ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS, SEPTEMBER, 1903. 



The monthly meeting of the Royal So- 

 ciety of Tasmania was held on Monday, 

 the 14th iust., the president (His Excel- 

 lency Sir A. Elibank Havelock, G.C.S.I., 

 etc.) presiding. 



Election of New Members. 



The following were elected Fellows of 

 the Society :— Messrs. Robert Willmot, 

 M.R.C.S., F.R.C.S., W. P. Henderson (of 

 Port Esperance), and W. H. Bennett, 

 M.H.A. 



Greetings. 



The Governor read the cablegrams which 

 passed between the Governor-General of 

 the Oonimonwealth and himself with re- 

 ference to the Centenary of Tasmania, and 

 expressed the hope that the society would 

 permit them to be placed in the records 

 of the society 



Presentations, 



The Premier (Hon. W. B. Propsting), on 

 behalf of the Government, presented the 

 Governor Avith a copy of Mr. L. Rodway's 

 new work on "Tasmanian Flora." He said 

 he need hardly remind them that Mr. 

 Rodwaj^ was one of the most scientific 

 members of the Royal Societj^ of Tas- 

 mania, and his book represented yea.rs of 

 laborious scientific work, following in the 

 footsteps of such famous botanists as Mr. 

 Robert Brown and Sir Joseph Hooker. 



His Excellency returned thanks. He 

 said he would have great pleasure in read- 

 ing the work, as he belieTcd Mr. Eodway 

 was probably the best authority on 

 botany in this part of the world. (Cheers.) 



Mr. R. M. Johnston referred to the 

 early work of Mr. Ronald C. Gunn, Mr. 

 Hannaford, and Sir Joseph Hooker. He 

 said Mr. Rodway had completed the task 

 begun by them, and had turned out one 

 of the finest works on the botany of any 

 province that had appeared. (Applause.) 



Mr. L. Eodway thanked His Excellency, 

 and the members of the society tPor the 

 reception they had given his book. He 

 wished to state that in its production he 

 had received the greatest courtesy and as- 

 ^sistance from the Government Printer 

 and his staff. 



Sir Elliot Lewis, on behalf of the execu- 

 tive committee, presented the Governor 

 with an advance copy of the iiroceedings of 

 the Australasian Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science at the annual meet- 

 ing held at Hobart in 1902. 



His Excellency accepted the volume 

 with thankrs. 



Papers. 

 A paper by the Government Geologist 

 (Mr. W. H. Twelvetrees, F.G.S.), dealing 

 "with a rock that had come under his ob- 



servation from Port Cygnet, The aubhor 

 said:— "The aptitude of the alkaline mag- 

 mas for differentiation is illustrated by 

 the felspathoid rocks at Port Cygnet.. 

 The promontory at the regatta ground 

 south of the jetty, consists of a central 

 spur of eiseolite syenite, varying into 

 different kinds of alkali syenite. The 

 margins are composed of the dark else- 

 olite pyroxene rock, known &b jacupir- 

 angite. This name was given by Derby 

 in 1891 to a similar rock in Brazil, tra- 

 versed by dykes of elseolite sj-enite. The 

 Port Cj-gnet rock, the author pointed out, 

 is a dark, medium grained rock, speckled 

 wirh elaeolite, and glistening with small 

 brilliant crystals of augite. The respec- 

 tive quantities of augite and elseolite pre- 

 sent do not differ much. The augite is 

 green, apparently now titanic, the titanic 

 acid in the rock residing principally in 

 the sphene. In order of quantity, the 

 minerals present a,re elseolite, augite, 

 sphene, garnet, apatite, magnetite, and 

 biotite. Its specific gravity is 2.89. Pro- 

 fessor H. Roseubusch, said the writer, in 

 mentioning that this is a typical jacu- 

 pirangite, says that search ought to be 

 made in it for the rare mineral badde- 

 'eyite (dioxide of zirconium). At Port 

 C.ygnet it cannot be called a geological 

 entity. It is not a dyke of later material 

 invading the mass of syenite, but may 

 rather be interpreted as resulting from 

 dift'erentiations by progressive crystal- 

 lisation, the marginal parts of the cool- 

 ing mass receiving concentrations of ba- 

 sic oxides, while the centre was left 

 more acid." 



Notes on Tasmanian Minerals. 



Mr. W. F. Petterd, C.M.Z.S.. who 



has contributed many important papers 

 dealing with the minerals of Tas- 

 mania, has again placed a valu- 

 able contribution on record. The 

 writer, in the opening remarks of his 

 paper, says: "The present paper records 

 the more recent results of the continued 

 investigation into the mineralogy of this 

 State, from which it will be found that 

 not only are several unrecorded localities 

 enumerated for minerals which have been 

 previosuly catalogued in former contribu- 

 tions on "the subject to this Society, but 

 also that no less than 13 species are now- 

 added to a remarkably long list. Two 

 peculiar chemical varieties of well known 

 substances are for the first time describ- 

 ed, both of which are tfrom one locality, 

 and owe their unique features to a com- 

 mon caus-e. Several of the species are of 

 special interest to the geologist, and a few 

 are of commercial importance; but it 

 may be needless to say that mineralogy 



