president's address. 877 



minutisi<iinuni Miiller, a plant so small that it might escape the 

 notice of the casual observer, was found by Archdeacon King in 

 1849, and cultivated by the late "William Sharpe Macleay in the 

 garden within whose boundaries we are now assembled. It is 

 one of our rarest orchids, and yet was once grown here in the 

 midst of the city. Galeola Ledgerii Mueller, on the other hand, 

 is the largest, found only in the dense cedar scrubs of the 

 Eastern Coast. It is a climber, attaining a height of 30 feet, 

 and a spike of its flowers has been found to measure six feet in 

 length and three in breadth. Cryptostylis ovata, now peculiar 

 to West Australia, may possibly be a form of C. longifclia, 

 modified by long separation, as there are no orchids in N. and 

 N.W. Australia. Mr. Fitzgerald's observations on the Fertilisa- 

 tion, Variation, and Distribution of species are as interesting as 

 his illustrations are beautiful. 



Mr. J. E. Brown's Forest Flora of South Australia, referred to 

 above, is still progressing ; and Mr. F. M. Bailey, F.L.S., author 

 of the Synopsis of the Queensland Flora is adding supplements to 

 that work from time to time. 



The Rev. W. Woolls, Ph.D., F.L.S., etc., has lately published a 

 small hand-book to " The Plants of New South Wales," pp. 122. 

 The nomenclature and arrangement are adopted from the Census of 

 Baron v. Mueller, but a preliminary essay, and the notes and 

 observation-s, which are both instructive and intei*esting, are 

 original. It is far the best book that we have upon the subject ; 

 and, although only intended to supply a temporary want, is 

 likely to become and to remain a popular guide to the Botany 

 of New South Wales. 



I am not aware that anything of note has occurred in Zoological 

 matters outside the Societies in Australia, with the one important 

 exception of Mr. Caldwell's investigations, a short abstract of 

 which was given by himself before the Royal Society, N.S. W. 

 (See above, p. 867.) Further information and details we shall 

 receive in due course. I suppose all of us have heard, and heard 

 with regret, of the illness which temporarily incapacitated that 

 brilliant and vigorous student in the pursuit of his chosen object, 



