Ixii PROCEEDINGS, NOVEMBEE. 



Tasmania for 1887 it is desirable that I should, as your president, 

 briefly review the operations of the Society in the period. 



Our number of Fellows has considerably increased, 21 having been 

 elected in the session. The attendance at the monthly meetings has 

 been larger than in any previous session. I am glad to say also that 

 we have been favoured by the presence of ladies to a greater extent 

 than has hitherto been the case, and I am sure they will admit that at 

 every meeting they have attended they have listened to much which 

 has interested them. The additions to the library have been very 

 satisfactory, and Dr. Agnew, our most liberal benefactor, has had 

 bound for the Society at his own expense that very valuable work, 

 " Gould's Humming Birds," consisting of 28 parts. An unusually- 

 interesting set of papers has been laid before the Society, as the report of 

 our proceedings when it is issued will show. In Zoology we have had 

 contributions from Messrs. Petterd, Johnston, Saville-Kent. Morton, 

 and Colonel Legge, and in this section I would refer to the very 

 important discovery of the egg of the echidna, or porcupine, at Camp- 

 bell Town. In Icthyology we have had the very interesting paper of Mr. 

 Saville-Kent on the acclimatisation of the salmon, besides other contribu- 

 tions. Mr. Johnston has furnished some valuable notes on some rare 

 fishes of Tasmania, and Mr. Morton was able to submit a specimen of a 

 new fish to Tasmania which was not only a new species, but has proved 

 to belong to a new genus, and which he has named after our greatest 

 local icthyologist, Mr. Johnston. In Ornithology, Colonel Legge's papers 

 on the " Birds of Maria Island" and the " Actjeon Isles" are most 

 valuable, as well as Mr. McClymont's list of birds of Tasman's Peninsula, 

 In Gonchology Mr. Petterd was able to furnish a description of two new 

 species of Tasmanian fresh water shells. In Geology and Palaeontology 

 several important papers have been read by Mr. Johnston, more 

 especially the one entitled " Observations with regard to the nature and 

 classification of the rocks of the tertiary period of Australasia," and 

 Mr. Stephens made some interesting observations on the geology of the 

 Scottsdale line. In Botany we have had the elaborate and valuable 

 paper of Mr. Bastow on the " Tasmanian HepaticEe," together with 

 other important cammunications, and he has further exhibited to us 

 most interesting objects under the microscope at our monthly meetings. 

 We have also had some valuable contributions from our veteran 

 contributor. Baron von Mueller, and some useful notes from Mr. Perrin 

 and Mr. Abbott. In Astronomy Mr. Biggs has furnished two valuable 

 papers, the one on the " Comets of February, 18S0, and January, 1887," 

 and the other on the double star, "Alpha Centauri, with a graphic 

 projection of its orbit from its apparent curve." On the GeograpMcal 

 side we have had a paper from the Rev. J. B. Woollnough on Iceland, 

 giving a graphic account of the history and present condition, both 

 social and political, of that island, which he visited some years ago, 

 and another from Mr. Andrew giving a very lucid description of the 

 operations of the diamond diggings in South Africa. In Exploration we 

 have no actual results to show, but we have done our best to help 

 forward the proposed expedition to the Antarctic regions, acting in 

 complete accord with the Antarctic Committee of the Royal Society of 

 Victoria, and have done all in our power to press forward this move- 

 ment. A deputation from the council of this Society waited upon the 

 Government to ask their co-operation and assistance in this matter. 

 They pointed out that not only, in common with all those interested in 

 Antarctic exploration, did they anticipate important scientific results 

 from an expedition to these seas, but also that Tasmania, as the most 

 southern of the Australian colonies, was particularly interested in the 

 results of such an expedition should it prove successful in obtaining in 

 these regions a sufficient iake of whales or any other commercial pro- 

 ducts which would make the expedition a remunerative one. The 



