248 NOTES AND EXHIBITS. 



NOTES AND EXHIBITS. 



Mr. Hedley submitted the following " Note on the Ova of 

 Helicarion robustus, Gould." 



" My attention was lately drawn by my observant friend Mr. 

 Fletcher to the egg-capsules of Helicarion robustus, Gould. No 

 account of these has appeared in print, and it may be advisable to 

 place on record a short description. Near Sutherland railway 

 station, a few miles south of Sydney, these ova were so plentiful 

 the first week in April that scarcely a stone, log or other suitable 

 shelter was raised without revealing one or more masses ot eggs. 

 Mr. Fletcher tells me that he has noted their occurrence in previous 

 years in the months of June (1887), January (1888) and April 

 (1890), after rain. They are deposited either on the earth or 

 adhering to the lower surface of the shelter, usually 12 to 20, and 

 occasionally 40, in a bunch, each individual with the fluted hemi- 

 sphere outwards. A single egg measures about 4 ram. major and 

 3 mm. minor axis ; soft, gelatinous, white when fresh laid, growing 

 yellow as it matures, probably because the embryo is then showing 

 through the semi-transparent wall, ovate, acuminate at one end, 

 from the acuminate pole nine spiral ribs descend to the periphery, 

 where they gradually vanish. The infant mollusc pierces the egg 

 wall near the apex formed by the conjunction of the ribs, and on 

 hatching possesses a shell of one and a-half whorls quite resembling 

 the adult except in size." 



Mr. Maiden exhibited ripe fruits of Monstera deliciosa grown 

 at North Sydney by Mr. J. Malbon Thompson, who believes that 

 this is the first time that these fruits have fully ripened in Sydney. 

 They were fifteen months in ripening after the fruit had set. 



Also, specimens of the " vegetable sponge," Luffa aegyptiaca, 

 grown by Mr. James Hurst at Summer Hill ; and an abnormal 

 growth of maize cobs, from Bathurst. 



