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WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31st, 1897. 



The Twenty-Third Annual General Meeting of the Society 

 was held in the Linnean Hall, Ithaca Road, Elizabeth Bay, on 

 "Wednesday evening, March 31st, 1897. 



The President, Mr. Henry Deane,M A., M. Inst. C.E., F.L.S., 

 in the Chair. 



The Minutes of the previous Annual General Meeting were 

 read and confirmed. 



The President then delivered the Annual Address. 



PRESIDENT'S ADDRESS. 



I have the honour once more to address you from this Chair. 



The year just concluded has been one of fair activity, and the 

 papers read before the Society have been of an important 

 character. There have been nine ordinary meetings, and at these 

 forty-four papers have been read. 



Some of the papers have had to me a particular interest as 

 bearing on one of the subjects which I took up for special treat- 

 ment in my Address last year. These are as follows : — Captain 

 Hutton communicated a paper on the probability of a former 

 land connection between Australia and South America. Mr. 

 Ogilby presented some observations on groups of fishes the dis- 

 tribution of which can scarcely be understood except on the 

 supposition of a former Antarctic continent. Professor David 

 has contributed valuable information on the occurrence of 

 diatomaceous earth and Radiolaria, and the Rev. J. M. Curran 

 read some notes, which are, as I understand and hope, preliminary 

 to a paper, on the supposed glaciation of Mt. Kosciusko. 



Mr. Maiden and I have been working at Eucalypts and have 

 presented a contribution on the subject. It is one that has 

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