10 

 JULY, 1878. 



rnnlint.^WK' ^f' ^^^ ^^ J',^™*. Esq., who had pteviouely been 

 Ferwfon'hVsooU?;"'"' ""^ "^""'^^ ^"' ""^ ^-'-<ld"'y elJted'aS 



1. Number of visitors to the Museum, 2,414. 



2. Number of visitors to Gardens, 4,503.' 



3. Plants received atand sent from Gardens 



'■ ^GTrdlnrilnfigrnt^' ''"- "'' ^^^ ''-"^"d plant, in the Botanic 



5. Books and periodicals received. 

 Meteorology — 



1. Hobart Town from F. Abbott, Esq.-Table for June. 



2. New Norfolk, from W. E. Shoobridge, Esq.— Ditto 



Xy anTju^ne^ ^^°"°^ ^^^'°°' ^''°"' '^® ^^^"°® Board-Tables for 



4. From Mr. Eoblin-Abstracts and Eesults of observations registered 



at the Lighthouses, etc., during 1877. 



5. From the Government Observatory, Melbourne-Monthly Record of 



uLTJn^'eVuTr'"'' ^^^^^^^°"-^ Observatory during Jan- 



S'ni;«Inf " f^tie Universe and the Coming Transits." Also a series 

 ot nine pnotographs of typical examples of certain of the South African 

 races. 



The Secretary read a paper by Mrs. Charles Meredith, descriptive of 

 the form and character of several specimens of the sea Amielida, or '^ sea. 

 worms found in the kelp at Prossers' Bay. and representative of the families 

 of Nereidide^, Serpulid^, and Terebellid^. Generically they are to 

 be classed under Nereis, Sahella, and Terehdla, but it is probable that as 

 to species they are new to science. All the species referred to in the paper 

 were depicted by the writer in beautifullyexecuted water-colour drawings, 

 which were examined with great interest by the meeting. 



port?n mr^''''^^ '^^"^ " "^"^^'^ ^'^ ^ ""'"'' ^° ^^® ^°^ ^^"°^ °^" ^°^*^' 

 His Excellexcy thought Mr. Stephens' suggestion of decompcsini? 

 pryites being the source of heat in this case, was probably correct, but he 

 was not certain that this could apply to the hot water and mud springs in 

 u^v f ''?'^%'^^.'''b extended over a very large area. These springs, 

 which he had visited many years ago, presented some very peculiar 

 features ; for instance, an individual seated in one with water at a com- 

 fortable temperature, might hold in his hand a net containing vegetables, 

 and, without moving, could cook them by dipoing the net in a boiling 

 spring close to him. The deposit between the springs seemed to be a 

 sort of /?</«, or a mixture of lime and silex. The formation of the country 

 in the immediate vicinity, appeared to be recent, and as far as he (the 

 Chairman) could recollect there was no rock in situ, though Plutonic 

 and Metamorphic rocks existed in the neighbourhood. 



The Bishop of Tasmania agreed with Mr. Stephens in thinking that the 

 decomposition of Pyrites was quite sufficient to account for the heat of 

 the small spring described by him, but as to the larger area of the hot-well 

 district, with which he was familiar in England, at Bath and Clifton, 

 where the water was derived from the New Red Sandstone, he thought 

 fluch chemical action alone was scarcely sufficient to account for the vast 



i 



