84 Field Naturalists' Cluh— Proceedings. [vo^'^xxxvi 



many species, so long as the watering was not forgotten, 

 seemed to revel in the conditions provided. 



Mr. F. Pitcher, in congratulating the author on the interest 

 of his notes, expressed surprise that more had not been done 

 in the way described. He could name twenty Victorian ferns 

 which are quite easily cultivated in the open so long as they 

 are sheltered from the north winds. Regarding tree ferns, he 

 advised the use of the Alsophila in preference to the Dicksonia 

 for outdoor situations, and said that in most gardens tall tree- 

 ferns are out of place— that rather ones with stems not more 

 than two feet high should be selected. 



Mr. J. Gabriel complained of the destruction of tree-ferns in 

 the Dandenong Ranges, Perrin's Gully, which was the show 

 place of the district, being now a mere wreck of what it was. 



Mr. J. Stickland considered the paper an excellent one, but 

 would have liked to hear how the author dealt with the slug 

 pest. He said the best growth he had had of a tree-fern was 

 from a piece about two feet long sawn from the top of a tall 

 specimen. 



Mr. F. G. A. Barnard said the paper was a most interesting 

 one. He had been surprised at the large number of ferns 

 mentioned. He could not understand the difficulty the author 

 met with in growing the King Fern, Todea harhara, for here it 

 was readily grown as a pot plant. 



Mr. A. D. Hardy said that, sheltered from the hot north wind, 

 he had grown several species in the open very successfully. 



2. By Mr. J. C. Goudie, entitled "Notes on the Coleoptera 

 of North-Western Victoria," Part VII. 



In this part the author recorded about sixty species belonging 

 to the families Cucujidae, Cryptophagidae, Lathrididas, Der- 

 mestidae, Byrrhidae, Heteroceridae, Lucanidae, Scarabaeidae, and 

 sub-family Cetonides, many of which are found only in that 

 portion of Victoria. 



Owing to the lateness of the hour, the paper was taken as read. 



EXHIBITS. 



By Mr. F. Keep. — ^Flowering specimens of Acacia cardio- 

 phylla and A. huxifolia, grown at Camberwcll ; also dried speci- 

 mens of Hovea heterophylla, and white variety collected at 

 Ringwood excursion by Miss Carter. 



By Miss M. T. Johnson. — Seeds of Mahogany Bean, Afzelia 

 Africana, from South Africa. 



By Miss G. Nethercote. — Flowering specimens of Boronia 

 anemonifolia, A. Cunn., from Bendigo. 



[Several other members exhibited specimens, but omitted to 

 hand in particulars.] 



After the usual conversazione the meeting terminated. 



