EEPOET FOE THE YEAR 1901. 243 



was also recorded from the same place, now Mr. Walker finds it 

 on Tanna and Mallicollo. In Mr. Medley's collection from Fitzroy 

 Island, Barrier, occurred Cryptothele doreyana, E. Simon, a New 

 Guinea Spider, and the first of its genus to be recorded in Aus- 

 tralia Another first record also is that of the nest of Brachythele 

 pallida, L. Koch., from Canterbury, presented by Mr. H. J. 

 Carter, m.a. 



At the beginning of the year, Mr. Rainbow contributed the 

 first of a series of articles on the architecture, etc., of Australian 

 Spiders, chiefly based on specimens in the Museum. Part 1" treats 

 of the Territelarise, or "Trap-door Spiders." This was followed 

 about the middle of the year by Part 2— the Cribellatse,® or 

 Spiders provided with a cribellum and calamistrum. 



The specimens obtained by presentation numbered seventeen 

 hundred and forty-five ; by exchange three hundred and eighty- 

 one ; by purchase fifty-eight ; and by collection one hundred and 

 ninety. 



CONCHOLOGY. 



(Mr. C. Hedley, Assistant-in-Charge). 



Mr. Hedley reports: — "The past year was the most prosperous 

 in the history of this Section. The gain to the collection exceeded 

 the growth of two ordinary years, and more administrative work 

 than usual was performed. This advance is due to two circum- 

 stances — (1) To the efficient aid rendered me by a Volunteer 

 Assistant, Mr. H. L. Kesteven, who for nine months attended 

 daily, and both sorted and roughly classified the store collection, 

 sorted dredged material for study, rearranged all the mounted 

 cabinet specimens, registered and mounted new material, prepared 

 a collection for school purposes, and under your supervision 

 attended to inquirers during my absence in July and August; 

 (2) I profited by a special leave of absence during the months just 

 mentioned, to visit the north-east coast of Queensland, the Barrier 

 Reef, and intervening islands, between Townsville and Cairns. 

 By dredging and shore collecting eight hundred and seventy-eight 

 species of MoUusca were obtained, including a large number of 

 undescribed or little-known forms. This collection was determined 

 and registered, and is now in course of being mounted." 



"The first quarter of the year was spent in continuing the 

 classification of the store collection, as described in last year's 

 Report. This disposed of, I turned to the examination of the 

 Mollusca dredged by the 'Thetis' Expedition, which pressure of 

 other work had delayed for three years." 



'' Rainbow — Notes on the Architecture, Nesting-habits, and Life- 

 histories of Australian AraneidaB, based on Specimens in the Australian 

 Museum: Part 1. — Eec. Aust. Mus., iv., 1, 1901, pp. 5-12. 



8 Rainbow — Ihid., loc. cit., 3, pp. 135 - 142. 



