6 NATURAL SCIENCE [July 



even worse than was at first supposed. Not only had the roof to be 

 renewed, but the flooring and joists of the main hall were found 

 to be burrowed by the termites, which had also made their way 

 through the masonry joints into and under the tioor of the Ethno- 

 logical Hall, and had as completely destroyed the woodwork of that 

 structure as of the roof. The remedying of all this naturally led to 

 great expense and to much waste of time in removing and again 

 replacing the whole of the collections. It is satisfactory to find 

 that, in spite of this, work has been begun on a new spirit-room and 

 workshops, although in connection with those as well as with many 

 other matters, Mr Etheridge finds it necessary to note " much 

 unnecessarv delay." 



To return to the brighter side of affairs. The presentations to 

 the Museum include several items of much interest. Chief is the 

 celebrated ' Dobroyde ' collection of Australian birds and eggs 

 brought together by the late curator, Dr E. P. Ramsay, and his 

 brothers at their home in Dobroyde, Ashh'eld, N.S.W. This collec- 

 tion contains a lnrge number of type-specimens. It was purchased 

 from Mr J. 8. Ramsay by the Government of New South Wales 

 and delivered by it to the trustees of the Museum. Mr W. A. Horn 

 has presented further collections from the results of his recent 

 expedition into the interior, and these include further type-speci- 

 mens. Another valuable donation is a piece of meteoric iron, 

 weighing over 44 lbs. It was found on the Nocoleche holding 

 near Wanaaring, N.S.W., and will be known as the Nocoleche 

 Meteorite. The donor was Mr G. J. Raff'el. The meteorite has 

 been cut and polished by Mr H. A. Ward of Rochester, N.Y., and 

 a few slices are available for exchange. Mr C. W. Darley, engineer- 

 in-chief for harbours and rivers, presented the Museum with some 

 fossil remains of a dugong, discovered during the excavations for a 

 canal at Shea's Creek, Alexandria, near Sydney. This is the first 

 instance of the discovery of dugong remains so far south. A note- 

 worthy addition to the collections is the skeleton of the Indian 

 elephant, which, under the name of Jumbo, was a familiar feature 

 of the Sydney Zoological Gardens. This has been satisfactorily set 

 up by Messrs H. Barnes and H. Barnes, junior, but space is not at 

 present available for the mounting the skin. It is most distinctly 

 to be noted that this Jumbo is not the same as the erstwhile 

 ornament of our own ' Zoo ' and of Mr Barnum's show. 



The whole impression made upon us by this Report is that the 

 staff of the Australian Museum, however undermanned and under- 

 paid it may be, has managed in spite of unprecedented difficulties 

 to accomplish some excellent work from both the scientific and the 

 museum point of view ; and it is sincerely to be hoped that the 

 Government of New South Wales may with the return of pros- 



