454 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. VII. No. 170. 



instruments in charge of Mr. George Hog- 

 ben. (5) A contribution of £25 towards 

 the preceding object, (6) The appoint- 

 ment of a committee to secure magnetic 

 surveys at the extreme south of New Zea- 

 land. (7) Expressing tlie opinion that the 

 publication of Victorian continuous mag- 

 netic records is desirable. (8) That the 

 committee be re-appointed to continue the 

 investigation of the mineral waters of Aus- 

 tralasia. (9) That the New South Wales 

 government be recommended to complete 

 the borings at Funafuti while the bore ap- 

 paratus remains on the island and the bore 

 remains open. (10) A committee be ap- 

 pointed to draw up a list of works and pa- 

 pers relating to Australian flora. 



The report from the Baron von Miiller 

 Memorial Committee, embodying a resolu- 

 tion, "That the Association places on rec- 

 ord its sense of the deep loss sustained by 

 it owing to the death of the late Baron von 

 Miiller, and its high appreciation both of 

 his personal character and the distinguished 

 services rendered by him to science," was 

 adopted. 



It was announced by Professor Liversidge 

 that communications had been received 

 from the Royal Society regarding the com- 

 pilation of the Australian portion of an 

 international catalogue of scientific litera- 

 ture, and at the instance of the Chairman 

 an advisory committee, with power to add 

 to its number, was appointed, consisting of 

 representatives from all the colonies. This 

 committee recommended that some recog- 

 nized society in each colony should collect 

 all necessary matter and forward it to the 

 central bureau, London. 



A committee consisting of Professor 

 Lyle, Mr. W. H. Steele and Mr. E. F. J. 

 Love (Secretary), appointed to investigate 

 and report on ' Our Knowledge of the 

 Thermodynamics of the Voltaic Cell,' pre- 

 sented their report. 



The usual excursions, entertainments and 



public lectures were given during the week, 

 and the proceedings closed with a conversat- 

 zione given by the Eoyal Society of New 

 South Wales, at which about 750 guests 

 were present. 



Mr. E. L. J. Ellery, late Government 

 Astronomer of Victoria, was elected Presi- 

 dent for the next meeting of the Association, 

 to be held in Melbourne in the year 1900. 

 Mr. C R. Blackett, Government Analyst 

 of Victoria, was elected Treasurer, and 

 Professor Baldwin Spenser and Mr. E. F. J. 

 Love, M. A., were elected joint Secretaries. 

 An invitation to meet in Hobart, Tas- 

 mania, in 1902 was accepted. 



A PLACENTAL MARSUPIAL. 



The discovery by James P. Hill, of the 

 University of Sydney, N. S. W., that the 

 Marsupial genus Perameles has a true al- 

 lantoic placenta, is one of the most impor- 

 tant of the many recent advances in our 

 knowledge of the Australian Monotreme 

 and Marsupial fauna. In a recent number 

 of the Quarterly Journal of Microscaioic Science 

 Mr. Hill contributes his first paper to the 

 embryology of the Marsupials, and describes 

 the relations of the foetal membranes ob- 

 served in Perameles, as represented in the 

 accompanying figure. 



The presence of this organ, which has 

 hitherto been considered entirely distinctive 

 of the Placentalia or Eutherian mammals, 

 in a non-plaeental, is of great significance, 

 and Dr. Hill concludes his paper by a brief 

 inquiry as to the conclusions which may be 

 legitimately drawn from it as follows : The 

 main question is: has the allantoic placenta 

 of Perameles been independently evolved 

 within the limits of the Marsupial order, or 

 is it directly or genetically related to that 

 of the Placentals through the common an- 

 cestry of the Metatheria or Eutheria from 

 an earlier Protoplacental stock ? 



It will be recalled that Huxley, in his. 



