4 
remotely connected with it. And here, in con- 
nection with science in Australia, I may men- 
tion that I have received from Mr. Martin 
Gardiner of Sydney, a printed paper (re- 
printed from the transactions of the Philo- 
sophical Society of New South Wales), 
in, which he demonstrates, by processes 
of his own, certain theorems which 
Sir W. Rowan Hamilton deduced many years 
ago by means of quaternions. It happens 
singularly enough that I directed the attention 
of Professer Davies, of Woolwich, to the 
theorems in question, and that they were tran- 
scribed by my direction for insertion in a 
paper of Davies, at a time when the theorems, 
to which Mr. Gardiner seems to have success- 
fully applied himself, were not only unde- 
monstrated save by the quaternion calculus, 
but were regarded by Davies as remarkable 
extensions of others, to improved demonstra- 
tions of which he was then calling 
the attention of geometers. And while 
touching upon Australian science, I 
cannot avoid referring to another instance of 
orrelation, (or rather perhaps, of a successful 
application of the doctrine of final causes) that 
occurs in a paper, which, as a production of 
one of us, will have a lively interest here. Some 
lime ago Mr. Diggles, at my request, drew up 
a detailed statement of an observation which 
he had made, and which I had intended to 
transmit to England for publication. I have 
hace thought that I could not make a better 
use of it than by appending it to this address. 
It is as follows : — 
“ When engaged a few years ago, capturing 
insects in a small scrub near Brisbane, my at- 
tention was drawn to an interesting circum- 
stance — that of a butterfly (Euplse) evidently 
desirous of depositing its eggs on a particular 
tree. That such wa9 the intention of the in- 
sect I could not doubt, as nothing but the 
strongest instincts of nature would have caused 
it to persevere in its attempts to alight on the 
particular tree in question, in spite of various 
attempts to capture it. The insect is a rather 
common species, and I had formerly reared 
specimens from leaves found on the Oleander. 
This plant being of recent introduction, the 
thought occurred that the plant which seemed 
so much to attract the insect’s attention, might 
possibly belong to the same natural order or 
family, and so it turned out, for though the flower 
was very small, it had all the character of an 
Oleander j but the seed vessels which I was 
fortunate to find at the same time, placed the 
matter beyond doubt. I have found another 
plant (a creeper) which must belong to the 
Oleanders, as the seed vessels were almost iden- 
tical in form. The flower I did not see. The 
insect in question was plentiful in the neigh- 
bourhood. 
“ Another fact of equal interest I am able to 
supply 
“ The two Papilias, (P. Erectheus) and (P. 
Anactus) now found feeding on our orange 
and lemon trees, subsisted doubtless formerly 
on the native lime of the scrubs. I recently 
obtained about twenty-five chrysalides of the 
latter insect from a small bush.” 
With this paper of Mr. Diggles, I must close 
remarks already, I fear, too extended, and 
conclude by again wishing prosperity to the 
society. 
The meeting then proceeded to elect the 
officers and council for the ensuing year, as 
follows : — Mr. Chief Justice Cockle, Presi 
dent 5 C. Coxen, Esq., M.L.A., Vice-Presi- 
dent ; A. Raff, Esq., Treasurer ; Auditors— 
Rev. R. Creyke and E. M‘Donell, Esq. Rev. 
John Bliss, Secretary. Members of Council — 
Messrs. Diggles, Matthews, Rawnsley, Waugh, 
and Wight. 
