XXXI. 
Shortly afterwards a special visit was made to Sir William’s station for the 
purpose of general collecting and with good results. In the meantime the services 
of Mr. J. Brazier, the well-known conchologist, were enlisted in the good cause, and 
in a small vessel (the Peaken) chartered by Sir William he superintended dredging 
operations at various localities on the coast, which resulted in a substantial com- 
mencement with the Mollusca and other marine forms; while Sir William and Mr. 
Masters dredged and collected extensively Port Jackson forms. Mr. Spalding, too, 
about this time, went on a year’s collecting expedition at Sir William’s instigation to 
the Endeavour River and Cleveland Bay, and some of the acquisitions obtained by 
him were dealt with in some of the earliest papers contributed by various writers to 
the Linnean Society of New South Wales, which was founded shortly afterwards. 
The earliest record of this Society is a notice of a preliminary meeting of 
gentlemen interested in natural science held in the board room of the Public Library, 
Sydney, on October 29th, 1874, to be found in the Sydney newspapers of October 
30th. At this meeting it was resolved to form a Society under the name and title 
of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, whose object should be the cultivation 
of natural history in all its branches ; the amount of the annual subscription and the 
number of office-bearers and Council were decided upon; it was also agreed that 
William Macleay, Esq., Sir William MacArthur, Captain Stackhouse, R.N., and H. 
H. Burton Bradley, Esq., should be invited to accept the offices of President, Vice- 
President, Hon. Secretary, and Hon. Treasurer respectively. A committee consisting 
of the President elect, W. J. Stephens, Esq., and Dr. Alleyne, was appointed to 
draft rules, to make inquiries respecting a suitable room for the Society’s use, 
to draw up and issue circulars giving full information as to the nature and aims of 
the Society, and inviting the co-operation of all interested in the study of natural 
history. On November 4th the adjourned meeting, called by advertisement in the 
daily papers, took place, when the proposed rules were read and adopted. Still later 
(on January 13th, 1875), a meeting for the election of the office-bearers and Council 
was held ; and on January 25th the first formal meeting for the reading of papers 
and other scientific business took place in a room which was rented for the Society's 
use in Lloyd’s Chambers, 362 George Street, where the meetings continued to be 
held for some months. 
In the meantime Sir William Macleay had decided on an important step, namely, 
a personally superintended collecting expedition, fitted out at his own expense, to the 
N.E. coast of Australia, Torres Straits and New Guinea. <A period even so short 
as eighteen years has made a very material difference in the character of the shipping 
frequenting Port Jackson. A. handy little steamer, eminently fitted for such a trip, 
could nowadays be obtained without much difficulty ; in 1875 such a craft was not 
so easily to be found just when wanted. On February 27th, 1875, Sir William 
