136 President's Address 



exists among our most eminent comparative anatomists and 

 osteologists on this subject. Professor Halford takes ground 

 in opposition to Professor Huxley's views, and although I 

 believe few of us will ventui^e to ally ourselves to any 

 particular side of the moot points, the paper will form a 

 valuable addition to our knowledge of comparative anatomy. 



Professor M'Coy read a paper at our meeting on the 14th 

 of August, in which he announced for the first time with 

 certainty, the existence of the Cretaceous formations in 

 Australia. Some fossils which had been brought down from 

 the head of the Flinders river, by Messrs. Carson and 

 Sutherland, which were laid before the meeting, had enabled 

 Professor M'Coy to arrive, without doubt, at this conclusion. 

 This discovery, Professor M'Coy told us, nearly fills up the 

 great series of marine mesozoic formations supposed to be 

 absent in Australia when he arrived here, but most of which 

 he has recognised and demonstrated from palseontological 

 evidence before the meetings of our Society.* 



The last papers of the session w^ere '•' On the desirability 

 of working the EthnogTaphical and Geographical Section of 

 the Society," by Mr. Pawlinson ; and a very ingenious but 

 speculative one entitled '' Probable Astronomical Causes of 

 the Contortions of the Palaeozoic Strata in Australia," by 

 Mr. Harrison. 



At the annual closing meeting of the session, some 

 important alterations were made in the laws of the Society, 

 which past experience had shown to be desirable. 



Intimately connected with the progTess of the Society is 

 the advancement and well-being of our pubhc scientific 

 establishments, and to these and their results during the 

 past year I would now briefly advert. 



* Professor M'Coy informed me a few days since, that Mr. Sutherland had 

 just sent him most important new fossils confirming the above, which he 

 intends shortly to bring before the Society. 



