170 NOTES AND EXHIBITS. 



Dr. H. G. Chapman showed some damaged specimens of 

 Spirula spirula Linn.,(syn. S. peronii Lam.), taken by his wife 

 at Narooma, New South Wales, in January last. After a heavy 

 gale, the beaches were strewn with fragments of these cephalo- 

 pods. There are several specimens in the Macleay Museum 

 collected by the late Mr. George Masters at Bondi Beach. These 

 were unknown to Pelseneer at the time of his monograph with 

 Huxley in the Challenger Report, 1895. 



Dr. Chapman also communicated some results on the freezing 

 points of blood-sera as follows : sera of the ox, - 065°C, - 0'f>S°C 

 - 0-645°C and - 0-655°C; sera of the sheep, - 0-60°C and - 0-61°C; 

 serum of the dog, - 0595°C; and human serum, - 066°C. 



Mr. Maiden exhibited buds, flowers, and fruits of one of the 

 rarest and most showy of Eucalypts, E. erythrocorys, from Don- 

 garra, Western Australia. 



Mr. A. A. Hamilton exhibited specimens of two introduced 

 plants, unrecorded for New South Walgs, from the National 

 Herbarium Collection — Papaver dubium Linn., collected at Nar- 

 rabri(J.H. Maiden; November, 1899); and Ranunculus scleratus 

 Linn., a species poisonous to cattle, flourishing in a ditch at 

 Waterloo(A. A. Hamilton; December, 1912). A specimen of 

 Boerhaavia diffusa Linn., from Penrith, was also shown(A. A. 

 Hamilton; December, 1912); this is a western species which has 

 now become well established in the district. 



Mr. E. Cheel showed a fine series of specimens of a fungus, in 

 various stages of development, collected at Hill Top, in March 

 last, which produces sclerotia, very closely resembling those of 

 Polyporus mylittce Cke. & Mass. One sclerotium had a well 

 developed mass of whitish mycelium, together with the sporo- 

 phore or pileus in situ. The sclerotia are smaller than those of 

 P. mylittcR, and the pileus is about 2 in., in diameter, brownish- 

 coloured on the upper side, and the spores are white. The speci- 

 mens somewhat resemble P. sacer, a South African species, and 

 P. rhinocertis, a native of Malay and Ceylon; and should be care- 

 fully compared with these two species. A compacted mass of 



