854 NOTES AND EXHIBITS. 



Dr. O. Katz exhibited pure test-tube cultivations of Bacteria in 

 sterilised nutrient gelatine, undoubtedly the most satisfactory 

 cultivating medium. The bacteria were obtained principally from 

 tap-water of the Sydney water supply, and from samples of 

 ensilage, which was brought by Mr. Stanley from Coonong, and 

 which might possibly have some connection with the reported 

 horse-disease. He also exhibited and explained diagrams showing 

 the cultivation of the micro-organisms in nutritive gelatine on 

 glass-plates,, a method which enables one to distinguish between 

 the different bacteria as they propagate and form colonies, and to 

 make pure cultures. He announced his hope of carrying out a 

 series of examinations of water from the Sydney Water Supply, in 

 order to be able to give an opinion on its sanitary condition. 



Mr. Whitelegge exhibited an extraordinarily rich gathering of 

 microscopic forms — Rotifers, Entomostraca, Desmids, Diatoms and 

 others — from a small pond in Moore Park 



Dr. Cox exhibited a conical cap, about 35 inches long and 12 

 inches wide at the mouth, made by the natives of certain of the 

 Fiji Islands, from cobwebs. It has been supposed that such caps 

 were the productions of a large spider, but Mrs. Moreton, who gave 

 the example exhibited to Dr. Cox, assures him that the natives 

 make them by winding many cobwebs round a conical framework of 

 twigs. They are known to Europeans as " Smothering or 

 Execution Caps," but it would appear that they are used only for 

 the purpose of infanticide, especially for smothering deformed or 

 objectionable children at birth, and not for the execution 

 of adults. 



Mr. C.S. Wilkinson exhibited a very large specimen of Aphanaia 

 gigantea, and a piece of sandstone with numerous minute markings 

 believed to be those of ostracoid shells, both obtained by Mr. 

 David, F.G.S., from the marine beds of the Lower Coal Measures, 

 near Patterson ; also a specimen of a remarkable species of 

 Planorbis embedded in ferruginous sandstone from a depth of 25 

 feet from the surface at Cockatoo Island. This specimen was sent 

 by Mr. J. H. Maiden, and it is of much interest, being the first 

 fossil shell found in the Hawkesbury formation. 



