352 NOTKS AND EXHIBITS. 



kernels eaten by rat kangaroos. Mr. H. J. O'Neill, who dis- 

 covered these specimens at Wombeyan, Taralga, writes concerning 

 them, ''1 am forwarding some more of the nuts (sic) at your 

 request. These I found in loose sandy soil of a high situation; 

 the piece of soil was about an acre in extent, and outside this 

 area no more of the nuts could be found. I could not hear of 

 any being found in other parts of this district. There is very 

 little doubt, if any, of the wallabies eating the kernels; they 

 scratch to the depth of about three inches, and about the edge 

 of the holes are found the broken outside crusts of the nuts 

 and sometimes the yellowish powder. They are attached to 

 roots, as you will see by some of the specimens, and a number 

 of the nuts are generally together, like potatoes beneath a stalk. 

 The local people know very little concerning them; those from 

 whom I have sought information had never seen them before." 

 So far it has not been possible to botanically place them. 

 They vary in size from a large Queensland nut (Macadamia 

 ternijolia) to a small Quandong (Fusanus acuminatus). The 

 outer shell or coating consists of cemented sand adhering to 

 an apparently extraneous root. The interior is composed of 

 three portions — (1) a thin shell or testa; (2) a middle layer 

 (? tegmen) about i inch thick, and composed entirely of fungus 

 spores; (3) the kernel which is about J inch in diameter, a dirty 

 white in colour, and is rich in a tixed oil — the constituent which 

 probably makes the kernel palatable to the rat kangaroo. 



Mr, H. J. Carter exhibited examples of two beetles — Paussojy- 

 tinus laticornis Lea (Fam. Ptiuidce), and Nepharis alata Castelnau 

 (Fam. Colydidce) — taken from ants' nests in North West Victoria, 

 and described in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria 

 for 1905 by Mr. Lea. 



Mr. Kesteven showed j)rotoconchs of Meyalatr actus aruanus 

 Lian., in illustration of his paper. 



Mr. Palmer gave some additional particulars of the breeding 

 haljits of the Chestnut-eared Finch in captivity. 



[Printed off September 2.Srd, 1905.] 



