21 



friendly rivals of other affiliated Societies. If I have passed over, 

 almost in silence, the contributions read before our Society by Dr. 

 Hector, and his assistants, Mr. Buchanan and Mr. Skey, I have done so 

 from a desire carefully to avoid the appearance of claiming as the work 

 of our local Society essays of high interest, for the production of 

 ■which we are indebted to the accident of our geographical position. 

 I therefore leave to the President of the Institute the pleasing duty of 

 calling due attention to the productions of the gentlemen I have named, 

 and limit myself to the expression of a hojae that, whether their papers 

 are originally read here or elsewhere, we may long continue to find in 

 our Transactions such standard contribu Lions to the study of che science 

 of our country. 



An account of the additions to the collections in the Colonial Museum 

 during the past year will come more naturally from our friend the 

 Manager of the ISTew Zealand Institute, but I may be allowed now to 

 draw your attention more particularly to the highly interesting rej)tilian 

 remains found at Waipara and Amuri, by Mr. Holmes, Dr. Haast, and 

 others, giving strong proof that even here in New Zealand, as in 

 England during the Wealden period, there has once been an "Age of 

 Reptiles." The determination of the generic characters of the 

 monsters to whom these relics belonged, will, from many causes, be 

 tedious and difficult, but upon us, apparently, the task will devolve. It 

 is true that that distinguished comparative anatomist. Professor Owen 

 has already published one or more papers upon these remains, including 

 in the last which I have seen, a notice of some of the specimens in our 

 Museum, with engravings after some of the excellent drawings by Mr. 

 Buchanan, forwarded to him by the Director of the G-eological Survey. 

 But, whether from insufficiency of specimens, or from whatever other 

 cause. Professor Owen does not appear inclined at present to risk his 

 reputation by any further attempts to cletei-mine even the generic 

 characters of these remains. It is difficult to conceive what other than 

 this very natural motive could have deterred him from noticing the 

 reptilian teeth found with the bones, of which admirable drawings were 

 to my knowledge forwarded with those which he has engraved and 

 described. Further then, than that Professor Owen has, from the 

 specimens already submitted to him, determined two species of Plesio- 

 saurus to have formerly existed in our waters with a third of another 

 geniis, we at present know nothing definite. It is clear, however, that 

 our new collections contain remains of genera quite distinct from those 

 which have been described by Professor Owen. 



