52 ANNIYERSiRY ADDRESS. 



sons, except the right one, are made prominent. It has, therefore, 

 been only an act of conscientious duty to show on whom the 

 wreath of honor should be bestowed. 



The controversy, as it has been called, had, however the advan- 

 tage of making prominent the assays of our Secretary, Professor 

 Liversidge, and leading to the valuable paper which forms No. 7 

 in the contributions to the Transactions of the last year. 



Geological Stjryey of New South "Wales. 



It was my wish to offer some remarks on other proceedings 

 of this Society, but I have been so profuse on two subjects 

 as to have left little time for even a mention of what has 

 been unavoidably omitted. Last session I was unable to take 

 part in its proceedings, but the cause of my absence from 

 them led to some useful work in another direction. Moving 

 about in search of change of air and scene, I was enabled to 

 examine a considerable tract of auriferous country before only 

 partially known to me, and I have also materially assisted in 

 extending our knowledge as to the existence of the Middle series 

 of Palaeozoic rocks in this Colony, which, on former occasions, I 

 had identified in other parts of the country. 



I may mention that the Devonian formation is widely diffused 

 in New South Wales ; and I have had eighty-one species deter- 

 mined for me in Europe, besides numerous Upper Silurian fossils. 

 They form part of the collection of 1,000 individuals which I 

 mentioned as having been sent Home by me, in the Anniversary 

 Address of 1873 (p. 17). 



The establishment of a Mining Department will, no doubt, 

 diminish the labour of persons like myself, who have neither the 

 staff nor the pecuniary aid which enables such a body to make 

 acceptable surveys and discover new repositories of mineral 

 wealth. The work, however, which has been for years performed 

 single-handed by myself has not, I trust, been without its use, 

 and new comers may dig out of my reports, memoirs, and essays, 

 much that may form a basis for fresh speculations and new 

 details, 



