MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES. 489 
entitled “The Zoology of Australia,” written by the Hon. W. Macleay, 
F.L.S. The paper, the Baron stated, was written at his request for a 
great forthcoming work in Germany, but as it contained some very 
valuable information, the Baron thought it was highly important that it 
should appear in its original English before leaving for Germany. As 
the paper embraced 51 pages of foolscap, only a part of it was read. 
Col. Legge, in answer to an sppeal from the hon. sec., said the 
review was a very interesting one. The most salient point about the 
region was that the great family order of the Woodpecker was totally 
absent from it, and it was the only region in the world similarly 
situated. He also referred to the great number of Petrels in the region. 
The subject, in his opinion, had been very exhaustively treated .in the 
paper which had been read. 
Mr. E. D. Swan said the absence of the Woodpecker was, according 
to Gould, owing to the Australian trees shedding their bark, so that the 
beaks of the birds would not be required to bore into the trees to get 
insects for food. 
Col. Legge said it would be very interesting to acclimatize them 
here and see the result. 
Papers.—(1) “The Lunar Eclipse of 30-31st March, 1885,” by A. 
B. Biggs. 
(2) “On the character and relationship of the upper paleeozoic and 
mesozoic formations of Tasmania, and the associated diabasic rocks,” by 
R. M. Johnston, F.L.S. 
(3) “An account of a collection of ferns made by Mr. J. R. McCly- 
mont at the Cascades.” 
Prior to reading his paper Mr. Johnston announced that he had 
discovered at Porter Hill, near Hobart, an important series of beds, 
showing a gradual transition upwards, without stratigraphical breaks of 
any kind, from the common limestone restricted to marine organisms, to 
fine sandy shales where the marine organisms have altogether dis- 
appeared, with the exception of a minute ostracod. These upper beds 
are replete with plant remains, chiefly of ferns, allied to the genera— 
Gangamopteris, Cyclopteris, and possibly Pecopteris. The fossiliferous 
marine limestones and mudstones, replete with the common forms 
belonging to the genera Stenopora, Protoretepora, Lenestella, Spirifera, 
Strophalosia, Terebratula, &c., are followed by thin passaged beds of 
alternating dark brown sandstones and friable shales, where most of the 
common lower forms disappear, with the exception of Spirifer Tasma- 
mensis and P. Darwinii. In these shales a species of Cythere swarms 
in the greatest number, together with species belonging to the genera 
Modiolopsis, Tellinomya, and Theca. In these latter beds also the plant 
remains referred to begin to make their appearance, and in the upper- 
most shales the plant remains, and an occasional Cythere, with the 
articulated spines, probably of a species of Jchthyodorulites alone are to 
be found. Mr. Johnston is of opinion that these upper beds with plant 
remains are the equivalents of the Tasmanite stage of the upper marine 
beds of the Mersey. 
Mr. Johnston also announced that Mr. McClymont had kindly 
forwarded to him for the Society’s collection the following interesting 
ferns from the Cascades, Tasman’s Peninsula, viz.:—Lomaria patersont, 
