Proceedings. 1538 
The Secretary reported, that Mr. Ronald C. Gunn had become a 
life member of the Society. 
Mr. Makeig, of the Treasury, presented to the library of the 
Society, from Mr. Turner of Honolulu, “ Bingham’s Sandwich 
Islands,” and “ Jarvis’s History of the Hawaiian Islands.” 
Mr. Tribe presented part 2, vol. 11, of the Journal of the Royal 
Agricultural Society of England. 
From Mr. Marshall, of the Bank of Van Diemen’s Land, was 
received a stone hatchet having a wooden handle, secured with gum, 
of the grass tree, (Xanthorrhea Australis): the head of the axe is 
made of greenstone, and is double-edged. Axes of a similar descrip- 
tion, made of sharp-edged fragments of granite, and constructed with 
handles and fastenings of the same kind, have been obtained from 
the aborigines of the remote districts of the province of Victoria. 
Major Cotton sent specimens of a fine bituminous Coal from 
‘‘Kingston,” the estate of Roderick O’Connor, Esq., near Avoca, 
where several considerable seams are said to have been recently 
discovered. This coal is light, compact, of a jet black colour, and 
splendid resinous lustre: it is easily ignited, and burns with a 
bright white flame. 
From Mr. Fraser, the Colonial Secretary, was received a specimen 
of magnetic iron ore, forwarded through the Survey Department by 
Mr. P. H. Gell, from Deloraine, where it is said to occur in large quan- 
tity, and materially to influence the action of the compass in many 
places. The magnetic property appears to reside in crystals of the 
black oxide of iron, dispersed through a compact and tenacious 
matrix, composed chiefly of the carbonate. 
The Secretary submitted specimens of bluish shale obtained at a 
depth of 80 feet in Cato’s shaft, near the Normal School, by the 
New Town Road, with impressions of fern leaves. Also a specimen 
of black shale, erroneously considered to be plumbago, from the 
same place. 
Dr. Crooke remarked that Mr. James, after prosecuting his search 
for coal near the junction of the Newlands Road with the Main 
Road, to a depth of more than 100 feet, has relinquished the enter- 
prize. 
The Secretary reported the receipt at the Society’s gardens of a 
case of fruit trees, &c., from Messrs. Lee of Hammersmith, in good 
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