MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES. 185 
Mee NGS Or SOCIETIES. 
See OE 
2OLAGO.INSTELU LE. 
gth May, 1882.—W. Arthur, Esq., president, in the chair. 
New member—Capt. Scott, R.N. 
The President announced that the Council had made arrange- 
ments for the delivery during the session of three or more short 
courses of lectures on scientific and literary subjects. These 
courses would consist of not less than two, nor more than four, 
lectures; and, while members of the Institute would be admitted 
free, it was intended to issue tickets to the general public at a very 
low price, viz., either 2s. 6d. or 5s. for the course. A syllabus of 
each course would be printed and given away with the tickets. 
The first course, to be delivered in June, would be by Prof. 
Parker, on ‘‘ Fermentation and Putrefaction.”’ | 
Papers—(1) ‘“‘ Macquarrie Island, its Fauna and Flora,” by 
Prof. J. H. Scott.—The paper began with a general description of 
the island. It is hilly, and entirely destitute of trees or shrubs. 
The sea elephant is found on its beaches during a great part of 
the year. Its appearance and habits were described. There are 
four varieties of penguins on the island, as well as other sea-birds, 
A small and a large rail are also found, and parroquets, the same 
as the New Zealand species, occur in great numbers. Ten species 
of flowering plants were collected. These all occur in New Zea- 
land, or in the Auckland or Campbell Islands, with the exception 
of the Azorella selago, which is found in Kerguelen Land. The 
Pleuvophylium crimferum and the Stilbocarpa polaris are the commonest 
of the flowering plants. The mosses and lichens are fairly 
numerous, 
(2.) “New Zealand Copepoda,” paper 1, by Geo, M. Thomson. 
—This is intended to be the first of a series of papers descriptive 
of this group of crustacea. The author describes 10 species, of 
which Harpacticus chelifer (Miller), Idya furcata (Baird), Scutellidium 
tisboides (Claus) and Acantiophorus scutatus (Brady and Robertson) 
are well known in the European seas. Amymome clausii and Povrcel- 
lidium fuluum are new species of genera also foundin Europe. The 
tollowing belong to perfectly new forms, for which distinct genera 
are proposed :—Duarthrodes, a genus allied to Canthocamptus, but 
differing markedly in the torm and structure of the first pair of 
feet ; Boeckia, belonging to the Calanide ; Comostoma, one of the 
Artotrogide, but differing from any known form in the peculiar 
cone-like structure of the mouth-siphon; and lastly Xouthous, a 
form resembling in general anatomy the Harpacticide, but having 
no visible median eye, and in place of it two widely-separated 
blood-red lateral eyes ; the integument is of a dark opaque brown, 
except above these eyes, where it becomes colourless and trans- 
parent. Boechia trnarticulata is a fresh-water form, and was collected 
by Mr C. Chilton in gravel-pits in Canterbury ; all the rest were 
obtained by the author in Otago Harbour by the use of the dredge. 
Microscopic preparations of several of the forms were exhibited. 
(3.) “ Connection of the air-bladder with the auditory organs 
iu the red cod,” by Prof. T. J. Parker.—The following is a brief 
