60 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



one volume by Mr. Malcolm A. C. Fraser, the Government 

 Statistician, and with the addition of maps and illustrations form 

 an excellent handbook to the natural history of Western Aus- 

 tralia. The maps comprise a general map, and one combining 

 the rainfall records and the zoo-geographical divisions N., N.W., 

 S.W., and C. (central or desert). The chapters deal with — i. 

 Physical Features ; 2. Geography ; 3. Geological Features, with 

 a census of the Minerals, the South-west Cave District, &c. ; 4. 

 Climate ; 5. Aborigines ; 6. Fauna, including lists of Mammalia, 

 Birds, Reptilia, Batrachia, and Pisces ; 7. Entomology ; 8. Flora, 

 with a list of plants; 9. Forest Resources; 10-13. Scientific 

 Institutions ; and 14. Report on the Lake Yanchep Caves. 



" Agricultural Gazette of New South Wales." — In the 

 May (1903) number Mr. W. W. Froggatt, F.L.S., Government 

 Entomologist, contributes an article on "Some Wood-boring 

 Beetles and Their Habits," in which four minute but de- 

 structive beetles are dealt with. A plate is given showing the 

 insect natural size and greatly enlarged. Mr. Froggatt continues 

 his notes on the Cicadas ( " Locusts " ) and their habits, men- 

 tioning eight species and giving figures of six, and concluding 

 with a good bibliography. In the June number Mr. Froggatt 

 writes on " Insects that Damage Wheat and other Foodstuffs," 

 in which he briefly describes nine beetles and five moths, all of 

 which are very destructive in grain stores, &c. Seven of these 

 are illustrated, natural size and enlarged. References to literature 

 complete the paper. 



Present-day Cave-Dwellers. — In an article published in 

 Knowledge a few years ago, Mr. Lydekker drew attention to the 

 evidence in favour of an Asiatic origin for the aborigines of 

 Australia, whose nearest relatives then appeared to be the Veddas 

 of Ceylon. " In a letter from Macassar," says that monthly, 

 " the Messrs. Sarasin, who are travelling in Celebes, announce 

 the discovery in the mountains of that island of a primitive people 

 — the Toala — presenting a remarkably physical resemblance to 

 the Veddas. Although these people have now been considerably 

 influenced in the mode of life by contact with the Buginese of the 

 coast districts, there is decisive evidence that a short time ago 

 they were cave-dwellers (as indeed are some of their number 

 now), while within a century or so ago they were in the habit of 

 using chipped stone arrow-heads and other weapons and imple- 

 ments. There can be little doubt that the Toala were the 

 primitive inhabitants of Celebes, and that they were driven to 

 take refuge in the mountains by the Malay invaders, with whom, 

 however, they now hold a certain amount of intercourse. 

 Assuming their affinity to the Veddas to be true, and it is scarcely 

 likely that such a remarkable resemblance can be merely 

 accidental, we have much stronger evidence than before as to the 

 probable Asiatic origin of the Australian aborigines." 



