612 Proceedings. 



result that the Government had agreed to take a thousand copies for dis- 

 tribution among the State schools of the colonj. He ^vas sure that the 

 members would be glad to hear that they had been so successful. 



Mr. Hudson thanked the President, Sir W. Buller, and the members 

 generally for the interest they were taking in the production of his work. 



AxxuAL Meetlng : ISth February, 1S91. 

 C. Hulke, F.C.S., President, m the chair. 

 Xeic Mcinber.~V<. T. Cohen. 



The annual report and balance-sheet were read and 

 adopted. 



Absteact. 



During the past year six general meetings were held, which had been 

 fairly well attended, and some interesting discussions had taken place on 

 the papers read, as might be seen from the reports of the proceedings pub- 

 lished in the usual liberal manner by ^ilessrs. Lyon and Blair in their 

 Jlonthly Becord and Bevieic. The titles of the papers, with the names 

 of the authors, were given, making a total of twenty-five. Four new 

 members were elected during the year, the total number of members now 

 on the books being a hundred and fifty. The receipts during the year 

 amounted to £150 -Ss. 6d., and the expenditure was £120 4s. 3d., leaving 

 a balance of £29 19s. -Sd. : there was also a fixed deposit in the bank of 

 £20, the fkst payment to the prize fund. 



Election of Office - beabees foe 1891. — President — 

 E. Trecreai-; Vice-presidents — A. McKay, Hon. E. Pharaz^Ti ; 

 Conncil~^iv J. Hector, Su: W. Buller, W. M. Maskell, 

 A. de B. Brandon, G. Y. Hudson, W. T. L. Travers, and C. 

 HuLke : Secretari/ and Treasurer — E. B. Gore; Auditor — T. 

 Iving. 



In the absence of the newly-elected President, Mr. Hulke remained 

 in the chair, and thanked the ruembers for the assistance they had 

 afforded him during his term of office. 



Papers. — 1. "On a Deposit of Diatomaceous Eaith at 

 Pakaraka, Bay of Islands," by A. McKay, F.G.S. (Transac- 

 tions, p. 375.) 



Mr. Maskell said that, as he had been referred to in 'Mi:. McKay's 

 paper, it would be necessarj" for him to ask the writer's leave to add a 

 short note for the Transactions, explaining his view of this rather puzzling 

 matter. He had no pretensions to a knosvlecge of geology ; but it was 

 possible that a microscopist's observations might sometimes come in use- 

 fully as an aid to a geologist, and perhaps this was the case in the present 

 instance. Put very shortly, the point was this : When Mr. McKay handed 

 over to him some specimens of these diatomaceous deposits, lie was at 

 once struck with three peculiarities in them. First, the upper deposit 

 evidently owed its greenish tinge to the presence of endochrome in the 

 diatoms, showing therefore that these organisms were not only recent, 

 but alive. Secondly, the lower deposit, on the other hand, was not only 

 pure-white, from the absence of endochrome, but also remarkably and 

 exceptionally clean and clear from sand and dirt, having all the appear- 



