president's address SECTION D. 339 



His sumptuous work on the Great Barrier Reef was apparently- 

 intended for a popular rather than for a scientific audience. In it a 

 number of marine animals ai^e ficTired, but not systematically 

 described. 



As a collector, Kent was very successful. The British Museum 

 catalogues of the Reef Corals record 160 species brought by him from 

 Queensland. The latter volumes of these coral catalogues are 

 unhappily marred by the rejection of binomial nomenclature. That 

 so staid and conservative an institution should suddenly plunge into 

 scientific nihilism was a startling development. 



It is a temptation to speculate liow a memoir would be received 

 in London if written on the British Roses by a resident of the North 

 Pole, whose eyes had never beheld a living plant. Such study of the 

 influence of environment on corals as the excellent work of Dr. F. W. 

 Jones will show that with fuller knowledge the Linnean system is as 

 applicable here as elsewhere. 



Kent was succeeded by Mr. J. R. Tosh as Government Marine 

 Biologist. He published a memoir on the Whiting of Moreton Bay 

 (Proc. Roy. Soc. Q'land, XVII., 1903, pp. 176-184, pis. VIII.-XIV.). 



Prof. Richard Semon, of Jena, visited Torres Strait in 1892. 

 His chief object in Australian travel was the study of marsupial 

 development, but he devoted some time to marine zoology. From 

 13th February to 14th April he dredged and collected around Thurs- 

 day Island. The following results are published in his "' Zoologische 

 Forschungreisen" : — ■ 



Prof. Max Weber names 18 Fish; Sluiter, 9 Tunicates; von 

 Martens, 31 Mollusca ; Meissner, 8 Bryozoa; Ortmann, 47 Crustacea; 

 Sluiter, 10 Holothuria ; Doderlein, 40 other Echinodermata ; Fischer, 

 1 Gephyrean ; Collin, 9 Polychseta ; Kwietniewski, 2 Actinozoa ; Bur- 

 chardt, 8 Alcyonaria ; Hentschel, 1 Gorgonia ; Weltner, 7 Hydrozoa ; 

 and Schulz, a Sponge. 



Prof. Alexander Agassiz chartered the s.s. " Croydon," and with 

 Dr. W. McM. Woodworth and Mr. A. G. Mayer as assistants, examined 

 the Queensland coast. He cruised from Breaksea Spit to Lizard 

 Island in April and May, 1896. The coral geolog-v is fully discussed 

 (Bull. Mus. Comp. ZooL, XXVIII., No. 4, 1898), but little seems to 

 have been written on the fauna. Ptyclioderma australiensis. Hill, is 

 noted from Dunk Island (p. 124). A medusa (Agassiz and Mayer, 

 Bull. Mus. Comp. ZooL, XXXIL, 1898, p. 16) and three planarians 

 (Woodworth, loc. cit., pp. 63-67, Plate) are also published. 



In the years 1897-98-99, Mr. Stephen Pace was investigating^ the 

 biology of the pearl-oyster on behalf of a Torres Strait shelling com- 

 pany. He wrote a paper on a coral (Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. VII., 7, 

 1901, pp. 385-7), and another on a mollusc (Proc. Malac. Soc. IV., 

 1901, p. 202). 



Mr. A. E. Finchk, of the Sydney University, visited Lizard 

 Island in January-February, 1901, and made considerable zoological 

 collections. His foraminifera were described by Messrs. Jensen and 

 Goddard. 



In July and August, 1901, Mr. E. C. Andrews and I examined 

 the coast between Townsville and Cairns. The coral geology of the 

 district was discussed by my friend. (P.L.S., N.S.W., XXVIL, 1902, 



