X Proceedings, ^c. 



He had had the honor of showing these specimens to his Excel- 

 lency the President of this Society, who had expressed a wish that the 

 Society's attention should be drawn to them ; this suggestion he now 

 acted upon with a view of inducing inquiry and experiment for the 

 purpose of deciding whether the deposits are native iron, and bear 

 affinity to the local formation, or whether they are of meteoric origin, 

 which appears more probable from their general resemblance to aerolites 

 known to have fallen in other parts of the world, and which have 

 been carefully analysed and described. 



Professor McCoy exhibited some specimens of European meteoric 

 iron, and also brought forward a new specimen of " Tseniopteris " 

 from the coal works of the Bass Kiver, in support of the oolitic age 

 of certain Victorian coal strata. Professor McCoy exhibited some 

 fragments of rock from the Bass River, collected by Mr. Daintree, of 

 the Geological Survey, in which portions of the frond of a fossil fern 

 appeared, which Professor McCoy showed to belong to the genus 

 " Tseniopteris." The characters of the genus were drawn attention 

 to in the fossil, particularly the strong mid-rib, with some simple and 

 some forked secondary nerves perpendicular to it. The species was said 

 most nearly to resemble the " Tseniopteris Vittato," of Brongniart, 

 figured from the Whitty Oolites, in Phillips' Geology of Yorkshire, 

 plate 8, fig. 5, and their respective diiferences were illustrated by 

 sketches on the black board. The new species was named T. Dain- 

 treei. Professor McCoy mentioned that the Rev. Mr. Clarke, of 

 Sydney, who difiered with him in the opinion that the coal beds of 

 Australia were of mesozoic age, had pointedly said when they last 

 met that no " Teeniopteris " had been found in the Australian beds, 

 which might be expected if Professor McCoy's views were correct, 

 and now he had the pleasure of bringing the first recorded Australian 

 occurrence of the genus before the Royal Society, in support of the 

 oolitic age of the Cape Paterson Coal Beds. A discussion ensued 

 concerning the above interesting specimens, in which Mr. Fitz- 

 gibbon. Professor McCoy, Mr. Selwyn, Mr. Osborne, and other 

 members took part. 



Copies of His Excellency the Governor's " Inaugural Address," as 

 President for 1860, were distributed to the members present. 



The Society then separated. 



Signed, Henry Baekly, Chairman. 



Ordinary Meeting op the Royal Society op Victoria. 



Monday, 25th June, 1860. 



His Excellency Sir Henry Barkly, K.C.B., in the chair. 

 The minutes of the former meeting were read and confirmed, and 



