490 president's address. 



spirit of the Hon. William Macleay have made this Society what 

 it is, while his investigations in ichthyology and among the class 

 reptilia are worthy of a family that for many generations has 

 given most distinguished votaries to science, from the founder of 

 the Royal Linn?ean Society of London to the founder of the 

 Linnean Society which I am addressing to-day. I look with a 

 justifiable pride on the labours of others in their various depart- 

 ments when I bear in mind the circumstances and remoteness of 

 so young a Colony as ours. Mr. E. P. Ramsay, in ornithology ; 

 Mr. J. Brazier, in conchology ; Dr. Alleyne, Messrs. Stephens, 

 Haswell, Masters, Burton Bradley, Baron Maclay and Meyrick, 

 Dr. Cox and Dr. Read, have all in their various departments 

 helped to give a world-wide reputation to our publications. It is 

 with the greatest regret that I refer to the loss our Society and 

 science have sustained by the death of the Count de Castelnau, 

 the news of whose lamented decease has just reached us. The 

 pages of our proceedings and the pages of most of the colonial 

 scientific serials bear testimony to the labours and attainments of 

 this eminent man, whose life will no doubt form the subject of a 

 lengthened notice hereafter. 



I regret very much that during the past year I could not take 

 a more active part in the business of the Society. My learned 

 and zealous predecessor in the presidency has set me an example 

 of assiduity, which I have not been able to follow, but I have 

 Consoled myself by knowing that Mr. Stephens has been able to 

 effect and has effected as much as Vice-President, as he did as 

 President, and I congratulate the Society on his continuance in 

 office. In conclusion, let me state that I think the time is 

 approaching when general essays may be written on the various 

 departments of Australian natural history and the geographical 

 distribution of our animal life. I think also that a general account 

 of the geology of all Australia is now also a possibility with 

 material for a tolerable accuracy of detail. Both these desiderata 

 will reveal strange facts about Australia, and will serve to confirm 



