Proceeding.'^' of the Royal Socleti/ of Victoria. 223 



Mr. Elleky called attention to an article which had appeared 

 in The Australasian with respect to the Society, and wliich spoke 

 of its decline and approaching fall. He had been connected witli 

 the Society from its inception, and he had not known a time in 

 its history when it had manifested more real vitality in the work 

 of the advancement of science. Perhaps the writer of the article 

 in question had confused the work done by the Society with the 

 proceedings of Section G, and if that w ere so, he could not wonder 

 at the conclusions he had arrived at, if the reports of those 

 proceedings were correct. As one of the oldest members of the 

 Society, he was sure it was ahead in many respects of what it had 

 ever been before ; and although in earlier times a good deal of 

 work of a popular kind might have been done, for original 

 research and for good work, which would compare favourably 

 witli that done by any other Society, the present time had never 

 been exceeded. 



Professor Spencer said he had interviewed the Editor, who 

 had promised to insert a letter with regard to the matter, and 

 read a letter which he had written accordingly. 



Tlie Hon. Librarian reported that since the last meeting 

 83 publications bad been received and added to the Library. 



Professor Spencer read a Preliminary Notice of Victorian 

 Earth-worms. Part I. — The genera Megascolides and Crypto- 

 drilus. 



After a short discussion. Professor Spencer observed that an 

 interesting point in regard to the earth-worms of Victoria was 

 that they did not seem to throw up the soil at the mouth of their 

 burrows to the same extent as European earth-worms. What 

 Professor Drummond had said witli regard to Africa seemed to be 

 perfectly true with regard to Victoria, that in the matter of 

 throwing up the earth, the ants took the place that was taken by 

 the earth-worms in other parts of the world. 



Professor Spencer i-ead a note on the habits of Ceradotus 

 forsteri. 



Mr. Ellery asked wliether it had not been stated that the 

 Ceradotus was a migratory fish 1 



Professor Spencer replied that it could not be a migratory 

 fish as its limbs were not strong enough to support it out of 

 water. It was found only in two rivers, the Mary and the 

 Burnett, and nowhere else. 



Mr. Baker said that in the Murray District it was a commonly 

 accepted idea that the fish would cross from pool to pool. 



Professor Spencer said that such an idea was erroneous. He 

 had tried the fish out of water, and liad come to the conclusion 

 that it was unable to move. 



I 



