PEOCEBDINGS, JULY. Xxxix 



it was due 'to Dr. Agnew that three or four very practical papers had 

 been published by the Government in the proceedings of the Society 

 during the present session, thus scattering the fact broadcast that the 

 Royal Society of Tasmania was doing its best to encourage the develop- 

 ment of natural science. He thought a handbook should be prepared 

 on the Mosses and Hepaticse of Tasmania for the use of its schools, and 

 he hoped a sum of money would be voted, and Mr. Bastow asked to 

 prepare such a work. It was not only in Tasmania that this work was 

 appreciated, for he had heard people in Sydney and Melbourne speak 

 very highly of the former paper, and when he told them that a paper 

 on Hepaticse was being prepared by Mr. Bastow, which would eclipse 

 those on Tasmanian mosses, it wes said that the Royal Society would 

 be doing good work if the former paper could be eclipsed. 



The Chairman thoroughly appreciated the liberality of Dr. Agnew, 

 but thought the present Premier would be found doing the same work. 

 He considered handbooks of the natural history of the colony would 

 be valuable aids in education, and far better than the obsolete know- 

 ledge frequently taught. 



king's island, mount cygnet, and fingal. 



Mr. R. M. Johnson read some notes with respect to the fishes, and 

 the land and fresh-water molluscs of King's Island. He stated that 

 he was indebted for the specimens on the table to the commendable 

 interest taken by Mr. John Brown, surveyor, in the natural history of 

 Tasmania. The collections embraced four species of fishes, and nine 

 of molluscs. The fishes were common to the rivers of Tasmania, and 

 the shells were also common to Tasmania, with the exception of Helix 

 Brunonia, which though closely approaching H bisulcata and H 

 lamproides, was easily distinguished by the partly closed perforation, 

 very convex base, and peculiar shagreen surface-ornamentation. It had 

 a closer alliance with H atramentaria of Victoria from which, however, 

 it differed in many points. 



Mr. Johnston also read an interesting paper on the lower coal 

 measures of Mount Cygnet, as an addenda to a preceding paper, giving 

 sections characteristic of the formation, and adding some remarks upon 

 the beautiful feldspar-porphyries found at Port Cygnet. Alluding to 

 the alluvial gold discovered at Lymington in the same locality, and 

 worked with more or less success in the valleys associated with the 

 porphyritic rock, he said it was a question of much interest to ascer- 

 tain by careful experiment whether the pyrites of the metamorphic 

 rocks associated with the porphyry might not also be auriferous. 

 Apparently no other rocks of an auriferous character were to be found 

 in the vicinity. He had submitted some of the pyrites to Mr. Ward, 

 who would shortly be able to give a report. 



Mr. Johnston also read some notes on the Fingal Basin from the 

 operations of a trial bore, by means of a diamond-drill, sunk recently 

 at Harefield, under the direction of Mr. Bateman, to a depth of 723ft. 

 The paper gave an abstract of the principal rocks passed through in the 

 bore, which the writer regarded as of the greatest interest, forming one 

 of the best evidences yet obtained regarding the stategraphical relation 

 of the rocks of the Fingal Basin. Beneath the Upper PalEeozoic Marine 

 Beds, carbonaceous shales and a very thin seam of coal was found. The 

 fossils contained in them though meagre and imperfect, indicate that 

 these lower beds belong to the lower coal measures, and are probably 

 identical with those of the Mersey. 



Mr. Ward said he had examined the rock mentioned by Mr. Johnston 

 in the paper on Mount Cygnet, and found no gold in the small quantity 

 of pyrites placed at his disposal, but had very little doubt that if a 



