XIU 



NOVEMBER, 1900. 



The last monthly meeting of the Royal 

 Society (for the 1900 session) was held at 

 the Museum last evening:, the President, 

 His Excellency Sir John Dodds, presiding. 

 There was a large attendance of mem- 

 bers present. Tne chairman of the Coun- 

 cil, the Hon. Sir James Agnew, K C.M.G., 

 forwarded an apology, regret^i.ig thi-t ow- 

 ing to the state of ais health he was un- 

 able to be present. 



The Secretary (Mr. Alex. Morton) read 

 an interesting letter that had been for- 

 warded to the Society by Mr. Malcolm 

 Harrison, of New Town, stating that on 

 the 4th of this month he had found a gold- 

 finches nest, containing two eggs of the 

 rightful owner and one of the pallid 

 cuckoo. 



Papers. 



The Secretary, in the absence of the 

 authors, read the following papers: — One 

 by Mr. W. F. Petterd, F.Z.S.L., of Laun- 

 ceston, entitled ''On some additions to tne 

 list of Minerals known to occur in Tas- 

 mania." The writer said the catalogue 

 of the minerals known to occur in this 

 island enumerates considerably over 250 

 distinct elementary substances and chemi- 

 cal combinations. In addition to this 

 remarkably large number, subsequent re- 

 search has brought to light several in- 

 teresting examples, and now the author 

 has been enabled to still further increase 

 this number. The paper briefly enumer- 

 ates 18 substances, to which mineralo- 

 gists have applied specific terms, all of 

 which were apparently previously un- 

 known in Tasmania. It might reasonably 

 be expected that from time to time, as 

 geological and mining investigation pro- 

 ceeded, and the field of observation ex- 

 tended, occasional additions of rare or ob- 

 scure minerals might be brought to light, 

 but it could scarcely be anticipateu that 

 the restricted area of the island would 

 afford such a prolific field in this depart- 

 ment of scientific investigation, as is for- 

 cibly illustrated by the writer's compara- 

 tively numerous discoveries. The more 

 recent careful examination and deter- 

 mination of a long series of igneous rocks 

 has revealed several unusual rock-form- 

 ing primary and accesory minerals, the 

 occurrence of which in this island, the 

 writer says, was previously unsuspected, 



and, doubtless, as this petrographical 

 work is continued other forms of equal 

 interest will be discovered. 



The other paper was also by a Launces- 

 ton member, Mr. F. E. Burbury, and 

 constitutes the first part of a series of 

 papers on the Diatomacese, and was en- 

 titled "Contrib'itions towards a systema- 

 tic catalogue of Tasmanian Diatomaceas." 

 Professor E. G. Hogg, M.A., read a 

 paper illustrated with specimens of the 

 rock entitled "The Glacial Beds of Pep- 

 permint Bay." 



A carefully prepared paper was read by 

 Mr. A. Morton, giving mi exhaustive ac- 

 count of the work done by the Society 

 from the vear 1840 to the present time, 

 and showing how valuable had be n the 

 contributions of the Society to the world 

 of science. To persons interested in the 

 welfare of the Society the paper was of 

 special interest, dealing as it did with the 

 chief events that have transpired during 

 the last 60 years. In limited space it is 

 impossible to do more than mention the 

 variety of subjects that were treated by 

 Mr. Morton. The four departments of 

 zoology, botany, geology, and meteorology 

 were the first that received attention from 

 the Society, and geography was not long 

 overlooked. Interesting mention was 

 made of the detailed work of the Society 

 and its volumes of records. Important 

 discoveries were also referred to, and a 

 quantity of statistical information given 

 Attention was directed to a long list of 

 valuable papers that were from time to 

 time read, and prominent mention made 

 of the active part taken by the Society in 

 various expeditions of research. Among 

 other matters referred to were some of 

 the minerals of Tasmania, and the ad- 

 vancement of the colony generally. The 

 paper is one that entailed considerable 

 labour and reseai>ch in its preparation, 

 and as a historical sketch will form a 

 valuable acquisition to the records of the 

 Society. 



Mr. Morton's paper was illustrated with 

 over 40 specially prepared lantern slides. 



The Chairman complimented Mr. Mor- 

 ton on the class of paper he had read. 

 He said that Mr. Hogg's paper was alsa 

 of an interesting character. 



