NOTES AND EXHIBITS. 291 



Dr. H. G. Chapman communicated some results obtained, bv 

 a number of investigators, in the physiological laboratory, on 

 the tension of carbon dioxide in expired air. The tension was 

 found increasing continuously during the passage of the expired 

 air from the respiratory tract. The last portion of the expired 

 air, therefore, contained the greatest quantity of carbon dioxid'-. 



Mr. North, with the sanction of the Curator of the Australian 

 Museum, exhibited a series of the eggs of 18 species of sea-birds 

 showing considerable variation in shape and size, selected from 

 the Australian Museum collection, procured by members of the 

 Mawson "Australasian Antarctic Expedition" in 1911-14. The 

 eggs of the following species were obtained in Antarctica: Mega- 

 lestris maccormicki, Oceanites oceanicus, Thalassveca antarctica, 

 Priocella glacialoides, Payodroma nivea, Dapfion capensis, Pygo- 

 scelis adelie. On Macquarie Island, Larus dominicanus, Megales- 

 tris antarctica, Piiffinus griseus, ^Estrelata lessoni, Macronectes 

 giganteus, Phoebetria cornicoides, Phalacrocorax traversi, Apteno- 

 dytes patagonica, Pygoscelis papua, Catarrhactes pachyrhynchus , 

 and C. schlegeli. The egg of Phcehetria cornicoides is elongate - 

 oval in form, the shell being comparatively close-grained, dull 

 white, much nest-stained, and lustreless; on the larger end are 

 some scattered indistinct spots and blotches of faint reddish- 

 brown. Length 3-87 x 2 -55 inches. The eggs of Phalacrocorax 

 traversi vary from oval to elongate-oval in form, and are of a 

 faint bluish or greenish-white colour, which is almost concealed 

 with a white calcareous coating slightly nest-stained. Three 

 average-sized specimens measure : Length (A) 2-5 x 1-6; (B) 2-42 

 X 1-55; (C) 2-63 x 1-5 inches. The oological results of the Ex- 

 pedition, as evidenced by the quota of the collection assigned to 

 the Trustees of the Australian Museum, may be briefly summa- 

 rised as follows .• — the eggs of two species of Skua, one Gull, 

 eight Petrels, one Albatross, one Cormorant, and five Penguins. 

 Attention was drawn to the dull and sombre hues of the speci- 

 mens forming this exhibit, broken only by the olive, brown, and 

 black tints of the eggs of Larus and Megalestris. Undoubtedly, 

 they resembled their environment, a desolate and uninhabited 

 great Southern land of ice, snows, and blizzards. 



