42 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



By Mr. C. J. Gabriel. — Shells from N. America, including 

 Fasciolaria distans, Fasciolaria itdijxi, Cyprcea spadicea, Oliva 

 Utterata, and Chorus helcheri. 



By Mr. J. Gabriel. — Cuckoos' eggs, with those of the foster 

 parents : — Brush Cuckoo and Rose-breasted Robin ; Bronze 

 Cuckoo and Superb Warbler ; Bronze-Cuckoo (two eggs) and 

 Superb Warbler ; Narrow-billed Bronze-Cuckoo and Superb 

 Warbler ; Pallid Cuckoo and White-eared Honey-eater ; and Fan- 

 tail Cuckoo and White-fronted Sericornis. 



By Mr. A. D. Hardy. — Blackfellow's tomahawk and splitting 

 wedge, from near Casterton. 



By Mr. D. M'Alpine. — A new Gastromycete, Anthurus sepioides, 

 n. sp. ; and, on behalf of Mr. W. S. Brownscombe, drawings in 

 oil of the same. 



By Mr. J. Stickland. — A fungus, apparently a species of Lysurus, 

 from Hawthorn. 



After the usual conversazione, the meeting terminated. 



BiRCHiP Heterocera. — In my " Notes on the Larvae and 

 Pupae of Birchip Heterocera," published in the Naturalist, vol. 

 xix., p. 132, the species spoken of as /)esto/??iia luieata, Walk., 

 should be recorded as Capusa senilis, Walk. I am indebted for 

 this correction to Dr. Turner, of Brisbane, who states he has re- 

 ceived many specimens under the former name, and it is probable 

 that the moth which has been taken near Melbourne is also 

 referable to Capxisa senilis. — U. Goudie, Birchip. 



Red Rain in Victoria. — In our paper on the above subject 

 in the last issue of the Naturalist (vol. xx., p. 17), we in- 

 advertently omitted to refer to the paper on " Red-Rain Dust," 

 by Mr. Thos. Steel, F.L.S., F.C.S., read before the Sydney 

 meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of 

 Science, 1898 (see " Report," vol. vii., p. 334). The paper 

 contains an analysis of some sediment which fell in the Moonee 

 Ponds district on 27th December, 1896, and agrees in the main 

 with the results given in our paper, but shows a higher percentage 

 of silica. Mr. Steel also directs our attention to papers in the 

 Chemical News bearing on this subject, one of which, by Dr. 

 T. L. Phipson, vol. Ixxxiii., 190 1, p. 159, is based on an ex- 

 amination of some red-rain sediment collected at Melbourne, 

 1 2th December, 1896, in which Dr. Phipson expresses his 

 opinion that, owing to the presence of nickel in his sample, " this 

 dust is partly, if not wholly, of cosmic origin, and not merely 

 desert sand uplifted by the wind." It has, however, been shown 

 by means of spectroscopy that nickel is present in minute 

 quantities in ordinary atmospheric dust of undoubted terrigenous 

 origin. — F. Chapman and H. J. Grayson. 



