﻿358 Proceedinys. 



recreation which make country life at home so attractive, and the want of 

 which has hitherto been so much felt all over this colony. We cannot, indeed, 

 too highly appreciate the labours of the acclimatisation societies in other parts 

 of the colony, and to those who have had opportunities of seeing the admirable 

 results already flowing from those labours, it is a source of sincere regret that 

 we, in this province, shoiild have so long neglected our share of the work. 

 Let us hope that, although late in the field, our Society may yet be able to add 

 something to the general stock of benefits which the efforts of its predecessors 

 have confei-red upon the colony. 



In noticing the department of Zoology, I must sj)ecially call your attention 

 to the valuable contributions to our knowledge of the Ornithology of this 

 country which we have again received from our Vice-President, Mr. Buller, 

 and from Mr. Potts. It is gratifying to find that the General Government, 

 recognising the importance of Mr. Puller's labours in this branch of science, 

 have given him material assistance towards the publication of a work upon 

 this special subject ; and I understand that it is his intention to proceed to 

 England for that purpose in the course of the present year. Independently 

 of the honour which must be reflected upon the colony by the fact that its 

 Ornithology has been fully and satisfactorily investigated by one born and bred 

 on its soil, and almost self-taught in Natural History, we may look forward to 

 many material advantages from Mr. Puller's pi*oposed residence in England, 

 for he has promised to give his best aid in procuring additions to our collec- 

 tions in Natural History, and in furthering the efforts of our acclimatisation 

 societies to restore the balance of life which has been so rudely disturbed by 

 our colonization. Mr. Potts, in a second paper, has again conveyed to us, in 

 a most attractive form, a large mass of iiseful and varied knowledge upon the 

 same special subject, and I have no doubt that the store of matter, bearing on 

 the face of it the mark of diligent and accurate inquiry and observation, 

 which has been placed at Mr. Puller's command in these papers, will materially 

 facilitate the undertaking in which he is about to engage. 



Although not strictly within the compass of this address, it would perhaps 

 be improper that I should pass over the labours of men like Dr. Otto Pinsch, 

 of Vienna, and Dr. GUnther, of the Pritish Museum, who have both taken 

 great interest in special departments of the Natural History of these islands — 

 the former having published admirable critical notes upon our Avifauna, which 

 have been translated for the use of members unacquainted with the German 

 langviage, and the latter having published several jsapers on our Pish and 

 Reptiles. I mention these facts, not merely as a recognition of the services 

 which these eminent men have thus rendered to science in connection with 

 this colony, but in order to show you that subjects, which many persons here 

 treat with little consideration, are deemed worthy of special attention by 



