36 



Fifth Meeting. Aicgusf 20, 1870. 

 Hon. Mr. Mantell, F.G.S., President, in the chair. 



The election of the following new membei's was announced : — 

 Hon. A. P. Seymour, Pk,ev. J. C. Andrews, J. B. Beale, William Cooper, 

 J. Floyd, and A. McTavish. 



Periodicals and Contributions received since last meeting were laid 

 on the table. 



1. " On certain New Plants in the Herbarium of the Miiseum," by 

 T. Kirk, Secretary to the Auckland Institute. (See Transactions.) This 

 paper described a new Pittosporum and a new Loranthus, which the 

 author had detected when going over the Herbarium as previously 

 undistinguished. In his paper he alluded to the insufficient accommo- 

 dation that is in the museum for this Herbarium, which he considers 

 to be the most copious and valuable in the colony. 



Dr. Hector explained that every care was taken of the collection 

 compatible with the a.ppliances at the disposal of the Department, and 

 admitted that the building was better adapted for geological specimens 

 than for the preservation of perishable articles like dried plants. 



2. " On the Gyration of the Winds in ISTew Zealand," by J. S. 

 Hamilton. (See T^'ansactions.) This paper pointed out the existence 

 of a regular sequence in the changes in the direction in which the wind 

 usually blew in the Southern Hemisphere, and the desirability of obser- 

 vations being made, for the purpose of discovering the law, by combined 

 observation on the part of telegraphic operators, with a view of 

 establishing a system of forecasting the weather. 



Dr. Hector did not think that the simple suggestions thrown out in 

 Mr. Hamilton's paper could, if acted upon, lead to the satisfactory 

 results anticipated, owing to the peculiar configuration of New Zea- 

 land ^exercising a dominant influence on the gyration of the winds. 

 He explained, with the assistance of a diagram, that a wind striking the 

 west coast of the South Island at right angles, passed round each, 

 extremity of the island — by Cook's Straits and Foveaux Straits — thus 

 creating opposite currents, so that a North-wester on the west side was 

 coincident with both a N. and a S. wind on the east coast. He also 

 drew attention to a shift in this mixing point to farther north, that had 

 been going on during the last eighteen months, which no doubt accounted 

 to a great extent for the unusual muddiness of our streets at this 

 season of the year. Simultaneously with this northerly shift of wind it 

 had been reported that large bodies of ice had made unusual approaches 



