92 



OCTOBEE, 1877. 



The monthly evening meeting of the Society was held on Monday, 

 October 15, James Barnard, Esq., in the chair. 



Mr. Dagobert Lewald, who had been previously nominated by the 

 Council, was balloted for and declared duly elected as a Fellow of the 

 Society. 



The hon. Secretary (Dr. Agnew) brought under notice the usual 

 returns for the past month, viz. : — 



1. Number of visitors to Museum, 1,556. 



2. Ditto to gardens, 4,918. 



3. Plants and seeds received at and sent from gardens. 



4.. Time of leafing, flowering and fruiting of a few standard plants in 

 the Botanic Gardens during September. 



5. Books and Periodicals received. 



6. Presentations to Museum and Library. 

 Meteorological Returtis. 



1. Hobart Town, from F. Abbott, Esq., table for September. 



2. New Norfolk, from W. E. Shoobridge, Esq., abstract ditto. 



3. Tamar Heads, from R. Henry, Esq., tables for August and 



September. 



4. From the Marine Board, tables from Mount Nelson, for Septem- 



ber ; South Bruni, for August and September ; Goose Island, 

 for June, July, and August ; Swan Island, for ditto ; and Kent's 

 Group, for May, June, July, and August. 



5. Melbourne, from R. J. L. EUery, Esq., printed records of the 



results of Observations from January to May, inclusive. 



6. Windsor, New South Wales, from J. Tebbutt, Esq. — Results of 



observations taken during 1871-72-73-74-75-70. 

 The presentations to the Museum and Library were as follows : — 



1. From Mr. J. Withrington — A bow and seventeen poisoned arrows 



from Fiji. 



2. From Miss E. Yeoland — A very large and beautiful specimen of 



a species of Coral from Long Bay, D'Entrecasteaux Channel. 



3. From Mr. C. Allport — 30 eggs of Tasmanian birds. 



4. From W. E. Shoobridge, Esq. — Two specimens of the Porcupine 



Ant-eater (Echidna setosa). 



5. From Mrs. Gibbons, Kingston — One ditto. 



6. From Mr. R. R. Rex — Rock specimens, copper ore, etc., from 



N.W. Coast of Australia. 



[As to presentation No. 1, the Secretary remarked, recent investi- 

 gations had thrown great doubts on the belief that these arrows carried 

 poison. The late occurrence, after arrow wounds, of the symptoms, 

 and the identity of these with tetanus, indicated that the fatal results 

 were entirely due to the circumstance that the wounds were necessarily 

 of that dangerous class called " punctured," where nerves were severely 

 injured and irritated, rather than fairly divided. In many of these 

 cases, too, the nervous system of the patient was no doubt in a de- 

 pressed condition from the dread of poison, which would still further 

 favour the occurrence of the tetanic affection.] 



Mr. Justin Browne (on behalf of Mr. Justice Dobson) exhibited a 

 remarkably fine specimen of the great Mexican thistle, " Grande fleur 

 rouge" {Carduus sp.J, and read a short notice in reference to it. In its 

 native habitat this splendid flower is found at an elevation of 12,000 

 feet, and till recentlywas supposed to have become almost extinct. Mr. 

 Browne further observed, in the course of a few days he would place in 

 the Museum for inspection a sample of the new fabric made by the 

 Chinese, consisting of a mixture of Australian wool with their own 

 cotton. The introduction of wool into China was likely to open a 



