338 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 
election as an honorary member of the New Zealand Institute; and 
Mr. Martin Chapman chosen to vote in the election of Governors 
of the Institute for the coming year. 
Papers—(1) ‘‘On the distribution of certain New Zealand 
birds,” by W. T. Travers, F.L.S. This paper discussed the dis- 
tribution of certain birds in relation to the question of the former 
connection of New Zealand with other islands of the Pacific. 
Dr. Hector considered this a most important contribution to 
the statistical branch of natural history, and would form a valuable 
supplement to Dr. Buller’s recently published manual. He thought 
that the distribution of birds was very much controlled by the 
abundance of their favourite food, at periods when they were not 
engrossed in the business of nesting. 
(2) ‘‘Remarks on certain bones lately discovered by Mr, 
Wharton in caves at Highfield, Canterbury,” by Dr. Hector. 
This was a description of a valuable collection of the bones of Ap- 
tornis and Dinornis found by Mr. Wharton, and presented by that 
gentleman to the Museum. The point ot interest was the associa- 
tion of these bones with those of the rat, kiwi, kaka, and weka, 
suggesting that no great period had elapsed since the deposit took 
place. 
The President stated that he had some years ago found bones 
in the Collingwood district under similar circumstances, and had 
sent them to England, but unfortunately they had been lost. 
(3) “Ona new mineral (Hectorite) found by the late Mr. E. 
H, Davis in the Dun Mountain in 1870,” by Mr. S. H. Cox, F.L.S. 
It is closely allied to serpentine. 
(4) ‘‘On the non-metallic minerals of New Zealand,” by S. H. 
Cox, being a continuation of the paper read and published last 
year on the metallic minerals, by the same author. 
Among the objects exhibited to the meeting were two salt-water 
fishes, A gonostoma forsteri (Green Mullet), and Retvopinna osmeroides 
(New Zealand Smelt), which were taken with the fly by Mr. 
Stevenson in the Hutt River, about three miles from the mouth. 
PHILOSOPHICAL INSTITUTE OF CANTERBURY. 
Christchurch, 2nd November, 1882.—Annual meeting. Pro- 
fessor J. von Haast, President, in the chair. 
The annual report was'read by the Hon. Secretary. The fol- 
lowing is a summary of it :— 
“ During the past year one special and nine ordinary meetings 
have been held, the attendance at which has been fair. At these 
meetings 18 papers have been read. They were contributed by 
seven authors, a fact the Council would desire to call attention to, 
since it shows that the number of members actually working in 
furtherance of the object of the Institute is but small compared to 
the total number. Of these papers 13 are on zoology, 2 on geo- 
logy, 2 on botany, and 1 of a miscellaneous character. Nine new 
members have been added to the list during the year, whereas 13 
have withdrawn, making the number at present on the books 156. 
Valuable additions have been made to the library during the year, 
a detailed list of which is appended. The donations comprise 
18 volumes and about 220 pamphlets. The additions made to the 
