28 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



the embryos in Isidora tenuistriatus and Ancylus tasmanicus and 

 those during the month of January. These cysts were of average 

 size, being about j^q in. in diameter, and the anterior and 

 posterior suckers could be distinguished through the deeply 

 pigmented mass of the central protoplasm (fig. 7). 



In dealing with these cysts the question naturally arises, 

 " Where do they find their future home — is it in bird, fish, 

 sheep, or man ? " The answer to this, as far as Australia is con- 

 cerned, has yet to be found, and bearing, as it does, upon the 

 everyday life of the people of infected districts, its economic 

 value is of the very greatest importance. 



MICROSCOPIC WORK. 



The note by Mr. Bullen in the last Naturalist on the use of 

 turpentine in mounting recalls to my mind a somewhat similar 

 experience which I have had. Some years ago I put up a 

 number of slides of calcareous sponge spicules, using oil of cloves 

 to displace the air from the spicules, and in turn replacing the oil 

 of cloves by running in balsam in benzine. From these slides 

 the spicules have completely disappeared, having evidently 

 dissolved in the balsam, which would, perhaps, retain a trace 

 of the oil of cloves. — Thos. Steel. Sydney, nth May, 1896. 



The Calvert Exploring Expedition. — This expedition, which 

 has been fitted out by Mr. Calvert for the purpose of completing 

 the work of the Elder expedition of 1891, will start from Derby, 

 on the north-west coast, and work in an easterly direction towards 

 the overland telegraph line, somewhere about Powell's Creek. 

 Members of the Field Naturalists' Club will doubtless be pleased 

 to learn that a fellow member, Mr. G. A. Keartland, has been 

 selected to fill the position of zoological collector, for which duty 

 the experience gained on the Horn expedition will prove of great 

 service. The party has already left Adelaide en route to Western 

 Australia, and will probably be away about twelve months. 



Geological — a Correction. — We notice that several of our 

 geological friends are accustomed to style Dr. Selwyn " Sir A. R. 

 C. Selwyn," and we even note it in the index of one of our English 

 contemporaries. This is an error. Dr. Selwyn has received the 

 title of C.M.G. at the hands of Her Majesty, but has not been 

 knighted. Attention has previously been called to a similar mis- 

 take with reference to Richard Daintree, but error dies hard. 



