WELLINGTON PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY. 
FIFTH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING. 29th January, 1872. 
W. T. L. Travers, F.L.S., President, in the chair. j 
ABSTRACT REPORT OF THE COUNCIL. 
Durine the past year nine general meetings have been held, at which forty- 
two original papers on various subjects were read, all of which have been 
forwarded to the Governors of the New Zealand Institute for publication in 
the fourth volume of the Zransactions, Amongst the authors of these papers 
will be found the names of seven new contributors, indicating the increasing 
interest taken in the labours of the Society. 
The balance sheet shows that the actual receipts for the past year, 
including balance from previous account, amounted to £138 1s. 7d., and the 
expenditure to £40 2s. 1d., leaving a balance in hand, exclusive of any arrears 
of subscriptions, of £97 19s. 6d. The subscriptions of fifty members are in 
arrear, but will probably be soon collected. Twenty new members have joined 
the Society, making the number at present 126. 
The Chairman stated that an appropriation of £28 would shortly be made 
for the purchase of the Reports of the Geological Society from its commence- 
ment to within the last year or two. 
ELECTION OF OFFICERS FoR 1872: President—James Hector, M.D., F.R.S.; 
Vice-Presidents—J. C. Crawford, F.G.S., John Kebbell 3 Council—Captain 
F. W. Hutton, F.G.S., Charles Knight, F.R.C.S., W. T. L. Travers, F.L.S., 
John Buchanan, H. F. Logan; Hon. Treasurer—F. M. Ollivier 3 Hon, 
Secretary—R. B. Gore. 
1. A letter received from the Smithsonian Institute was read ee 
certain publications presented to the Society. 
2. Observations on Naultinus pacificus, Gray,” by F. J. Knox, L.R.C.S.E. 
(See Transactions, p. 307. 
Mr. Travers suggested that lizards cast their tails in the same manner that 
crabs could east off a wounded limb. 
