tion No. 13), received from Mr. Baynton, exhibiting in .=?cction a good 

 example of the couceutricjiily riblioued crystiil locally known as car- 

 ueliau, and throwing some light upon its origin. Other evidence, which 

 w as mentioned, also tended to connect these crystallised forms with silici- 

 ficd wood so abinidant in many parts of Tasmania, but the subject 

 required investigation. Mr. Stephens also exhibited a specimen of fossil 

 wood from the interior of a ma.ss of the Penguin Creek conglomerate 

 breccia, which he had picked up on the road-side while travelling 

 on the North Coast. This was interesting as being the first and only 

 evidence of organic remains in any of the conglomerates of the North 

 Coast, none of which probably were more recent than Lower Cainozoic, 

 and some of which were certainly as old as Lower Silurian. 



The following communication — " An attempted solution of the roaring 

 of the Western Mountains," by the Rev. E. P. Adams — was read : — " At 

 certain times there is to be heard in the uighbourhood of the Western 

 Mountains a roaring, loud, awful, and continuous. It is not restricted to 

 any particular time of year. I believe I have heard it all seasons. The area 

 where it is audible lies from Bishopsbourne to Deloraine and Chud- 

 leigh, and I daresay further on in either direction — so that I estimate the 

 area for the sound, as below forty miles at a moderate computation, Various 

 opinions are expressed as to the cause of this noise. 1. The agitated 

 waters of the Great Lake, distant about 20 miles. 2. The roaring of 

 the sea thirty or forty miles off. 3. The Meander Falls, about sixteen 

 miles away and about five hundred feet in height. But mthout trying 

 to demolish these theories, I shall submit that which I believe to be the 

 true cause of the sound. And first I shall describe the noise as last heard 

 on Thursday, the 10th ultimo (January). Thursday night was calm and 

 cold, after a gale of wind all day, which had succeeded a week of very hot 

 weather, ending with thunder and lightning. These would demonstrate a 

 distm-bed state of the atmosphere. About 10 p.m. the rumbling in 

 the mountains was very grand and distinct. My companion when 

 I called her attention to it, as we walked in the moonlight, said ' Is it 

 not terrible.' It sounded as if a Lake had burst its banks, and the waters 

 were roaring and raging towards us, i.e. Deloraine. Taking into consi- 

 deration that this sound is always to be heard after a disturbance in the 

 atmosphere, and when the air on the plains is still, and I suppose 

 cooling, the sound appears to'me to be accounted for on this principle : — 

 When the air of a hall or passage seeks an entrance through the key-hole in 

 the door of a warm room, the humming noise of the cold air passing 

 through the key-hole is often startling. The air being disturbed, and the 

 mountain air suddenly cooled, it rushes through the mountain gorges to 

 the warmer plains — these gorges form a passage for the cold air like the 

 key-hole of the warm room, and the cataract of cold air keeps up the 

 sound until the air beneath has become cooled to the level of the 

 mountain air." 



Mr. P. T. Smith stated he had frequently heard this peculiar roaring 

 sound at Syndal (Ross district), but had never heard of any attempt at ex- 

 planation. 



The Rev. W. W. Spicer asked if any one had ever been on the mountains 

 when the noi.se was present ? 



Mr. Stkphens thought not. He was, however, quite familiar with the 

 sound, which was heard occasionally both on the eastern and western side 

 of the tiers, and therefore extended over a considerable tract of country. 

 He did not think we had sufficient data at present on which to found any 

 quite aatLsfactfjry explanation. 



The Skciietary remarked it wa.s frequently a most difficult matter 

 to o})tain .satisfactory data for the exjilanation of such phenomena. Apropos 

 to the present case he instanced the occurrence at the Delta of the Gauges, 



