ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. XXV. 



ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS, SEPTEMBER 7, 1898. 



The General Monthly Meeting of the Society was held at the 

 Society's House, No. 5 Elizabeth-street North, on Wednesday 

 evening, September 7th, 1898. 



The President, G. H. Knibbs, f.r.a.s., in the Chair. 



Twenty members and three visitors were present. 



The minutes of the preceding meeting were read and confirmed. 



The certificates of three candidates were read for the third time, 

 of three for the second time, and of one for the first time. 



The following gentlemen were duly elected ordinary members 

 of the Society : — 



Blunno, Michele, Licenziato in Scienze, (Roma), Government 

 Yiticultural Expert; Department of Agriculture, N.S. W. 

 Murray, Lee, m.c.e. Melb., Civil Engineer; 65 Pitt-street. 

 Wade, Leslie A. B., Civil Engineer; Public Works Depart- 

 ment. 



THE FOLLOWING PAPERS WERE READ: 



1. "Key to Tribes and Genera of Melanospermeae (Olive-green 



seaweeds)" by R. A. Bastow. 

 This paper was taken as read. 



2. " A study of the Dialects of New Caledonia," by Jules Bernier, 



Curator of the Musee Neo-Caledonienne. (Communicated 

 by Charles Hedley, f.l.s.) 



No less than twenty dialects are distinguished in New Cale- 

 donia, which are grouped into the following main divisions : the 

 Southern, inclusive of the Isle of Pines; the Central; the Northern; 

 and those parts of the Loyalty Islands peopled by Melanesians. 

 The first two are sharply separated from the latter by the absence 

 of the article. The northern is characterised by a tendency to 

 terminate in a consonant as shown by the place names, Belep, 

 Hienghen, Wagap. A foreign aggressive Polynesian element can 

 be detected intrusive upon the indigenous Melanesian. A marked 

 feature in the New Caledonian language is its extreme simplicity, 



