THE 



Vol. XL— No. 1. APRIL, 1894. No. 125. 



FIELD NATURALISTS' CLUB OF VICTORIA. 



The ordinary monthly meeting was held in the Royal Society's 

 Hall on Monday evening, oth April, 1894. The President, Mr. 

 H. T. Tisdall, F.L.S., occupied the chair, and there was an attend- 

 ance of some 50 members and friends. 



REPORT OF EXCURSION. 



A report of the excursion to Bacchus March on Easter Monday 

 was received from the leader, Mr. C. C. Brittlebank. The party 

 visited the Werribee Gorge and inspected the evidences of glacia- 

 tion recently discovered there. 



MEETING FOR PRACTICAL WORK. 



The hon. secretary reported that the usual meeting for prac- 

 tical work was held on 19th March, when there was a moderate 

 attendance. The course in botany was continued, Mr. Shephard 

 taking as his type the yeast plant. 



ELECTION OF MEMBER. 



On a ballot being taken, Mr. J. Prescott was duly elected a 

 member of the Club. 



GENERAL BUSINESS. 



A letter was read from Mr. H. R. Hogg, asking the Club to 

 accept nine folio volumes of Victorian plants for the use of 

 members for reference. A unanimous vote of thanks was ac- 

 corded Mr. Hogg for his valuable gift. 



PAPER READ. 



By Mr. T. S. Hall, M.A., entitled " What is a Graptolite ? " 

 The question was answered by referring these interesting fossils to 

 the free-swimming Hydrozoa. The author briefly defined the differ- 

 ent groups into which graptolites are divided, and exhibited a 

 number of diagrams and specimens in illustration of his remarks. 



Professor Spencer considered it more likely that they were fixed 

 Hydrozoa, and drew attention to the practical advantages of a com. 

 plete study of these forms in the determination of auriferous strata. 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTES. 



A note was read by Mr. G. A. Keartland on " Our Neighbour- 

 ing Naturalists." During recent visits to Adelaide and Sydney 

 Mr. Keartland visited several old friends and gained many new 

 ones. The result, as shown at the meeting, was a considerable 

 accession to his collection. 



Two cuttings were contributed by Mr. R. S. Sugars — one 

 recommending boracic acid as a preservative for bird skins, and 

 the other on some recent experiments made at the Plymouth 

 Marine Biological Laboratory to decide the action of light on the 



