8. From Mr. Blythe, Honeywood — Three Whip Snakes (Hoplo- 



cephalus cor on ides), &c. 



9. From Mr. McCoy, Launceston — A Portuguese Copper Coin. 



10. From Mr. A. Randall — A Eock Specimen from Guy Fawkes 



Rivulet, Cascades. 



11. From Mr. Herbert Crowther — A Fijian Female Dress. 



12. From Mr. C. Hanlon, River Styx — A curiously twisted root of 



Wattle. 

 The Secretary having reminded the meeting of a description of a 

 huge cuttle fish found on the East coast of New Zealand, which he had 

 read at the meeting held on the 12th November last, proceeded to read 

 the following extract from a letter giving some further details of the 

 monster : — • 



"Description of a monster cuttle seen on the East Coast, New Zealand, 

 about 23 miles to the southward of Castle Point. 

 "The fish, which was of a reddish brown colour on the back, and 

 white underneath, had eight arms, many of them broken otf at different 

 lengths, but the sound ones measuring, by step, 10 feet or thereabout, 

 furnished on the under side with suckers measuring from 1 to 2^ inches 

 in diameter, and getting gradually smaller towards the extremity, one 

 long trunk, about 3 inches in diameter and (14) fourteen feet in length, 

 terminating in a large sucker of the same diameter as the trunk. The 

 body, which was rolling about in the surf, appeared about 6 feet in length 

 by 2 or 2^ feet in diameter, and the fish would weigh at the lowest 

 computation six cwt. The arms and trunk were severed from the 

 body and measured by step as accurately as possible, and were after- 

 wards washed away by the surf, the dimensions of the body we could 

 only guess. The fish was seen by Mr. F. G. Moon, my brother F. 

 Moore, &c. — John Moore." 



Mr. F. Abbott read a paper on the "Transit of Venus in 1874." 

 Sir James M. Wilson said the Society was much indebted to Mr. 

 Abbott for the interesting paper which he had just read, and for the 

 pains he had taken to collect and transcribe the opinions entertained, 

 by a number of scientific authorities, on the character of the phenomena 

 resulting from the operation of the physical laws by which the earth 

 is influenced in its connection with the sun and planets. The primary 

 question which should engage the attention of the Royal Society at this 

 moment is the great coming event of the transit of Venus over the 

 sun's disc in 1874. The all-important question of ascertaining the sun's 

 true parallax will, in all human probability, be accurately defined. The 

 interest taken by the Governments and scientific bodies in Europe 

 seems to warrant this conclusion. Tasmania, as one of the illuminated 

 portions of the earth for the ingress and egress of the planet passing 

 over the sun's disc, is, from climatic reasons, probably the most 

 advantageous site for the observation of this most interesting event. 

 Instead, however, of offering any observations on the paper to which 

 the Fellows had just listened with so much interest he (Sir James 

 Wilson) would now call their attention to the action taken by himself 

 and colleagues in the late Government, in which they were strongly 

 sustained by His Excellency the Governor, with a view to inducing 

 the Home Government to make Hobart Town an official station for the 

 observation of the transit of Venus. [The memorandum by Sir James M. 

 Wilson, and despatches from Lord Kimberley, were here read.] From 

 these documents it would be seen that the late Government had not lost 

 sight of the importance of securing the selection of Hobart Town as a 

 station for official observation of the transit, and had urged upon the 

 Secretary of State considerations which were certainly deserving of 



