it is to these that the Royal Society of Tasmania can offer 

 golden opportunities for the free exchange of ideas, for mutual 

 assistance, and for the publication of original discoveries. 



Nowadays, science advances with increasing rapidity, and 

 the newly-discovered specialist should always be heartily wel- 

 comed, and never discouraged. May the future of the Royal' 

 Society be evei^ marked with the cordiality and friendship be- 

 ween members, which have added joy to my term of ofifice; may 

 its govetning body be progressive and on the alert to move 

 with the growing demands of learning; may added membership 

 and renewed energy make this an attractive centre to men of 

 genius and men of leisure, to the hard-worked official, and to 

 the rising amateur, and may the splendid work accomplished by 

 the establishment of these useful rooms, of this noble museum,, 

 and of this valuable library, be an incentive to yet more success- 

 ful eft'orts." 



THE FOLLOWING PAPERS WERE READ : 



(i) Records of Tasmanian Botanists. By J. H. Maiden, 

 F.L.S., Director of the Botanic Gardens, Sydney. (Correspond- 

 ing Member.) 



This paper is part of a series of records relating to the several; 

 States of the Commonwealth, most of which have been already 

 published, and is especially interesting as giving an account of 

 the life and work of Mr. Ronald Gunn, the father of Tasmanian 

 Botany. In addition to the memoirs of local botanists, the 

 paper also contains notes of the work in Tasmania of men who 

 are more properly styled Australian Botanists, among whom 

 may be mentioned Labillardiere, Robert Brown, Backhouse, and 

 Von Mueller. 



(2) A peculiar group of Tronattas. By Fritz Noetling, M.A., 

 Ph.D., etc. 



In reference to the stone implements of the Aborigines of 

 Tasmania, the " tronattas,"' the author remarks that they repre- 

 sent the typical archaeolithic stage somewhat modified, as noted 

 in his first paper on the subject. Comparing them with a large 

 collection of European specimens, he concludes that they re- 

 present the highest stage of the archaeolithic civilisation. The 

 group of implements forming the subject of the papers and the 

 mode of construction, are described in minute detail, and they 

 are compared with European specimens. 



(,3) Red Ochre and its uses by the Aborigines of Tasmania. 

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



The author points out that the early records prove that the 

 males smeared hair and beard with a mixture of red ochre and 

 grease, and that he had found pieces of red iron ore at their 

 camping grounds. He enumerates from different vocabularies 

 the terms used in describing the process, and concludes that it 

 was an exclusive male adornment. 



