PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE OF CANTERBURY. 



Sixth Meeting : 1st September, 1909. 



Present : Mr. Edgar R. Waite (President), in the chair, and sixty others. 



New Members. — Miss A. C. Finlayson and Mr. E. Herring. 



Darwin Celebration. — The report of Mr. T. V. Hodgson, the Institute's 

 representative at the DarMan celebration at Cambridge, M^as received. 



Papers.- — 1. " Some New Zealand and Tasmanian ArachnidcB," by 

 H. R. Hogg, M.A. ; communicated by Dr. Chilton. 



Tliis ])aper contained descriptions of some new sjiecies of spiders from New Zea- 

 land and Tasmania, with notes oia their distribution. 



2. " Observations on some New Zealand Halophytes," by Miss B. D. 

 Cross, M.A. 



In this paper the autlior deals with some of the commonest of the New Zealand 

 Halo])hytes — that is, plants living near the sea-shore — describing the life form and the 

 anatomy of the various species, and contrasfing the structure of the jilants growing 

 normally on the sliore with that of other ])]ants artificially cultivated without an excess 

 of salt in the soil. 



Address. — " The Distribution of the Subantarctic Fauna and Flora," 

 by Dr. Charles Chilton. 



The address was illustrated by lantern -slides, and the lecturer gave a general account 

 of the fauna and flora of the ^'arious subantarctic islands, and discussed the distribxition 

 of the various forms in accordance with the results arrived at by the recent ex]iedition 

 to the islands lying to the south of Now Zealand, and by the recent|Antai'ctic expedi- 

 tions. 



Seventh Meeting : 6th October, 1909. 



Present : Mr. Edgar R. Waite (President), in the chair, and fifty others. 



New Member. — Mr. R. D. Barker. 



Papers. — 1. " On the Influence of Ripples on the Gas Content of the 

 Christchurch Artesian Waters," by Dr. C. Coleridge Fan* and D. C. H. 

 Florance, M.Sc. 



[Abstract. 



The experiments described in this paper were imdertaken with a view to deter- 

 mining the nature and quantity of the dissolved gases in the water of the artesian wells, 

 in order to decide whether the curious effects found in fish and on their eggs and fry 

 when confined near the outflow of a -well could be attributed to the presence of any gas. 

 The principal gases dissolved were found to be nitrogen, oxygen, and carbon-dioxide, 

 and of these nitrogen is in excess of the normal saturation-value, whilst oxygen is in 

 defect. The way in which the saturation-values were reached on ripjiling over obstacles 

 was examined and compared with the change of effect on fish confined in boxes into 

 which the water was rippled. 



2. " Petrological Notes on Rocks from the Kermadec Island , with some 

 Geological Evidence for the Existence of a Subtropical Pacific Continent," 

 by R. Speight, M.A. 



