Established at a period when Victoria had already occupied the first place in the southern hemisphere, we were sanguine of a brighter success, of more earnest endeavours, of more extensive research, than I can truthfully attach to our efforts. But that they have not been futile-that they have not been unworthy of the country—is manifest in the valuable original papers which have from time to time called forth the interest andd approval of the members. And not only in this form have members presented the results of their application.

The science of geology has been extended by the collection of many hundred specimens of rocks and fossils illustrative of the formations which occur in a gold-producing land. They have been gathered from widely extended localities, and are often accompanied by remarks and descriptions which add a ten-fold vtltie to such records.

Our botanical knowledge has been largely augmented by the arrangement and display of many new species of plants, some of which, it is believed, will become useful in the arts and in medicine. Beautiful specimens of timber have been exhibited of kinds hitherto little known, and the limits of the geographical distribution of plants in this, the most southern part of Australia, have in many instances been recorded. For these we are almost wholly indebted to the brave and simple hearted Ferdinand Mueller, whose courage and devotion has led him, unaided and unrequited, to seek in hostile and deadly regions, new objects of peaceful conquest. I am sure I am expressing the feelings of all in cherislling the hope that he may return unharmed from his self-denying and dangerous task, to aid us by his counsels, and to add fresh memorials of his eminent abilities to our records and museum.

The meteorology of Victoria has become the subject of attention to many observers, and is now being made the object of systematic organisation, with the view of extension to the other colonies of the Australian group.

Royal Society of Victoria