xli. 



new discoveries in science at alternate monthly or fortnightly 

 meetings ; these may he arranged so as to be introductory to 

 technical papers to be submitted at a subsequent meeting. The 

 meetings of the Society enable those who are interested in the 

 eame pursuit to meet together, and by friendly intercourse 

 advance the cause of science. Discussion has often evoked 

 information that has led up to investigations of the highest 

 value, and should be encouraged, and not rudely suppressed by 

 a display of cynicism not unfrequently indulged in by those 

 whose lot it is to regard science more as a professional pursuit 

 than of the nature of a relaxation for leisure hours. 



Much of the surplus funds of the Society has been employed 

 in publishing the Transactions of the Society, the third volume 

 of which will be ready for delivery in a few weeks. The 

 Council has ever been mindful of the necessity of maintaining 

 a high character for its Transactions, and the reputation which 

 it bears in the other colonies affords good evidence of its value. 

 A judicious selection has been made from the papers submitted 

 to the Society, and the illustrations have been provided with no 

 niggardly hand. In regard to the former point it will be well 

 for Fellows and other contributors to bear in mind that purely 

 speculative questions, however well adapted to raise an inte- 

 resting discussion, are, like those relating to merely elementary 

 matters, not within the scope of the Society's Transactions. 



The plan of an early issue of reprints of author's copies, 

 which has been successfully carried out during the present year, 

 has overcome much of the inconvenience attending the tardy 

 publication of a yearly volume, as it will also enable us to 

 publish the Transactions with greater dispatch than formerly. 

 The number of contributors to the pages of our Transactions for 

 the last three years is 14 ; eight for 1877-8, eight for 1878-9, 

 and six for 1879-80. Of these five only are members, three are 

 corresponding members, one honorary member, and five non- 

 members. And though the number of workers is on the 

 decrease, yet the results achieved seem to be of increasing 

 merit ; at any rate, each yearly volume has far outstripped its 

 predecessor in point of size. The published papers show a wide 

 range of subjects, but a very large majority is devoted to 

 Natural History, as is indicated by the following summary : — 

 Medical Statistics, 3 ; Physics, 2 ; Astronomy, 1 ; General 

 Natural History, 4; Botany, 5 ; Zoology (recent and fossil), 

 13 ; Geology, 7 ; Mineralogy, 1 ; and Anthropology, 1. 



The labours of the Society for the coming year are likely to 

 present the same activity and the same wide range of subjects 

 as ever. We have been made aware of the preparation of a 

 catalogue of South Australian minerals, of a descriptive 

 catalogue of our marine shells, a monograph of the Tertiary 



