536 president's address. 



published by this Society, form a standard work of reference, 

 (and for whose valuable work Catalogue of Australian Fishes, we are 

 happy to congratulate him upon having been awarded a Gold Medal 

 at the recent International Fisheries Exhibition in London), 

 in a paper on some results of Trawl Fishing outside Port 

 Jackson at depths of from 22 to 55 fathoms, stated — "Looked 

 at as a whole, I consider the results of the trawling experi- 

 ment as decidedly promising. The existence of a true skate 

 so near us and in such apparent quantity is of itself a valuable 

 discovery ; the abundance of the John Dorey is also important, 

 for it has hitherto been considered rare, and for its quality as a 

 food fish it is unrivalled in the world. Thus the first attempt at 

 deep water trawling in New South Wales, whether looked upon as 

 successful or unsuccessful proves one thing incontestably, and that 

 is that we know very little indeed of the inhabitants of our seas 

 excepting those which are mere surface animals." Then again, 

 though the literature of the botany of Australia is perhaps more 

 complete than that of any other branch of Natural History, we are 

 aware that there is a large extent of this Continent which has not 

 yet been botanically examined. The Rev. Dr. Woolls, D.D., F.L.S., 

 in his paper on the Plants of New South Wales, says, " The 

 publication of the Flora Australiensis through the joint labours of 

 Mr. G. Bentham, C.M.G., F.R.S., and Baron F. von Miiller 

 K.C.M.G., etc., has formed, as it were, an era in the botany 

 of New South Wales. Though the subject is by no means 

 exhausted that great work will be regarded as the basis of 

 all future treatises on the Flora of Australia , and as the 

 grand outline is being gradually filled up with descriptions 

 of new plants from different parts of the Continent, it will 

 be seen that the general arrangement of the volumes, as 

 well as the classification of orders, genera, and species, reflects 

 the greatest credit on the distinguished authors. Much, 

 however, remains to be done. Since the appearance of the first 

 volume in 1863, some five or six hundred new species of Australian 

 plants have been discovered, and these, together with the enumer- 

 ation of the Cryptogamous orders recently elaborated in the 



