532 Proceedings. 



cetacean, discovered in the Waitaki District, of which the teeth were described at the last 

 meeting. Three complete skeletons have since been worked out by Mr. McKay, but unfor- 

 tunately many of the bones are very friable. Enough, however, have been obtained to 

 prove that the structure was very different from any animal previously described. 



2. "On Pseudo-scab and Lung-worm in Sheep," by John Buchanan, 

 F.L.S. [Transactions, p. 269). 



Mr. Travers stated that he recognized this parasitic worm as one with which he had 

 been long familiar in the Marlborough district, and he had always attributed its propaga- 

 tion to the sheep drinking water from stagnant pools, in which these worms abounded. 

 He considered that the animal which produced the disease in the skin of the sheep was a 

 different one from that which infested the lungs, and offered to assist Mr. Buchanan in 

 his further investigation of this most important subject. 



Second Meeting. 20^/i August, 1881. 

 Dr. Hector, President, in the Chair. 



1 . " Piemarks on the Sand Dunes of the West Coast of the Provincial 

 District of WelHngton," by W. T. L. Travers, F.L.S. {Transactions, p. 89). 



Dr. Buller stated that the sandhills around Wanganui, which previously had caused 

 such damage in drifting, had been successfully fixed by the planting of the common 

 Mesembrijanthemum. At Manawatu, the railway line, which was frequently covered with 

 sand, had been protected by hedges of flax plants. 



Dr. Hector agreed with Mr. Travers that something ought at once to be done to fix 

 and utilize these dunes. He mentioned other districts where great inconvenience was 

 caused by the shifting of the sandhills. He had some years ago advised the authorities 

 at Carlisle how best to plant such hills, with grass as a border and pines inside, which had 

 answered well. He had, in the early days, suggested the planting of the steep cutting on 

 the Wellington Terrace with the plant mentioned by Dr. Buller, and, had it been done, 

 they would have looked pleasant to the eye, and averted the damage by the heavy 

 rains. 



In reply, Mr. Travers added that perhaps, where practicable, water channels would 

 ari'est the progress of the sand. 



2. " On the Alpine Flora of New Zealand," by John Buchanan, F.L.S. 

 {Transactions, p. 342). 



Dr. Hector explained that this was the lirst of a series of papers by the author, the 

 result of a botanical expedition which he made last year in the Otago Alps. It was 

 curious that comparatively few new species had been added to the New Zealand flora from 

 this locality, although it had not been visited >^ince 1863, when Mr. Buchanan, in com- 

 pany with himself, had examined and collected from it. 



An interesting discussion took place with regard to the spear-grass and its proiDerties. 



Mr. Travers pointed out the wonderful manner in which the flower-stalk is protected 

 by spines, without any obvious purpose. 



Dr. Hector thought it must have protected the plant from being destroyed by the moa 

 in former times. 



3. " On some new Marine Plauarians," by T. W. Ivirk. {Transactions, 

 p. 267). 



