BY ALEX. MORTON". 113 



trampled on and killed by the monstei-. Mr. Colenso pro- 

 cured some bones, and after careful examination lie con- 

 cluded that it was an extinct species. His paper is a piece 

 of clear and almost convincing piece of I'easoning, but was dis- 

 agreed with by Professor Owen, who thought the bones, after 

 examination, to be so recent that he expressed the hope that 

 the animal might yet be seen striding about in the " Zoo." 

 The Wellington Valley in New South Wales was just then 

 attracting considerable attention on account of the fossil 

 bones of a giant extinct animal, a Mastonodontoid pachyderm, 

 which Professor Owen describes in this volume. This dis- 

 covery was especially of interest as suggesting a more humid 

 climate than that now common to Australia, for these crea- 

 tures were frequenters of marshes, swamps, and lakes. 

 The Aborigines of Tasmania were studied by several mem- 

 bers, and Archdeacon Davies wrote of their ways in a careful 

 paper or two. 



This was, par excellence, the time for exploration. The 

 vast new country, with untold wealth and unknown natural 

 resources, attracted the attention of all those adventurous 

 spirits who love to have the pleasure of treading where no 

 foot of civilised, man has before trodden. At this time 

 Leichhax'dt was in the north exploring the country between 

 Moreton Bay and Port Essington before that last journey of 

 his, the plan of which was sketched with such sanguine 

 anticipation of success, but from which no whisper has yet 

 come to tell us whether it is well with him. 



Sir Thomas Mitchell was continuing his investigations in 

 the region of the Darling and the Bogan, while Captain Sturt 

 was battling with heat, drought, and scurvy, in heroic efforts 

 to penetrate the secrets of the central part of the dark 

 continent. The account of his work, given in this volume, is 

 pathetic reading. 



One member whese name appears very often in the pro- 

 ceedings, is Mr. Ronald C. Gunn, of Launcestou, whose work 

 for the Society was of a very extensive character. He was 

 made a Fellow of the Royal Society, London, an honour 

 never since bestowed on a Tasnianian. He was an 

 indefatigable worker-, and did much for the scientific 

 development of his adopted country. He and Dr. Grant 

 were the first to send to Loudon live specimens of the 

 Tasmaniau Tiger, a notice of which appeared in the London 

 Times of May, 1850. 



In the third volume of the Tasmanian Journal the name of 

 the Rev. W. B. Clarke appears for the first time. This 

 eminent geologist, the first in Australia to predict the finding 

 of gold, wrote to this Journal on the subject of the fossils of 

 the Silurian age in New South Wales. Incidentally he 



