lOfl 



Black Cormorant {Phalacmcorax carhouks) had lately been seen in unpro* 

 codeuteJ uunibers about Hobart Town aud tbo country districts in its vicinity. 

 I\lauy had even visited the ])oud in the Society's gardens. Of these two had 

 been shot, and ou ojjening their stomachs, a nuniber of Tench were found. 

 They were very troublesome in tlio vicinity of the salmon ponds, where 

 upwards of ninety had already been hliot. Many other rare water birds, the 

 Nankeen Night Herou, {Niiducom.c Caltdonicu^,) the Maned Goose, {Bcrnicla 

 juhata), the Tippet Grebe, (Pudiccps Aualnilis,) and the Australian Egret, 

 (Hcrodias si/rmatophvrasj, had also made their appearance iu very unusual 

 numbers. These visitations ^vere probably due to the long continued dry 

 weather in the centre of the Australian continent, and Mr. Allport thought 

 it was advisable to place the matter ou record, in order to see if in future 

 years a drought of tliis character should be followed by similar phenomena. 

 Dr. Officer corroborated Mr. Allport's statement, as to the trouble which 

 the Cormorants gave at the salmon ponds, where the greatest vigilance was 

 necessary on the part of INIr. Kamsbottom and others to guard the Trout and 

 N&almon from their felonious attempts. 



Mr. Allpokt also exhibited eggs of the eonmion Laud Snail (Balimus i>p.) 

 so frequently met with on Moi.nt ^yellington, aud elsewhere. The eggs were 

 about the size and shape ot tho.io of the Humming Bird, and white in color. 



Archdeacon Davies presented sam])les of the hair of the Angora Goat, and 

 also of the cross between it aud the common Goat. The former is a beauti- 

 fully white silky staple of eight aud a half inches in length, the latter of 

 about the same length, but dark iu color, aud presenting more the appearance 

 of wool. Both samples were from Hocks belonging to Air. John Swan, of 

 Avoca. 



Mr. M. Allpoet reported that the English Perch (Pcrca fluviatilis) 

 introduced by him (after several failures) foiu" years ago had at length 

 spawned. These fish were placed on their arrival in a small artificial pond, 

 in Mr. J. Allport's garden, coustructed so as to resemble as nearly as possible 

 a weedy pool in a rivulet, 15 feet long by 12 wide, 3 feet 6 inches dec]) at one 

 side, and gradually sloping to a few inches at the other. The spawn is hung in 

 a ribbon like mass amongst the weeds, upon close insj^ectiou it is resolved into 

 a net work of beads 18 inches long by 2 inches broad. That from one fish 

 probably contains 300,000 ova. The laljour involved in keeping the parent fish 

 supplied with tadpoles (their favorite food), worms &c., has been at times very 

 great. Besides the fish this pond has been instrumental in thoroughly 

 establishing the English White Waterlilly, and other waterplants, and two 

 species of the larger English pond snails of which our own streams are 

 singularly deficient. The habits of several interesting Crustaceans and the 

 metamorphoses of a large number of Ephemeral flies have also been observed, 

 the pond thus furnishing a very efficient Aquarium ou an extensive scale. 



Mr. F. Abbott read a paper (supplementary to a former one on the same 

 subject) on the best mode of establishing a system of Time Signals iu Tas- 

 mania. 



The importance of the subject was fully recognized by the meeting, aud it 

 was hoped that in time further action would be taken iu the matter. 



Mr. Stephens regretted that he had not had leisure to prepare a paper ou 

 the subject which he had to bring before the society, but woidd olt'er some 

 general remarks on the origin of drift gold, with special reference to the pro- 

 bability of the existence of deep leads at Fiugal. The original matrix of 

 all loose gold, whether iu the form of minute scales, crystallised masses, or 

 waterworu nuggets, was to be looked for, as all were probably aware, in 

 the quartz veins or dykes intersecting the old silurian rocks. Where, therefore, 

 these were absent, or deei:)ly buried lielow ui^per i^alceozoic or carboniferous 

 rocks it was idle to search for gold. The )3ilurian rocks consisted chiefly of 

 slates, grits, and sandstones, almost always more or less beat and contorted, 

 and generally exhibiting well defined cleavage. The immediate source of the 

 gigantic pressure which had produced these remarkable contortions of the 

 stratacould not always be pointed out. In Victoria, where the main axis of 

 elevation runs from East to West, the silurian rocks do not appear to have 

 oeeii aft'ected by the disturbins agency to >yhigh the present watershed of 



