42 



5. From Mr. Hissey. Four specimens of the young of the Bandicoot 



{Perameles obesula) from the pouch. 



6. From His Excellency the Governor — Rock Specimens from the 



Tariegated ferruginous sandstones of Western Australia, and proba- 

 bly belonging to the lowest secondary formations. Egg of " Native 

 Pheasant " (Leipoa ocellata), and other eggs. 



7. From W. Lovett, Esq. — A specimen of the " Sooty Oyster-catcher," 



or "Black Red Bill" fllcematopus fuliffinostcs J, shot at Kangaroo 

 Bluff. 



8. From J. W. Graves, Esq. — A Ring-tailed Opossum, fPhahngista 



viverrina. ) 



9. From the Ven. Archdeacon Davies — A fossil from a hill on Mr. Pitt's 



property, Hunting Grounds. 

 [In reference to this presentation, the Rev. J. E. T. Woods remarked 

 that it was a very fine and unusually large specimen of the coral known 

 as Stenopora informis, Lonsdale, with a shell oi Myacites cM?-ya<«, Lonsdale, 

 adhering. The both belong to the Marine Devonian period, of which so 

 many examples occur in Tasmania.] 

 Presentation to Library. 



1. From Sir Robert Officer — Benthams "Flora Australiensis," six'vols. 



bound. 

 [The Secretary requested special attention to this valuable presentation. 

 Being the standard work on Australian botany, it was much wanted, 

 but the council had never been able, from want of funds, to procure it. 

 Other works, indeed, were still required, and as several of the Fellows 

 had already shown their practical interest in the welfare of the society 

 by making presentations, he hoped that others, whether resident in town 

 or country, would be induced to follow their example. Good books could 

 not be better placed than in a library, where they could be utilised by all 

 comers. A list of such as are required could at all times be had from the 

 curator.] 



2. From Mr. T. Roblin — Tables of Affinities of the Classes of the Animal 



Kingdom, by Prof. J. Reay Greene; three sheets mounted on rollers. 



3. From Baron F. von Mueller — Proceedings of the Zoological and 



Acclimatisation Society of Victoria, vol. 4, 1875. 



4. From the Royal Society of New South Wales — Transactions, 1874. 

 6. From the Government of New Zealand — Census for 1874. 



6. From the Malacological Society of Belgium — Proceedings for 1874. 



7. From the Entomological Societj'- of Belgium. — Proceedings for 1874. 

 The Rev. J. E. Tenison Woods, F.G.S., F.L.S., read a paper on the 



Freshwater shells of Tasmania, prefacing it by some remarks on the 

 Btudy of fresh water shells generally. " It must not be supposed," he 

 said, "that such studies meant no more than merely naming certain 

 specimens new to science. To tbe outside public it might seem no more, 

 but to the man of science it was different. A name when applied to a new 

 species thenceforth became not only a tally by which it might be known 

 and referred to, but it meant all the details of observation in its description, 

 and it was a centre around which a multitude of useful observations would 

 be grouped. Thus Scalaria Australia is a name applied to a marine shell 

 of a peculiar, and at one time, rare genus. Other naturalists had found 

 that its habits were most interesting and various. Thenceforth the 

 name was the repository in which those observations were collected, and 

 they were conveyed to the mind of those familiar with them by the mere 

 association of the name. Finally the same mollusc had been found to 

 contain a beautiful purple dye, and this also became, if we may so speak, 

 a property of the name. All natural science is more or less open to the 

 reproach that it is a science of names, but this would also be strictly true 

 of all human knowledge, since it is only by names or words that it can be 



