24 AXNJTEBSASY ADDBESS. 



iii each country between its present and last geological inhabi- 

 tants, lias described it as a Dromornis, and Dr. Haast in New 

 Zealand lias followed this view in his xiddrcss as President of tlic 

 Philosophical Institute of Canterbury in 1874. 



As I have long had in my own collection bones of a Struthioid 

 bird, from the Coodradigbee caverns, it is not unlikely that the 

 femur in question belonged to a bird once indigenous to Australia 

 alone, where the Emu still is found. 



But whether or not there has been in late times any possible 

 open air connection between New Zealand and Australia, the 

 mystery is as great as ever respecting the occurrence of wingless 

 birds, or such as cannot fly, in so many Islands of the Pacific. 



It does not appear to me that the fact can be explained by a 

 theory of development, and the idea of individual creations in so 

 many separate islands will be rejected by those who believe in 

 centres of creation having a wide range. Not having jet received 

 a copy of Professor Owen's paper on Dromornis, and not being 

 fully acquainted with some other local circumstances, I neverthe- 

 less accept the determination of the great comparative anatomist, 

 land recall the term Dinomis, awaiting further discoveries. 



From New Zealand to Cape York there is a gap in my notes 

 relating to the voyage of the " Challenger" ; but it appears 

 that from the latter place to Hongkong the soundings showed 

 that the sea bottom consists of a series of sunken lakes, the 

 deepest portions being surrounded by a shallower rim. The 

 water above the rim can circulate freely, and belongs to the cold 

 Antarctic current, the temperature of which may vary according 

 to depth of rim, but the deep parts not being able to rise retain 

 a fixed temperature ; thus east of Torres Strait, the rim 1,300 

 fathoms deep encloses a lake 2,450 fathoms deep, the water of 

 which remains at 35° F. The Banda sea is cut off at 900 fathoms, 

 though it is 2,800 fathoms deep ; the Celebes Sea is 2,G00 fathoms 

 deep, and is shut in by a cup, the rim of which is only 400 

 fathoms below the surface, the water below having a temperature 

 of 50° F. The Molucca passage is open to the depth of 1.200, and 



