ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. 31 



1889, Mr. Woodford brought some chalk from Ulawa Island in 

 the Solomon Group, this I submitted to Mr. H. B, Brady, f.r.s., the 

 authority upon foraminifera, and he says, " it is a very interesting 

 deposit, in some respects much more like cretaceous chalk than 

 the New Ireland rock. It only contains, however, some thirteen 

 species of foraminifera and the specimens are generally small. Of 

 course I do not know what a larger supply of material might 

 yield. I have more than doubled the number of New Ireland 

 species by the examination of a good sized lump ; I have an inter- 

 esting soft grey deposit from the New Hebrides like Fiji soap- 

 stone, and I am now at work getting all together — Solomon 

 Islands, New Hebrides, New Ireland, Fiji &c, and preparing a 

 paper upon the general subject. The. curious thing is, that out of 

 a total list of two hundred and fifty species there are hardly more 

 than a dozen that are not well known recent forms, and these are 

 just such as one expects to find living some day. One of the 

 deposits was taken from as much as 600 feet above sea level." 



As I have pointed out elsewhere (Melbourne Meeting Associ- 

 ation for the Advancement of Science) the chalk from the 

 Solomons contains flints which can not be distinguished from 

 those of the English chalk, and, although, even the presence of 

 these flints does not prove the chalk to be of cretaceous age, it 

 proves, to my mind, that the rock is not recently consolidated 

 coral ooze as some contend. 



Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science. — When 

 I addressed you in 1886, a proposal was made that we should 

 start an Association here on the lines of the British Association, 

 this as you are already aware has been done and two very satis- 

 factory meetings have been held ; the first in Sydney in 1888 and 

 the second in Melbourne in January last ; the success of the young 

 association has, so far exceeded the expectations of even the most 

 sanguine of its proposers ; at the first meeting there were in all 

 857 members and 110 papers were read, and at the Melbourne 

 meeting there were 1,080 members and some 140 papers and 

 reports were read. 



