president's address. 9 



duced some reinarkaljle contact-effects on the tuffs, lavas, and 

 oilier meiiil)ers oi' the Devonian Series, analogous to those ol the 

 Hartz Mountains. The Serpentine Belt also needs further investi- 

 gation southward from Nundle towards the Myall Lakes, through 

 an area at present little known geologically. 



At the Meeting of the Society in September, Mr. K. H. Cambage 

 called attention to a laudable legislative effort then about to be 

 made in England, to check the destruction of bird-life in distant 

 countries; and, on his motion, it was resolved — That the Linnean 

 Society of New South Wales considers it to he highly desirable 

 that the Importation of Plumage (Prohibition) Bill, now before 

 the British Parliament, should become law, and desires that a letter 

 be written to the Premier of this State for transmission to the Sec- 

 retary of State for the Colonies, urging the passing of the Bill. 

 By the courtesy of the Premier, the terms of the Resolution were 

 carried out ; and on February Ttli a letter was received from the 

 Under-Secretai-y, Chiei" Secretary's Office, Sydney, notifying ^'that 

 a Despatch has been received from the Secretary of State for the 

 Colonies by the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth, requesting 

 that your Society be informed that the Bill was introduced into 

 Parliament by His Majesty's Government, and will be re-intro- 

 duced next Session.'' From the newspapers, we have since learned 

 that the second reading of the Bill was moved in the House of 

 Connnons by the Postmaster-General, Mr. C. E. Hobhouse, on 9th 

 March, and agreed to by 28-1 votes to 27. The mover expressed 

 the hope that an international conference on the subject would be 

 lield without delay, for, as he said, ^'Britain was really acting 

 towards the Colonies as the receiver of stolen goods." Naturally, 

 we should like to know how the Bill is viewed by naturalists and 

 scientific bodies in Europe; but at this distance, it is difficult to 

 find out and follow the trend of scientific opinion. A lengthy criti- 

 cism of the Bill, by Sir Harry Johnston, will be found in "Nature'' 

 for December 11th, 1913 (p. 428). This writer contends that the 

 Bill "is a very mildly worded measure, which will not satisfy root- 

 and-branch reformers, for it exempts from supervision personal 

 clothing \\'orn or imported by individuals entering this country 



