18 INAUGURAL ADDRESS, 



Macquarie Harbour, and stretching between Flinders' 

 Island in the north, and Mount La Perouse in the south. 



"Nor must we omit the valuable work of other local 

 geologists and mineralogists about this period, and extending 

 to the present time, prominent among whom are the names 

 of Rev. J. Tenison-VVoods, Messrs. M. Allport, T. Stephens, 

 A. Hainsworth, S. H. Wintle, G. Thureau, C. P. Sprent, 

 J. Smith, A. Montgomery, and R. M. Johnston." 



In the foregoing memorandum, so kindly written for me 

 by Mr. R. M. Johnston, he places his own name last on the 

 list; but it is to him, and to the late Rev. J. E. Tenison- 

 Woods, that we are indebted for the greater part of what we 

 now know concerning the palaeontology of the rocks, more 

 especially as regards the marine organisms of the Tertiary 

 age, while Mr. Johnston has, in addition, during the last 

 twenty years, made a special study of the fossil plants of tlie 

 Carboniferous, Mesozoic, and Tertiary rocks ; and, besides 

 his own extensive descriptions, much of the materials collected 

 by him has been the subject of elaborate memoirs by Professor 

 Ettingshausen, Professor Feistmantel, Professor I'ate, Robert 

 Etheridge, jun.. Baron Sir Ferdinand von Mueller, and the 

 Rev. J. E. Tenison- Woods. In Mr. Johnston's great work, 

 *' A Systematic Account of the Geology of Tasmania," pub- 

 hshed in the year 1889 by the Government of Tasmania, 

 he gives a very comprehensive summaiy of the work done 

 by all previous workers, and at the same time brings into 

 focus all that is definitely known at present regarding the 

 Geology, Palaeontology, and Mineralogy of Tasmania. In it 

 he has shown also that, whereas only 50 fossil species of 

 organisms were available to aid the stratigraphist in his 

 determination at the time when Strzelecki and Jukes con- 

 cluded their labours, there are now at least 762 species 

 described; and, although this is a small number absolutely, 

 it embraces all the characteristic forms of our great system, 

 and these will certainly aftbrd valuable aid to future workers 

 in extending our knowledge in the many regions yet awaiting 

 the attention of the geological observer. 



As regards the advance made, mainly through the instru- 

 mentality of the Royal Society, in our knowledge of the 

 natural history of Tasmania during the same period, that is, 

 during the last fifty years, I give the following brief record 

 of particulars, in compiling which I have received the greatest 



