food fishes deposited their eggs out in the open ocean, but the 

 herring was quite an exception. It was not known in which 

 rivers this herring deposits its eggs; possibly in the southern 

 streams. It was wonderful how those birds made such long 

 flights annually, and especially how the young birds, which 

 travelled for the first time, got back to the land of their birth. 

 They seemed to have some special sense of direction. These 

 birds had been migrating in this way, possibly, for millions of 

 years, and from a time when Siberia had a very different 

 climate from what it has to-day, as was evidenced by geological 

 impressions cf tropical plants that once grew there. Now it 

 iiad a ternbl}- severe winter, during which quicksilver remained 

 frozen in barometers and such instruments for months. He 

 presented views, and described Irkutsk, the capital of Eastern 

 Siberia, Yakutsk, centre of the Siberian fur trade, and Verko- 

 yansk, one of the coldest places in the northern hemisphere; 

 yet, in the spring, birds migrating between Tasmania and 

 Siberia nested there, finding an abundance of food in the shape 

 of berries and grubs. Parts of Siberia, like Canada, had very 

 genial spring and summer seasons, when everything grew 

 quickly. He and his friend experienced weeks of perpetual 

 light, and clouds of m.osquitoes. Siberia, in addition to having 

 tihe largest swamp in the world, had the largest plain and the 

 largest pine lorest, the latter extending for thousands of miles, 

 and runnmg through it were grand rivers teeming with salmon. 

 The coasts and rivers were rich in fishing grounds. The country 

 contained many plants and flowers never seen in the Southern 

 Hemisphere, pictures of several of which were thrown on the 

 screen. There was a good prospect for the country for settle- 

 ment by political exiles from' Russia; these were mostly supe- 

 rior people. Siberia teemed with birds, flowers, and mosquitoes. 



MAY II, 1908. 



The monthly General Meeting of the Society was held at the 

 Museum on Monday evening, May 11, 1908. 



Mr. T. Stephens, M.A., F.G.S., in the chair. 



Messrs. W. N. Atkins, L. A. Evans, O. P. Law, and L. 

 Rodway were elected Fellows, and Mr. A. Conlon Associate of 

 the Society. 



THE FOLLOWING PAPER WAS READ : — 



Notes on a Chipped Boulder from near Kempton. By 

 Fritz Noetling, M.A., Ph.D. 



The author described the boulder as one that had been 

 chipped by the aborigines in getting their cutting implements 

 from it. He found around it the principal flakes belonging to 

 the stone. The place where the stone was found was the site 

 of an old aboriginal camping ground on the slope of a hill on 

 the northern side cf Kempton. He described how the flakes 

 were used as implements, and how they were struck off the 

 core. The specimen was unique for Tasmania. It was a piece 



