Meeting : 2nd September, 1908. 

 Professor H. B. Kirk, President, in the chair. 



New Member. — Mr. Ernest J. Ludford. ;: 



The Chairman announced that Volume XL of the Transactions (1907) 

 was now about to issue from the press, and that it was hoped a sufficient 

 number of copies would shortly be available for distribution amongst mem- 

 bers. 



Papers. — 1. " An Improved Method of estimating Iron," by Dr. J. S. 

 Maclaurin, F.C.S., and W. Donovan, M.Sc. 



This paper was illustrated by experiments. 



2. " On Two Anemones found in the Neighbourhood of Wellington 

 {Leiotealia thompsoni and Sagartia albocincta),'^ by F. G. A. Stuckey, B.A. 



Exhibits. — Mr. T. W. Kirk, Government Biologist, exhibited and de- 

 scribed the following objects : — 



1. Various fruit-flies, showing their life-histories. Mi-. Kirk laid stress on the im- 

 portance of the C4overnment regulation of fruit-importing and fruit-growing, and described 

 the experiences of his l)epartment in dealing (apparently with success) with several 

 imported fruit-flies, which, unless they had been promptly taken in hand by the officers 

 of the Department, would have become firmly established in the country, with disastrous 

 results to the fruit-producing industry. 



2. An ichneumon fly, which it M'as hoped would do valuable work as a natural 

 enemy of the codlin-moth. The specimens showar had been bred from a colony obtained 

 from the Californian authorities, who in the first instance had imported the fly from 

 Spain. 



f-U; 3. Gum-tree blight and its natural enemies. (Specimens of a scale insect wliich had 

 done much harm to the gum-tree })lantations of Canterbury and Otago, and si^ecimens 

 of an imported black ladybird Avhich had proved itself a most effective natural enemy of 

 the scale- blight in those districts.) 



Annual Meeting : 1th October, 1908. 



Professor H. B. Kirk, President, in the chair. 



Neiv Members. — Mr. Alex. D. Crawford, Mr. H. D. Skinner, and Mr. 

 Frank Reid. 



The Council's annual report and annual statement of receipts and ex- 

 penditure were read and adopted. 



The report stated that the meetings of the 1908 session had been well attended, 

 and that some excellent papers and addresses had been contributed. Thanks were 

 expressed to those members who had furnished exhibits at the meetings. 



Ten new members had been elected, five members had resigned, three had died, 

 and one had been removed from the roll owing to the non-payment of subscription. 



