THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 75 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 



Mr. G. A. Keartland explained, in connection with liis exhibit 

 of specimens of the White-backed Swallow and their eggs, that 

 although these birds are so frail in structure, they tunnel from 

 2 to 3 feet into the wall of a sandbank to breed. The eggs 

 exhibited were taken from a hole 2 feet 6 inches in the bank of 

 the Finke River, which required over an hour's hard work with 

 a large screw-driver to dig out. 



The President drew the attention of members to the Mueller 

 medals exhibited on the table, which are to be awarded by the 

 Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science. 



EXHIBITS. 



By Mr. E. E. Barker, F.R.M.S.— Two nests of living Bull 

 Ants, Myrmecia fortijicata and M. sanguinea. 



By Mr. P. C. Cole. — A small ornamented " Churinga" from 

 North-Western Australia, and a pair of Corrobboree Sticks from 

 the Western District, Victoria. 



By Miss K. Cowle. — The following fossils from New South 

 Wales : — Spirifer duodecinicostahts, Black Head ; Spirifer 

 convolutus ; Martiniopsis, sp. ; Platychisma, Permo-carboniferous, 

 Black Head ; Terebratula, sp., Permo-carboniferous, Black Head ; 

 Mourlonia pleurotomata, Permo-carboniferous, Black Head ; M. 

 morrisii, Permo-carboniferous, Black Head ; Stenopora, sp., 

 Permo-carboniterous, Black Head ; Fenestella, sp. ; Glossoptens, 

 sp., Permo-carboniferous coal measures, Belambi ; Halysites, 

 sp., Silurian Limestones, at Molong ; Stomatopora, sp. ; petrified 

 wood. New South Wales, and Caulfield, Victoria ; and Tasmanian 

 aboriginal flints. 



By Messrs. J. E. Dixon and C. French, jun. — Fungus 

 (Microcera), parasitic on Mussel Scale Insects (Mytilaspis, sp.), 

 on Hymenanthera banskii, Yarra River, near Fairfield Park. 



By Mr. C. French, F.L.S. — Butterflies — Morpho rhetenor, Peru; 

 M. aurora, Bolivia ; and 3f. adonis, Amazons — not previously 

 exhibited in Victoria. 



By Mr. C. French, jun. — Aboriginal stone tomahawk, 

 measuring 8^ inches long, ploughed up at Warragul, Gippsland; 

 also, a stone found under the skull of an aboriginal, from near 

 Hamilton. These stones are fairly common in the Hamilton 

 district. This specimen is peculiar, being hollowed on both sides ; 

 usually only one side is hollow. 



By Mr. C. J. Gabriel. — Marine shells, Ranella albi-varicosa 

 and It spinosum, from South Sea Islands. 



By Mr. G. A. Keartland. — A pair of White-backed Swallows 

 and eggs, from Finke River, Central Australia. 



By Mr. A. Mattingley. — An aborginal message-stick, from 

 North-Western Australia. 



