NOTES AND EXHIBITS. 505 



Mr. Cheel exhibited specimens of the Englisli Priinrose 

 [Primnhi vnh/nrix) witli well developed foliaceous calj'^x-sei^inents 

 (phyllodic sepals). The leaf}' segments cohere rather more than 

 in the figui-e given by Masters in his " Vegetable Teratology " 

 {p.248, fig.131). 



Mr. E. I. Bickforfl invited the attention of the Society to a 

 matter of public, as well as scientific, interest. In 1892, when 

 resident in "West Australia, he had taken an active part in a 

 movement to have a certain ai'ea .set apart for the protection and 

 preservation of the native flora and fauna.* Accordingly, in 

 1892, the Premier, Sir John Forrest, authorised the gazetting of 

 an area of 25 square miles between Pinjarra and the Bannister 

 for the j^urpose named. Since leaving West Australia, the 

 speaker regretted to say that he had learnt that, with a sub- 

 sequent change of Government, the reservation had been 

 abolished, and most of the land given over to a firm as a timber- 

 concession. This, he thought, was a retrograde step, and very 

 much to be deplored. Emissaries of science from Germany, 

 Great Britain, and even Sweden, had been visiting West Aus- 

 tralia of late years, for the purpose of studying and collecting the 

 fauna and flora; and this fact alone should stimulate West 

 Australians to greater activity in taking steps, before it was too 

 late, to .secure more adequate protection for the choice charac- 

 teristic forms. For example, the Christmas-Tree, N^iytsia Jfori- 

 bunda R.Br., [N.O. Loraiithace(f^ one of the botanical wonders 

 of Australia, was in grave danger of extermination. One lesson 

 was quite evident — if reservations for the protection of the 

 native plaiits and animals were to be eftecti\'e and of lasting \alue, 

 Trusts n)ust be created, empowered by Act of Parliament to take 

 complete control of them, as in the case of the iSTational Parks of 

 the other States, in order to safeguard them from the whims of 

 the politician or the wiles of the exploiter. 



* Further particulars of tliis movenioiit will be found in Mr. \\. H. 

 Woodwiird's paper on " National Parks, aiul the Fauna and Flora 

 Reserves in Australasia," in Journ. West Aust. Nat. Hist. Soc. No. iv., 

 Nov. 1907, p. 13. 



