1 6 Field Natnralisfs' Club — Proceedings. [v,^"xnxi 



IV. 



By Mr. J. Stickland.- — Spccimon of a rare freshwater alga. 

 Monostroma, sp., from Burnley Quarries. 



By Mr. P. R. H. St. John. — Herbarium specimens of Tas- 

 manian trees and plants, collected by Mr. O. Romcke and 

 exhibited April. IQ17. including Eucryphio BiUardicri. Spach., 

 Leatherwoocl. Hellior (iorge ; Aristotelia pediincuhiris. Hook.. 

 Cyathodes acerosa, R. Br., Crimson-berried Heath, Hymenophyllmn 

 rartim, R. Br.. Rare Filmy Fern. Olearia stellulata. De Cand., 

 Phyllocladus rhomhoidalis. Rich.. Celery-topped Pine ; also 

 specimen of timber. Trochncarpa disticha, Sprcng., from Guild- 

 ford Junction ; Eucalyptus amygdalino. La Billard., Black 

 Peppermint, typical form, from Burnie ; E. phlebbphylla. Mignet, 

 Drooping or Weeping (ium, from Shcffteld ; and. collected by 

 Mr. J. Overall, Sulphur Creek, near Burnie. Blcchniim [Lomaria) 

 discolor. Forster, var. cristatuni (var. no v.). Crested Fishbone 

 Fern, and Microcachrys tetragona. Hook., Strawberry-fruited 

 Cypress. 



After the usual conversazione the meeting terminated. 



EXCURSION TO ALTOXA BAY. 

 To this excursion the Fates were kind. The afternoon of 

 Saturday. 20th January, w^as all that could be desired — cool 

 and pleasant, following a hot spell and thimderstorm. IShjre- 

 over, the tide was favourable, for when, after the rather long 

 and tedious walk from Xorth ^^'illiamstown, the party of 

 eleven members — held naturalists and Melbourne microscojiists 

 — reached the shore at Altona Bay, the tide was well on the 

 ebb. Conchologists and seekers after smaller fry were soon 

 busy, and several bottles of sand from the shallows, which 

 gave some j^romise of living foraminifera. were taken for home 

 examination. As far as the leader's results went these were 

 disappointing, as all the foraminifera — and they were numerous 

 — were apparently dead, probably through the collecting being 

 done amongst the too shallow pools, where the sun's rays had 

 killed them. However, the sam])les of the sea water taken 

 yielded one of the most interesting sights possible for the micro- 

 scopist to witness, for the water was crowded with the well- 

 named diatom. Bacillaria paradoxn, whose bunches of rod-like 

 frustules were ever on the move, sliding over one another, first 

 towards one end and then to the other, and again folding up 

 into a bunch curvily twisted out of plane so as to resemble a 

 fan pivoted from near one end. with its ribs gliding out from 

 a centre. Samples of the tidal or brackish water taken from 

 the Kororoit Creek showed the same Bacillaria, but having 

 the tendency to "slow down." However, this feature may 

 be overlooked in a unicellular body, though reprehensible in 

 higher life. We may ask, by the way, whether this peculiarity 



