JUNE 11th, 1907. 



The monthly meeting of the Koyal 

 Society was held at the Tasmanian 

 Museum on Tuesday night. His Excel- 

 lency the Governor, Sir G-erald Strick- 

 land, presided. 



The acting-secretary (Mr. E. M. John- 

 ston) reported that he had accepted the 

 appointment as delegate to represent the 

 society at the centenary of the London 

 Geological Society. 



His Excellency remarked that the so- 

 ciety was fortunate in having such an 

 authority on geology as Mr. Johnston to 

 represent it in London. They were in 

 debt«d to Mr. Johnston for having under- 

 taken to represent the society. 



Mr. Johnston informed the meeting 

 that the society had received an invita- 

 tion to send a representative to Boston 

 to take part in the Zoological Congress 

 in August. He added that he would be 

 able so to arrange his itinerary as to be 

 present in Boston in August. Further, 

 he suggested that Mr. McXaghten, who 

 was formerly in Tasmania, and now at 

 Montreal, might also be asked to repre- 

 sent the society. 



On the motion of Mr. A. 0. Gre«n, 

 Mr. Johnston and Mr. McNaghten were 

 appointed delegates to the Boston Con- 

 gress. 



NOTE ON THE BEN LOMOND PLAT- 

 EAU, AND THE DISCOVERY OF 

 HIGH LAND AT THE NORTH 

 END.* 



Mr. E. L. Piesse, B.Sc., read the fol- 

 lowing paper by Colonel W. V. Legge, 

 late R.A.. F.E.G.S., ooi the Ben Lomond 

 Plateau, and the discovery of the high 

 land at the north end. 



It seems desirable that the "Eoyal 

 Society Journal" should contain some 

 preliminary notes on my forthcoming 

 treatise on the physiography of Ben 

 Lomond for the meeting at Adelaide of 

 the A. A. A. Science, the principal object 

 of this gaper being to give an ac- 

 count of"" the discovery, of higher 

 land than the bluff or fell on which 

 the ordnance survey trigonometri- 

 cal station is situated. It is with this 

 view, therefore, that I have the plea- 

 sure of submitting the following short 

 account of the work done in March, 1906 

 by a small expedition which I formed 

 fo" the examination of the plateau at the 

 north end. Little or nothing has been 

 known scientifically of this part of Ben 

 Lomond. It is never visited by tourists 

 being too remote from the trig, sta- 

 tion, -which is approached from the Avoca 

 direction only. Hunters are said to oc- 

 casionally ascend from the valley of the 



North £sk, and very rarely from the 

 Mathinna country; but, on the whole, 

 this area is as untrodden as the distant 

 ranges of the West Coast. 



The Ben Lomond Fell is a remarkable 

 prominence m the escarpment of the 

 southern end of the plateau, standing 

 200ft. above the surrounding crags, and 

 has all the appearance, both from the 

 low country a.nd the adjacent "trough''' 

 valley and moor belts, lying to the north 

 of it on the plateaii, of ibeing the highest 

 part of the range. Hence, presumably, 

 tJi-e reason that it was originally chosen 

 as the position for a "pile" to connect the 

 mountain with the triangulation to the 

 west of it. 



Looking north from the summit of this 

 fell, the great moorland, which for the 

 first five miles consists of generally level 

 belts, seamed by long valleys, is seen to 

 be divided by a deep transverse valley 

 running from east to west, from a lofty 

 upland, which rises near its centre 

 to a north and south creet-line. A con- 

 spicuous hollow, passing to the north 

 through this elevated track, gives addi 

 tional prominence to it. The southern 

 slopes of the hill, moreover, descend ab- 

 ruptly into the cross valley, and give g 

 this central group a generally elevated 

 appearance. So marked is this that tour- 

 ists viewing it from the trigonometrical 

 station iiave often expressed the opinion 

 that it was higher than the ground on 

 which they stood. The strongest support, 

 however, of this hypothesis has for many 

 years been afforded to the writer by a 

 study of the climatology of the pleateau 

 and particularly the high north end in 

 question from his home, near St. Mary's 

 from which point of view the whole range 

 is clearly seen. 



The Irequent cloud-capping of this 

 tract prior to the advent of strong:, and 

 often damp, north -westerly winds, the 

 st.uthern end being, at the same time, 

 free from all mist; earlier covering at 

 the commencement of generally cloudy 

 conditions throughout the district; heavy 

 snowfalls in this part when the south of 

 the plateau is almost free from a white 

 mantle; and, finally, a much longer 

 diiration of snow during the general 

 spring melting — have all tended for years 

 to convince the writer that the north 

 end is the higher area of the great moun- 

 tain. 



Hence the formation of a project 

 after the conclusion of the congress of 



[ * Submitted for reading at the meeting i)] 

 November last, when Professor Baldwin 

 Spencer gave his lecture, but withdra^vn by 

 the writer, as no local matter was considered 

 at that function. The paper is now re-sub- 

 mitted, as the treatise on the Ben Lomond 

 Plateau, read at Adelaide, is not yet pub- 

 lished.] 



