116 NOTES AND EXHIBITS. 



regards, the economic value of all these forms, the description on 

 p. 3 1 of Turner's "Grasses of New South Wales," published by 

 the Government of this State in 1890, of the typical species, is 

 applicable to them all, and has since been amplj^ verified by 

 pastoralists and stockmen all over the State. Some graziers call 

 these grasses " shot grass," and distinguish between the extreme 

 forms as " small shot grass " and " big shot grass.'" It is worth 

 putting on record that the plain-turkey is fond of the grain of 

 these grasses. 



Mr. Basset Hull exhibited a skin of the Yellow-webbed or 

 Wilson's Storm Petrel (Oceanites oceanicus exasperatus Mathews), 

 caught by Mr. E. I. Bickford, on board the s.s. Cooma, between 

 Brisbane and Sydney on a recent voyage. This species was 

 found breeding in Adelie Land by the Australian Antarctic Ex- 

 pedition. — Also a section of a stem of Callicoma serrati/olia, from 

 Manly, cut through by a wood-boring beetle. 



Dr. E. W. Ferguson exhibited, by the permission of the Prin- 

 cipal Microbiologist, a collection of foreign biting-flies recently 

 received by the Department of Public Health, from the Imperial 

 Bureau of Entomology, London. The species sent were chiefly 

 African, but a few Asiatic species are included. The collection 

 comprised Simuliidre {S sp-p.), Tabanidce {67 spp.), Muscidce (13 

 spp.), and Hippoboscidcn {^ ^pp.). Attention was drawn to par- 

 ticular species, such as Glossina palpalis and G. 7norsitans, which 

 were of interest as proved transmitters of disease. The collec- 

 tion is now housed at the Microbiological Laboratory, Depart- 

 ment of Public Health, and will be made available to workers 

 for reference. 



Dr. J. B, Cleland exhibited specimens of the rootlets of Euca- 

 IjT^ptus, each several inches long, dependent from the roof of a 

 tunnel, driven at a depth of 50 ft. from the surface, at Wellington 

 Caves. Portion of the cave-area is at present being exploited for 

 rock-phosphates. The rootlets in question, which were present 

 in masses, had grown to the length shown since the tunnel had 

 been cut two months before. The rootlets show many lateral 

 branches, and probably represent the effort to replace roots de- 



