46 



Mr. Stephens read some "Notes on the occurrence of gold at Port 

 Cygnet." 



Mr. Gould was much interested in the information contained in Mr. 

 Stephens' paper, as he had not had an opportunity of minutely examining 

 the country about Port Cygnet. The discovery of fossils in the quarry 

 alluded to, would be of the greatest importance, and he hoped, if any were 

 discovered, they would be preserved for scientific examination. As to the 

 specimens on the table, said to have been obtained from the vicinity of 

 Port Davey, although he had visited that part of the country, several of 

 them were new to him. He would instance more particularly the ser- 

 pentine, which was much more like that on the North of the Island than 

 •any he had seen to the westward. Further information, however, was 

 much required, as the specimens lost a great deal of their interest by not 

 having labels aihxed ; and geological specimens generally were of very 

 little value if not accompanied by a notice, defining exactly the localities 

 in which they were found. 



Mr. J. W. Graves mentioned that gold in small quantities was disco- 

 vered at Port Cygnet in 1852. 



Mr. Stephens was anxious to induce Fellows to send specimens of 

 natural history to the Museum, which, in many respects, was still very 

 deficient. He would refer to one subject alone, that of our land shells. 

 Of these, we had no proper collection, and if any information in reference 

 to them was required, it would have to be sought for in the private museum 

 of a naturalist (Dr. Cox), in Sydney — a circumstance which was scarcely 

 creditable to us. 



Mr. Justin Browne observed that at a former meeting he had suggested 

 that lists of such objects as we wanted might be exhibited at all the Post 

 Offices in the interior, and he thought that if our wants were thus made 

 generally known, many people in the country would send contributions. 



The Secretary informed the meeting that lists of desiderata for the 

 Museum had been printed and forwarded to all the Fellows, and to many 

 others. Scarce any response was, however, made to the appeal, except by 

 Mr. W. Gellibrand, and also by Mrs. C. Meredith, who had contributed 

 many valuable preparations of our sea- weeds and other objects. 



Mr. Graves mentioned he had lately received from Mr. Groombridge, of 

 North West Bay, a black "Wallaby. He had frequently seen the Albino 

 varietj', but had never seen or heard of a black one. He was inclined to 

 believe it might be found to be a new species. It was ' now alive at his 

 house for inspection. 



Mr. Castray (A. 0. G.), in referring to presentation No. 7, observed if it 

 was thought advisable by the Society to make exchanges of plants and 

 seeds with the Cape, Mauritius, or Madagascar, that he would be happy 

 to be the means of efi"ecting such exchange, as he had correspondents in 

 those places. Mr. Castray's offer was at once accepted. 



Mr. Graves enquired if there were any berry-bearing wild plants at any 

 of the places named, as such, if suitable to this climate, would be of great 

 value both for our indigenous and acclimatised animals ? 



Mr. Castray thought there were some at the Cape which might be intro- 

 duced with advantage. 



A vote of thanks having been accorded to Mr. Stephens for his paper, 

 and to the donors of presentations, the meeting terminated. 



