bart at the close of 1901, before pro- 

 ceeding south. Surely we ought to 

 make every effort to hold the Associa- 

 tion meeting at such a date as to en- 

 able all scientific men in Australasia 

 to meet here to unite with us in send- 

 "?g off the expedition with the com- 

 bined good wishes of all the scientific 

 societies m this hemisphere. To com- 

 pass this end we ought to be prepared 

 If necessary^ to hold the associatioa 

 meeting m December, 1901, rather than 

 m January, 1902. 



We can depend upon Mr. Morton to 

 watch events, and to inform us in good 

 time what we should do. 



We will now proceed to the business 

 put down tor this evening. 



New Members. 

 _ ^- ^- H. E. Lines, Professor E. 

 G. Hogg, M.A., and Mr. F. E. Burbury 

 were elected members of the Society. 



Paleontological Papers. 

 Mr. R. M. Johnston, F.S.S.. read a 

 paper "On the Further Notes on Permo- 

 Carboniferons Fossil Cliffs at Darling- 

 ton Maria Island." "Observations re- 

 garding the discovery of a portion of a 

 fossil Reptile, found on the North-Wes'. 



The papery were illustrated by lan- 

 tern-slides, which the lecturer announced 

 tnat he owed to the courtesy of the Sec- 



retary, Mr. Alex. Morton, who recently 

 visited Maria Island. The slides were 

 prepared by Mr. Beattie. 



Aerial Navigation. 

 Mr. E. O. Litchfield read an essay on 

 the history and present position of 

 aerial navigation, particularly with re- 

 ference to a gas and screw vessel now 

 m preparation. The lecturer explained 

 that the invention he had to describe 

 was a combination of the gas and screw 

 principles. The field or aerostation had 

 been highly attractive to experimental 

 scientists for a long time, and par- 

 ticularly during the past century. The 

 problem was— how to design vessels 

 heavier than air which could be driven 

 through the air ? As concerned the lift- 

 ing of heavy weights by gas, many sat- 

 1, j^^°^-^ ^°^ convincing experiments 

 had been made by aeronauts. The dif- 

 ficulty now lay in constructing a vessel 

 so compact and substantial as to travel 

 through the air. The vessel of which he 

 had to speak would carry just suflJcient 

 hermetically-sealed gas to bear the 

 weight of the structure. Ascent and 

 descent would be accomplished by the 

 upward or downward pressure of sus- 

 pensory screws. Mr. Litchfield illus- 

 trated his paper with a number of in- 

 teresting lantern pictures. 



A vote of thanks to Messrs. Johnston 

 and Litchfield brought the meeting to a 



