lv 



Mr. Abbott, in reply to the theory that it was the action of the fire 

 upon the plant that caused the poison to distil, pointed out that the man 

 who suffered most had not been near the fire, nor did the diet 

 question come in, for two of the men who suffered were men employed 

 in the gardens who were not on low diet. 



Dr. Perkins pointed out the common error of supposing that the 

 upas tree had a deadly exhalation. The deadly nature of the valley 

 in Jarra commonly thought to be caused by the upas tree resulted 

 from carbonic acid gas, which rose from the earth, and nothing lived 

 in that valley, not even the upas tree itself, 



Mr. J. R. McCltmont read a paper entitled " History of Australian 

 Geography, II. Tasmania and New Zealand, on the Dauphin and 

 other MS. maps." Mr. McClymont prefaced his paper by a brief 

 account of the first Portuguese voyages to India — those of Vasco de 

 Gama and Cabral — drawn from Mr. Major's "Prince Henry the Navi- 

 gator." He adiuced arguments tending to indicate that the discovery 

 of some part of Australia might have been made by some of Ca^ral's 

 ships, scattered as they were by a hurricane off the Cape of Good Hope, 

 and quoted a passage from Mercator in support of this possibility. 



MICROSCOPE. 



Mr. C. J. Atkins exhibited, by the aid of the miseroscope, some very 

 interesting living specimens of Cyclops, a genus of minute Entomostra- 

 cous Crustaceans of the order Branchiopoda, having a soft and rather 

 gelatinous body divided into two portions, one consisting of the head 

 and thorax, and the other forming the tail. Under the microscopes 

 the animal was of a very bright colour, sparkling like a gem. They 

 appeared, under an inch objective, very active, and dart about with 

 great rapidity. The species Cyclops are very numerous, inhabiting 

 both the sea and fresh waters. Great interest was taken in the 

 specimens by the members present. 



On the motion of Mr. Justin McC. Browne, a vote of thanks was 

 unanimously accorded the writers of the papers. 



NOVEMBER, 1886. 



The monthly meeting of this society (the last of the session of 1S86) 

 Was held on Monday evening, November 22, when a number of interest- 

 ing papers were read, and the vice-president delivered his closing address- 

 The vice-president, Mr. James Barnard, presided, and there was a large 

 attendance of Fellows, including the hon. the Premier (Hon. J. W. 

 Agnew, M.D., M.E.C.), Hon. P. 0. Pysh, and several ladies. 



Messrs. C. P. McCarthy and S. Glassbrook, of England, were in- 

 troduced as visitors. 



Dr. Gray, of New Norfolk, was elected a Fellow of the Society. 



The assistant secretary (Mr. A. Morton) laid on the table the usual 

 returns. 



List of additions to the library during the month of October : — 



Annals and magazines of Natural History, No. CV, Vol. 18. 



Annual Report of the Department of Mines, New South Wales. — 

 From the Government. 



Bollettino della Societa Geografica Italiana. Series II., Vol. XI., Fax. 

 S, 9. — From the Society. 



Boletim da Sociedade de Geographia de Lisbon. 6a serie, No. 1—2. 

 ■ — From the Society. 



