34 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



GENERAL BUSINESS. 



After the nomination of office-bearers for the year 1894-5 had 

 been made, Messrs. D. Best and J. T. Gillespie were elected to 

 audit the Club's accounts for the year 1893-4. 



PAPER READ. 



By Mr. C. Frost, entitled " Notes on the Habits and Senses of 

 Spiders, Part 2." 



The author dealt mainly with the subject of web-making, 

 which proved both interesting and suggestive. The various 

 kinds of webs, their methods of construction and uses were 

 described in detail. Instances of the enormous amount of 

 web used were given, in contradiction of the statement of the 

 older naturalists that the supply was limited, while the author 

 stated that the numerous webs seen floating in the air late in 

 the autumn were produced by spiders in their efforts to take 

 aerial flights. 



The paper gave rise to some discussion, in which Messrs. 

 Anderson, Barnard, Hall, and the president took part. 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTE. 



A cutting from a Sydney newspaper was contributed by Mr. C. 

 Frost, giving an account of recent experiments on the nature of 

 various poisons. That of a spider (Lathrodectus) was found to 

 be the most deadly poison yet discovered. Quite a scare had 

 been created by this publication, to which the ill-founded dread 

 of the so-called tarantula contributed not a little. 



EXHIBITION OF SPECIMENS. 



The following were the principal exhibits of the evening : — By 

 Mr. E. Anderson. — Moths, viz., Thalaina clara, T. Selcena,. 

 Mnesempala privata, and variety, and Smyriodes aplectaria. By 

 Mr. A. Coles. — Pair of Swainson's Lorikeets, Trichoglossus Novce- 

 Hollandiai, and Royal Spoonbill, Platalea melanorhyncha. By 

 Mr. C. French, jun. — Eggs of Lanes Gouldii and Sterna Bergii, 

 from Gulf of Carpentaria. By Mr. J. Gabriel. — Eight species of 

 Australian ducks' eggs. By Baron von Mueller, K.C.M.G. — A 

 Dodonrea collected by Mr. W. E. Matthews, as very rare, near 

 Mt. Zero, and remarkable for its very broad fruit, by which it 

 approaches D. platyptera and D. calycina ; also Amaranthus 

 retrqflexus, an immigrated weed, collected by H. B. Williamson 

 near Port Fairy. 



After the usual conversazione the meeting terminated. 



In noticing the " Thistle Handbook " last month ( Victorian 

 Naturalist, ix., p. 32), the name of Baron von Mueller, K.C.M.G., 

 Government Botanist, as its author, was inadvertently omitted. 



