614 Proceedings. 



time of its existence in New Zealand. The success of the gathering was 

 due primarily to the energy and labour of the local secretary, Mr. G. M. 

 Thomson — (applause) —and also to the activity of the various business 

 men of the city, who willingly gave up their time, and acted on the 

 different subcommittees to which was intrusted the work of entertaining 

 the visitors. The second event was the safe arrival of the " Discovery," 

 with the welcome news of " All well on board." Biologically, the most 

 important fact ascertained was that fossil plants occurred in the sand- 

 stone of the continental plateau, which rcse to a height of 8,000 ft. 

 or 9,000 ft. This added one more piece of evidence in favour of the 

 view already put forward by several Australasian biologists that 

 Tierra del Fuego exterded further south at some earlier geological 

 period than it did at present, and connected with an antarctic con- 

 tinent, which in its turn was continuous with New Zealand or Aus- 

 tralia. But in order to judge of the period and character of this grea-, 

 land they must wait till the rocks gathered by the expedition had been 

 examined. Nevertheless, those already collected by Borchgrevinck and 

 previous explorers indicated a similarity, if not identity, with some of the 

 rocks of Victoria. As the subject was suggested for discussion at one of 

 their meetings, he would reserve further remarks on the importance of 

 the results until that occasion. After referring to the completion of the 

 marine-fish hatchery at Portobello, and to the attempts in January last 

 to investigate the floor of the continental shelf round this colony, the 

 President spoke of a number of scientific works recently completed in 

 New Zealand, among which he mentioned Captain Hutton's " Index to 

 the Fauna of New Zealand " and "Natural History of New Zealand," 

 and Mr. Hudson's " Neuroptera." He then turned to a mote special 

 matter, and considered the utility of the study of zoology and botany, and 

 in an interesting account of work carried on in both subjects he showed 

 many serviceable results that were being daily achieved by investigators. 

 One bad only to refer to the bulky annual report of the Department of 

 Agriculture to note the variety and the value of the investigations carried 

 on by the Government biologists. The study of the life-histories of 

 insects and other creatures — especially those that attacked the various 

 kinds of fruit-trees, timber-trees, of cereals, and so forth— enabled the 

 zoologist to suggest remedies or preventives. So, too, with regard to the 

 various parasites that affected cattle. The proper treatment of the 

 disease necessitated a knowledge of the cause, and this in turn demanded 

 a scientific study of the organism that in many cases was the cause of the 

 trouble. He proceeded to deal at length with some of these parasitic 

 diseases and with the biological work required in treating them, making 

 special reference to the cause of malarial fever, sleeping sickness, and 

 other ailments, and the remedies which, after investigation by scientists, 

 have been adopted to counteract some of them. 



At the conclusion of the address, which occupied an hour and a half 

 in delivery, Mr. J. C. Thomson proposed a vote of thanks to Dr. Benham 

 for his lucid and instructive remarks, which was carried with applause. 



New Member. — Mr. E. Herbert. 



Second Meeting: 3rd June, 1904. 



Dr. Marshall exhibited a spindle-shaped stone implement 

 that had been found in a rock-cleft during excavation- work at 

 Musselburgh, also specimens of pitchblende and radium. ' 



During the evening three speakers dealt with different 

 phases of the results of the " Discovery " expedition. 



