38 INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 



has been constantly occupied by this type of mammalian life in the 

 greatest diversity of form. Whence its origin ? Other and less 

 familiar illustrations of biological import are at hand ; and, though 

 this subject is alien to my purpose, yet I introduce it in passing 

 because of a circumstance cognate with the life history of our 

 fossiliferous deposits. I allude to the remarkable paucity in fossil 

 species, and absolute poverty in specialised genera, in all forma- 

 tions of the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic epochs ; only in the older 

 Tertiaries does any great A^ariety and abundance appear. It 

 may be said that exploitation for fossils has been too infrequent 

 to permit of a census of any one of the systems of those epochs. 

 This is true to some extent in respect of a few of them, either from 

 the newness of the discovery or the inacessibility of their chief 

 fossiliferous localities ; but it does not satisfactorily explain away 

 the difficulty when applied to the Ordovician, Silurian, or Carbo- 

 niferous. The comparative barrenness of life in these geological 

 periods would seem to imply that the conditions of life were too 

 precarious, such as may have been caused by frequent oscillations 

 of level, or possibly by climatic alternations, to permit of a high 

 state of evolution. When, however, we pass up into the Eocene 

 the circumstances are altered ; there a fauna prevails very rich both 

 in species and genera, representing a veritable population even 

 exceeding in number that which occupies the same geographic 

 area to day. 



A third difficulty in the way of obtaining enthusiastic students 

 is the absence of remunerative positions. Professional avenues 

 exist, but it has hitherto been the practice of our geological survey 

 departments to import men. This course may be excusable in the 

 case of high-class officers, but surely imder such tutelage as we 

 can now offer our own students could be made available for minor 

 services. Inducements beyond mere honors ■ in an examination 

 should be offered to our students, and then our University bodies 

 would probably be able to retain their graduates beyond the time 

 required for the ordinary curriculum. The issues involved 

 have so direct a bearing on the future progress of geological 

 and biological science in this country that it is hoped that 

 through the intervention of this Association the implied reproach 

 that we cannot educate our young men to the required professional 

 standard may be removed. Lastly, I refer to the pernicious practice, 

 happily less frequent of late, of remitting pala30ntological material 

 for determination beyond our own circle of workers. Wherever 

 elaboration is possible within the colonies let it be done, and only 



