5. From A. Simson, Esq. — Specimens of Crystals of Tin, Sapphire, 



Zircon, etc., from Gould's Country. 



6. From Mr. T. J. Exton. — A Grey Flying Squirrel (Belideus sciurus) 



from Oatlands. 



7. From the Rev. W. "W". Spicer. — A young Brush Kangaroo 



( Halmaturus Bennetii). 



8. From Mr. Jno. Withrington. — A Halfpenny George II., 1753. 



9. From Mr. S. J. Baynton. — Specimens, of the native Truffle, from 



Kingston. 



10. From Mr. P. Oldham. — A peculiar Fish, caught in 13 fathoms of 



water ojBF Drouthy Point. 



11. From Mr. C. Sutton, Tunbridge. — A sample of Mineral Water from 



that locality. 



12. From Dr. Beccari, director of the Museum, Florence. — Eight pre- 



pared Skins of New Guinea Birds (named). 



13. From Dr. James Cox, Sydney. — A stone-headed Spear, from a tribe 



of Aborigines on North coast of Australia. 



14. From the Eev. W. W. Spicer. — A collection of Plants— 49 species 



named by donor — from Kent's Group and Swan Island. 



15. From Dr. James Hector, Wellington, New Zealand.— Skeleton of a 



Blackfish ( Qlohioceplialus macrorhynchus). 

 Presentations to Library : — 



1. From the author. — Copy of a Handbook of the Plants of Tasmania, 



by the Rev. W. W. Spicer, M.A., etc. 



2. From the Royal Historical Society, London. — Vol. 6, of the Trans- 



actions of the Society. 



3. From the OfiBce of Mines, Sydney — Geological Map of the Hartley 



District, New South Wales. 

 The following papers were read : — 



1. *' Contributions to the Phytographvof Tasmania," No. 5 ; by Baron 



Ferd. von Mueller, C.M.G., M.D', F.R S., etc., etc. 



2. "Further Notes on the Freshwater Shells of Tasmania, with a 



Description of New Species"; by Robt. M. Johnston. 



3. "Notes on the Platypus ( Ornithorhynchus anatinus ) ; by Morton 



Allport, F.LS, F.ZS.etc. 



In reference to the subject of the latter paper, the Rev. W. W. Spicer 

 read the following extract from a letter which he hid lately received from 

 Professor Rollegton, M D., of Oxford : — " I have read with attention 

 your Royal Society Paper (Proc. Royal Soc. Tasmania 1876, p. 162) on 

 the poison gland of Ornithorhynchus. I should incline to think it analo- 

 gous to the multifarious weapons which help males in the battle of sexual 

 selection. The teeth and claws in which males so often differ from females 

 do not differentiate the sexes in Platypus, and this claw may be 

 supposed, with its appended gland, to have given a pre-eminence to 

 males in which it was pre-eminently developed. I apprehend that in the 

 cases where a lion's claw has been proved to have been venom-carry- 

 ing, it had been smeared with animal matter from some previous meal. 

 Any albuminoid matter, such as ' Woorara,' or putridity of any kind, if 

 not too far gone in decomposition, will poison the lymphatics, or worse. 

 Our present epidemic of hydrophobia brings the thing home to one." 



Mr. Justice Dobson, in moving a vote of thanks to the authors of 

 papers and donors of presentations referred in terms of regret to the 

 great loss the Society was about to experience by the return of the Rev. 

 W. W. Spicer to England. The Bishop cordially agreed with all that was 

 said by Mr. Dobson as to the seiious loss they were about to sustain by 

 the absence of Mr. Spicer, to whom the special thanks of the Society were 

 abundantly due, not only for his exertions on behalf of the Society, but 



