42 Exhibits in Natural History. [Sess. 



of mind-stuff — that every cell has a mind, however elementary 

 — that as organisms are built up into many t}'pes, so con- 

 sciousness has many forms. But I am treading on speculative 

 if not on dangerous ground. 



Will there ever be a science of comparative psychology ? 

 This century has seen the birth and growth of comparative 

 anatomy, comparative philology, comparative religion. Fraun- 

 hofer and Kirchhoff and Bunsen and Huggins have shown 

 that the material universe is composed of the same material 

 elements : will thoughtful men of the future show that some 

 similar unity pervades what, for the want of a better ex- 

 pression, we may call "mind-stuff" ? I believe they will, — 



" And men, thro' novel spheres of thought 

 Still moving after truth long sought, 

 Will learn new things when we are not." 



At this meeting Mr Hugh Fraser read a paper on " Some 

 Interesting New Zealand Plants," and exhibited specimens of 

 several of these, chiefly Veronicas. 



EXHIBITS IN NATURAL HISTORY. 



During the Session a number of interesting objects con- 

 nected with Natural History were exhibited by members of 

 the Society, as follows : — 



By Mrs Sprague. 



Egg of Bulimus ovatus. — This egg appears at first sight to be a bird's egg, 

 and it is rather startling to be told, and hard to believe, that it is the egg 

 of a mollusc. On examination, however, the egg is found to be of a differ- 

 ent texture from a bird's, and is evidently more brittle. The animal — a 

 gasteropod mollusc — attains a length of six inches, and is sold in the market 

 at Rio. The young, when hatched, are an inch long. 



The "Bulrush Caterpillar" of New Zealand.— The native name of this is 

 " Aweto," and the following account of it is taken from a book entitled 

 ' Kaipara,' by P. W. Barlow (Sampson Low & Co., 188S) : " This caterpillar 



