Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 135 



Adelaide, was read by Professor Spencer in the absence of 

 Mr. Lucas, to whom, as Secretary of the Committee, it had 

 been sent. 



A number ot specimens had been forwarded to Professor 

 Tate by Mr. Lucas, and this note had been received from 

 the Professor, naming a portion of them. 



Mr. Dennant remarked that a curious fact with regard 

 to Victorian shells was, that many of them liad first been 

 known in their fossil form before the living shells had been 

 obtained. The importance of the work of searching for 

 shells which was carried on by the Survey Committee could 

 not be over estimated. If the living specimens liad riot 

 been obtained, the fossils might have been thought to be 

 those of extinct species, and a deposit which might otherwise 

 be defined as miocene would perhaps be proved by the living 

 shell to be pliocene. The Society was to be congratulated 

 on the work that was being done. 



The President said that the members would be very 

 glad to know how the Survey was progressing ; what was 

 being done, and how much more was to be done; and 

 whether the results were up to expectations. The Survey 

 was started some three or four years ago with some enthusi- 

 asm, and although little had been heard of it lately, he 

 believed the work was being carried on steadily and well 

 by those interested in it. Still, the rest of the members 

 were in ignorance of what was being done. 



Professor Spencer said that the Committee had been 

 established about two years, during which time a certain 

 amount of work had been done. A little dredging had been 

 done in the immediate neighbourhood, but the greater pro- 

 portion of the work had been done by Mr. Bracebridge 

 Wilson, who spent the whole of the summer in dredging. 

 Most of the dredging had been done close to and outside the 

 Heads. When dredging in the still deeper water had been 

 attempted, probably, more interesting specimens would be 

 obtained. At the same time, a very large collection bad 

 been made, which had been divided into different groups 

 and sent to specialists, as Dr. Herbert Carpenter and Mr. 

 Jeffrey Bell. The sponges were in the hands of Mr. Dendy, 

 who was spending a great amount of time on them, and 

 intended shortly to bring out a general work on the 

 subject which would be of great value. He was doing 

 anatomical work, which took much more time than the 



