146 NOTES AND EXHIBITS. 



Mr. Maiden exhibited numerous herbarium specimens in illus- 

 tration of the papers contributed by Messrs. Betche, Deane and 

 himself. 



Mr. R. T. Baker exhibited an aboriginal stone axe reputed to 

 have been found at a depth of 25 feet while sluicing for gold at 

 the head of Tumberumba Creek. The specimen is a large and 

 very fine one, of modern pattern and without any indication that 

 high antiquity can be claimed for it. It has been presented by 

 the finder, Mr. Heinecke, to the Albury Museum. 



Mr. R. Greig Smith exhibited a series of cultures and speci- 

 mens in illustration of his papers. 



Mr. Froggatt exhibited specimens of remarkable galls on Myall 

 (^Acacia pendula) from Tam worth, due to the attacks of a species 

 of Thrips. 



On the invitation of the President, Mr. Coleman Phillips, a 

 visitor, addressed the Meeting on the subject of rabbit extermina- 

 tion. The speaker, a resident of South Wairarapa, New Zealand, 

 explained that in his district rabbits were successfully kept in check 

 by the operation of introduced natural enemies (ferrets, stoats, 

 and weasels), and the spread of diseases (bladder-worm, liver-rot, 

 scab, and lice).* Trapping, fumigation with bisulphide of carbon, 

 or reliance solely upon poisoning or wire-netting, he considered to 

 be altogether wrong. He advocated in preference those measures 

 which had been successfully tried in New Zealand; and at the same 

 time he expressed his astonishment that in Australia anything 

 like organised effort of the right kind in dealing with so impor- 

 tant a matter seemed conspicuously absent. 



Discussion followed. 



* The speaker's views are explained at length in Trans. N. Zealand Inst. 

 Vols. xxi. p. 429, and xxii. p. 308. Also in the Progress Keport, &c. , of the 

 Royal Commission of Inquiry into Schemes for Extermination of Rabbits in 

 Australasia, p. 115 (Sydney, 1890). 



