been not merely touched on, but very carefully gone into; in fact, I greatly doubt whether any young country in the world has been so systematically investigated as New Zealand has been under the auspices of this Institute.” There is some exaggeration in this, but exaggerated also is the statement of Cockayne in 1919, referring to Hector's list, that “there is hardly a mention of those subjects which have filled most of the fifty volumes” of the Transactions. Do we not find many papers on the “History, mythology, ethnology, etc., of the Maori race,” on “mineral and metalliferous deposits,” on “the occurrence of rare plants, animals and minerals,” on “localities for fossils”? It was natural that at that early stage Hector should throw into relief matters that would attract the attention of the layman and of those who would have to provide the funds. I am afraid it is still necessary to-day to do somewhat as Hector did. Naturally, also, many of the topics mentioned received attention rather in departmental reports and special technical journals than in the pages of the Transactions, leaving us more free to publish basic work. This is all to the good, if only we can rest assured that the matter published will be recognised by those who control our finances as essential and not merely frills. An analysis of the contributions so far made should be of interest: We find that the three sciences—Zoology (1470 papers), Botany (784), and Geology (752)—account for over 75 per cent. of the papers published. If we include the 249 papers on palaeontology (all too few deal with palaeobotany) and the 19 papers on the organic chemistry of indigenous plants we have 65 per cent, of the total dealing with biological matters. Zoology reached its peak, so far as number of papers goes, in the fifth lustrum, when 146 papers were published. There was a distinct drop in the thirteenth lustrum, when 42 papers were published. Publication has since been maintained at about that level. Botany had its maxima in the third and sixth lustra, in each of which 88 papers were published. In Botany, too, there was a distinct drop in the thirteenth lustrum, the papers averaging from then on about 30 per lustrum. Geology had its maximum in the eleventh lustrum, with 81 papers, and has since averaged about 55 papers per lustrum. The year 1930, then, appears to have been a turning point in all these subjects, but they still maintain predominance over other subjects. Chemistry has accounted for 214 papers, with a maximum in the first lustrum, with also a marked drop from 1930 onwards. The total of papers for physics is 67, for meteorology 17, for seismology 18, and for oceanography 8. Physics was more to the fore from 1893 to 1898 than at any other period, while astronomy, with 49 papers, appears to be maintaining the average of 3 per lustrum. Anthropology and ethnology have 151 papers to their credit, but only three have appeared since 1924. The figures for other subjects are: philology 21, but only two since 1903; economics 11, scattered throughout the volumes till 1927; medicine 19, but only two since 1903; geography 27, the last appearing in 1907; history 60, the last in 1924; education 19, the last in 1905; mathematics and