THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 55 



M. Sesmanni (Gardeners' Chronicle, third series, vol. viii., p. 182 

 [1890], with a xylogram from a photogram by His Excellency Sir 

 John Thurston) belongs also to the series of species with erect 

 inflorescence, but may perhaps be identical with M. Fehi of 

 Tahiti and New Caledonia, as suggested in the Kew Index. I 

 have not succeeded to identify M. calosperma with any of the 

 thirty-five congeners recorded by Mr. Baker in the "Annals of 

 Botany," vol. vii., and in Dyer's Kew Bidletin for 1894. 



Should on further access to ampler material the Musa, brought 

 under extended notice now, prove specifically distinct from Mr. 

 Maclay's plant, then it is to bear the name of Sir William 

 Macgregor. Attention may yet be drawn at this apt opportunity 

 to a Musa of extraordinary ornamental value, to which Dr. 

 Warburg refers (in Professor Engler's " Kahr-Buecher," xiii., 

 274), with totally red leaves, cultivated by aborigines in New 

 Britain, but indigenous to the Solomon-Islands. It may only be 

 a variety of some well-known species, but is wanting in Australian 

 gardens like elsewhere yet. 



ORNITHOLOGICAL NOTE.— THE KNOT. 



At the last (July) meeting of the Field Naturalists' Club I was 

 much interested in seeing a group of three Knots (Tringa 

 canutus) exhibited by Mr. A. Coles. A male bird appeared in 

 its full breeding plumage of rich chestnut, and one wonders 

 what the birds were doing on the shores of Western Port, 

 Victoria, in the middle of May, when they should have been 

 commencing domestic duties in Northern Siberia or other arctic 

 regions. 



Like many of our migratory sandpipers, &c, the Knot occa- 

 sionally visits us from these far-off regions to winter with us 

 {i.e., to escape the arctic winter). The Knot was first noticed in 

 Australia near Brisbane, 2nd September, 1862. Since, it has 

 been observed in New South Wales, Victoria, and South Australia. 

 Our National Museum, Melbourne, I believe, possesses examples, 

 and odd birds have been exhibited for sale in the city together 

 with snipe. I was therefore surprised to hear the announcement 

 at the meeting that the bird was unknown, and was not figured 

 in Gould. Splendid figures of the Knot may be seen at the 

 Public Library, in Gould's " Birds of Great Britain," vol. iv., 

 plate 65. A. J. Campbell. 



Armadale, 15 th July. 



We are pleased to learn that Mr. T. S. Hart, M.A., an 

 enthusiastic member of the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, 

 has been appointed Lecturer on Geology and Botany at the 

 School of Mines, Ballarat. 



