Anniversary Address. 37 



tlie Island belongs to a system of formations common to many 

 Pacific islands, Avith the geology of which I am somewhat familiar. 

 Howe's Island consists of a mass of igneous rock rising abruptly 

 out of the ocean to the height of upwards of 2800 feet, having 

 on its lower portions a deposit of elevated coralline sandstone, in 

 which are embedded the shells of a Bulimus and what were 

 supposed to be its eggs. These have since been determined to be 

 those of a Grecko. 



By the favour of Dr. James C. Cox, I have had the opportunity 

 of seeing another Bulimus, which occurs semi-fossilised in 

 similar deposits in the Isle of Pines ; the shell, in each island 

 respectively, being of still living species. The shells of the living 

 Bulimus, in Howe's Island, do not differ from the embedded 

 shells. 



It has been said that no reptiles exist in the island; but 

 Dr. McDonald, of H.M.S. Herald, who reported on the island 

 and the little group of rocks and reefs that belong to it, states 

 that two snakes and a lizard do exist there. This has been partly 

 confirmed by the Gecko eggs. Certain it is that he distinctly 

 mentions one as a land snahe ; the other, of course, may have 

 been a Hydrophis, as it was on the low reef on the west side, 

 which connects the horns of the curve formed by two extremities 

 of the island. Since the return of the expedition, I have received 

 an additional proof that the coral sandstone contains other relics 

 of animal life besides Bulimus. 



About four or five feet above the sea level on either side of the 

 island, Mr. Leggatt, who placed these fossils in my hands for 

 inspection, feund numerous bones which have not yet been fully 

 determined as to their character. The late Dr. Poulis, in an 

 account of the island sent to the Government, mentions the 

 existence of bones of the turtle ; but it is possible some of these 

 bones may turn out to be those of birds. At present I content 

 myself with suggesting that there is much to do before the 

 natural history of this little group will have been exhausted. 

 Mr. Moore, one of the recent explorers, has given an account of 

 the botany, and dwells on the existence of a flora there which is 

 only partially Australian, and more nearly resembles that of 

 ISTorfolk Island, Xet in the latter the peculiar tree is the well- 



