s 
318 Proceedings. 
No. 16. Crystals of Mesole, from Quail Island. 
— 17. Fossils from tertiary blue clay. Eastern flank of Mount Grey, 
10 miles inland, 300 feet above present sea level, occurring 
in numerous beds of about 18 inches to 2 feet thick, alter- 
nating with sandstones and arenaceous clays. 
— 18. Lignite from eastern flank of Mount Grey. 
— 19. Silicified wood from bed of river, Port Cooper Plains. 
— 20. Hornblende Rock, Otago Harbour. 
— 21.) Carbonate of Lime injected in veins and masses through clay- 
& 22. slate. Otago Harbour. 
— 23. Lignite from Saddle Hill, Dunedin, (Otago District). 
— 24. Obsidian from Taupo, Volcanic District, North Island. 
— 25. Concretionary deposit from Hot Springs, ditto. 
— 26. Obsidian from the Island of Ascension. 
““ The whole of the Southern and almost all of the Middle Islands of 
New Zealand are of primary formation; the only sedimentary rocks which 
are found are in the neighbourhood of the carboniferous deposits which 
occur, so far as is yet known, in five localities—viz.: Massacre Bay, 
Mutanou, north end of Port Cooper Plains; Saddle Hill, Dunedin; 
Molyneux River and Preservation Harbour. With the exception of the 
last, all the specimens tried have been found to be very inferior, being only 
varieties of lignite and anthracite, and the Preservation coal has but the 
faintest traces of bituminous matter. The prevailing rocks of these two 
islands are Granite, and granitic rocks of various kinds. Gneiss, mica- 
slate, clay-slate, hornblende rock, serpentine, nephrite, porphyritic 
rocks, greenstone, and other traps, (including basalt and amygdaloids), 
quartz rock, and immense deposits of gravel on the plains, composed 
chiefly of water-worn quartz in pebbles: the Northern Island has also 
one or two carboniferous deposits, but of the same inferior quality as the 
others. The centre of the island is in an active volcanic state. 
“ HL.M.S. Bramble, “ CHarLes Forses. 
“6 Hobart Town, May 29th.” 
The Secretary read a letter from Andrew Clarke, Esq., Private Secretary, 
-expressing the regret of His Excellency the President at not being able to 
be present at the meeting, and communicating a Despatch from Sir 
William Denison to the Governor-General, Sir Charles Fitz Roy, requesting 
that instructions might be given to the Government Geological Surveyors 
to collect in the course of their researches duplicate specimens of Austra- 
. lian rocks and minerals for the purpose of being placed in the Museum of 
the Royal Society of Van Diemen’s Land, with the Despatch of Sir 
Charles Fitz Roy in reply, intimating that the instruction had been 
issued as desired, and that the Committee of the Australian Museum at 
Sydney had kindly undertaken to see them forwarded. 
Mr. Milligan reported receipt (through Ronald Gunn, Esq.) of a paper 
by the Rev. R. L. King, B.A., of Sydney, upon Daphniade of New South 
