August i, 1885.] The Australasian Scientific Magazine. 35 
made the best use of their resources. They have supplied the Expedition 
with suitable assistance, and have placed at its disposal a specially chosen 
steam launch and whale boat. The chief object of the Expedition is, of 
course, to make an addition to the present knowledge of the geographical 
features of New Guinea. But, besides this, care will be taken to examine 
into the nature of the fauna, flora, geology, and climate of the island, and 
the members of the Expedition will be expected to illustrate their dis- 
coveries by means of specimens, sketches, photographs, and written 
descriptions. In order to enable them to fulfil their duties the administra- 
tive Council have taken care to forward material of the kind requisite for 
the preservation of specimens, and they have caused to be printed rules 
and directions bearing on the subject. On the whole, it will be seen that 
the Expedition has a great deal of work to do, especially when it is 
remembered that it must be back again in Sydney by December 8th. We 
may look for satisfactory results from the undertaking, and all the more 
because Mr. H. O. Forbes, with an English party, is expected to arrive in 
New Guinea at almost the same time as Captain Everill, and the two 
parties will doubtless co-operate. All accounts of the progress of the 
Expedition will be read with great interest all through Australia, and every- 
body will be glad to welcome the party home again when their hard work 
is done. 
QUEENSLAND. 
No reports to hand. 
WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 
No reports to hand. 
SOUTH AUSTRALIA. 
The following article appeared in the Adelaide Register , appealing to the 
South Australian public to establish a branch of the Geological Society of 
Australasia in South Australia. 
“THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AUSTRALIA. 
“In establishing many Societies there is no end,” to adapt an old saying, 
and it is not surprising that a Geological Society of Australia should have 
been duly created and organized. That there is abundant scope for the 
operations of such a body is undeniable. A mass of fragmentary infor- 
mation as to the geology of this continent is available to those who have 
the time and the patience to search for it, but the number of these is few, 
and a Society may usefully employ a portion of its energies to the work of 
classifying and representing in an easy obtainable and reasonably intelligible 
shape, facts that have already been brought to light. By doing this it will 
be serving the treble purpose of enlightening those who take an interest in 
the question, of reducing the risk of geologists themselves wasting time 
in examining fields that have already been explored, and of promoting a 
