1G8 Proceedings of the Royal Socletij of Victoria. 



had been made to the building, and it would be necessary 

 to re-appoint the Members of the Committee, so that if any 

 small matter connected with the building required attention, 

 it could be dealt with. 



Mr. H. K. RusDEN said that he was sorry to say that no 

 great activity had been necessary on the part of the 

 Antarctic Committee. A communication had been received 

 from Norway, in reference to the proposal by Mr. Gunderson 

 to send two ships to this side of the world. Information 

 was required as to the particular kind of whale that 

 inhabited the Southern Ocean. The authorities were not 

 very precise on the point. When Ross went South in 

 ] 841-2, he saw a great number of whales, but very few of 

 the people on board the ship knew anything of the different 

 kinds. They observed a difference of some kind. A few 

 years ago Mr. Musgrave, of Cape Otway, gave some infor- 

 mation, but on the whole not enough of it was obtained to 

 warrant a communication being sent to Mr. Gunderson. 

 When a reply was received from the Marine Department 

 in New Zealand, he would be communicated with. 



The President read the report of the progress of 

 Section G. 



Mr. Lucas, in the absence of Dr. McGillivray, gave a 

 summary of the contents of Dr. McGillivray's paper " On 

 Description of New or Little-known Polyzoa, Part XIII." 

 He said that eleven new species had been discovered, and 

 the paper was accompanied by two ]ilates illustrating nine 

 of them. As usual, Mr. Bracebridge Wilson's name appeared 

 as the actual discoverer of the new species. 



Mr. Dendy read a paper " On the Pseudo-Gastrula stage 

 in the Development of Calcareous Sponges." 



A discussion ensued, in which the President and Messrs. 

 Wilson and Lucas took part. 



Mr. McAlpine read a paper " On the Transverse Section 

 of Petioles of Eucalypts as Aids in the Determination of 

 Species," by himself and Mr. Joseph Remfry. 



Mr. Lucas said that specialists had been enabled to judge 

 of the species very largely by the anatomy of the plant. In 

 many cases, the sections of the leaves were relied on. In 

 the future, we should not have our floras described by the 

 external forms only, but by the anatomy as Avell. 



