﻿388 Proceedings. 



by T. Kirk, F.L.S. (See Transactions, ]i. 228.) This paper was the second 

 OR the flora of the district — the first, which was confined to the flowering 

 plants and ferns, having been published in the Trmisactions for 1870, p. 148. 

 The author commenced by pointing out the wide difference between the present 

 state of our knowledge of the phsenogamic portion of the flora and of the lower 

 Cryptogams, the flowering plants and ferns being well known, while the exten- 

 sive orders which form the bulk of the Acro-Thallogenic section of the flora 

 have received but a small amount of attention. 



2. " On the Occurrence of Foot-prints of a Large Bird, found at Turanganui, 

 Poverty Bay," by Archdeacon W. L- Williams. (See Transactions, p. 124.) 

 The occurrence of these foot-prints was made known to the writer two or three 

 years ago, by Mr. Millar. Being unable to remove them at the time, he took 

 steps for their preservation by covering them with a mixture of lime and sand 

 to preserve them from the inflxience of the waves, and thus obtained an excel- 

 lent cast, which has been presented by him to the Museum of the Auckland 

 Institute, together with a portion of the oi'iginal imjjressions. 



3. " On the Occuri'ence of Foot-prints of the Moa at Poverty Bay," by 

 His Honour T. B. Gillies. (See Transactions, p. 127.) 



4. Mr. Kirk exhibited some Eggs of the Kiwi {Apteryx mantelli), from 

 Whakatane, which showed a deviation from the ordinary type. They were of 

 the same length as the usiial form, but of greater width, and narrowed sharply 

 towards the extremities, so that tlie width was rendered jDi'ominent. Mr. Kirk 

 stated that he had seen specimens of the same form from the forest at 

 Mareitai. Eggs of the ordinary form, also of the Albatros, from the Museum 

 collections, were exhibited for comparison. 



5. A flne specimen of the Tuatara [Sphenodon punctatum, Schtz.), cap- 

 tured on the Ruarimu B;Ocks by Major Mair, was exhibited. In the note 

 which accompanied it Major Mair stated that it was confined to a small cone- 

 shaped elevation in the centre of the islet, where it was found in the holes of 

 sea-birds. The common striped lizard (^Mocoa zelandica. Gray), is plentiful in 

 the lower parts of the islet, but the two kinds keep thoroughly apart. 



6. " On the Alluvial Deposits of the Lower Waikato, and the Formation 

 of Islands by the Biver/' by Captain F. W. Hutton, F.G.S. (See Transactions, 

 p. 333.) The author conclusively showed the fresh-water origin of these 

 deposits, and accounted for the occurrence of littoral plants as detailed by 

 Mr. Kirk in the Transactions N.Z. Inst., Yol. Ill, p. 147, on the supposition 

 of their having been introduced from the Middle Waikato basin after the 

 formation of tne Taupiri Gorge. 



7. The Rev. A. G. Purchas exhibited the female insect and larvce of one 

 or two species of Lavipyridce, which he had obtained from some of the drives 



