Auckland Institute. 465 
the vessel was about to visit White Island, and that it possessed great 
interest, for the care with which the altitudes and soundings of the warm 
lake and the temperature of the springs had been ascertained. 
The Secretary proposed that Dr. Rolston and Lieut. Edwin should be 
written to, thanking them for their contribution. 
The motion was carried unanimously. 
The President said he thought it should be decided at that meeting 
whether they should unite with the New Zealand Institute. ' 
Mr. Peacock moved that they be incorporated with the New Zealand 
Institute. | 
Captain Hutton seconded the motion. 
Mr. Gillies said he hoped they would resolve upon joining the Institute. 
While in polities they fought for their local advantages, they should show 
that when it came to a matter of science they recognized no distinetion. 
The motion to incorporate with the New Zealand Institute was carried 
unanimously. 
SEcowp» Mrerine. Ist June, 1868. 
J. H. Crawford in the chair. 
1. “On the Mechanical Principles involved in the Flight of the Alba- 
tros,” by Captain F. W. Hutton, F.G.S. 
ABSTRACT.* 
The author commenced by remarking that though most other branches 
of ornithology had been treated of, that of “flight” had received little 
attention, though it was a subject of considerable difficulty and importance. 
His first illustration was that of an albatros, 17 pounds in weight, poised in 
mid-air ready for flight; the temperature of its air cells, as scientifically 
ascertained, being 108°F., and that of the surrounding air 43° F. 
that case it would require a sphere of more than 15 feet in diameter to 
contain the quantity of air necessary to render the specifie gravity of the 
bird equal to that of the atmosphere. Taking its under surface to be 8 feet 
in all, it would require a pressure of 2:12 pounds per square foot to support 
it, and an upward velocity of 20 feet a second to sustain the bird in the air. 
If the breeze were blowing with a velocity of 100 feet a second, the bird 
would be forced backwards and downwards in the direction of the wind. 
The essayist, having proceeded to show, in algebraic formule, the compara- 
* This paper could not be printed i in extenso, as it was found So to procure the 
— type for the algebraic formule contained therein in We —Ep. (See 
“Transactions,” Vol. IL. p. 227.) 
59 
