Vol. XXVIIl. 

 iqii 



1 Williamson, A Cycle Trip through East Gippsland. 77 



trol and used to give Sale the first-class water supply which is 

 so much needed there. 



I reached home on the loth January, very thankful that the 

 weather had been so agreeable, and that my bicycle had stood 

 the journey so well. I had ridden about 240 miles, and my only 

 tyre puncture was on the last day's ride — to the Ninety-Mile 

 Beach. 



I can commend East Gippsland to the naturalist who cycles ; 

 but my ideal of a trip to those parts can be summed up thus : 

 a strong, staunch horse, a covered waggonette, food supplies 

 and blankets, and a congenial mate or two. 



In conclusion, I may say that, for the sake of brevity, I have 

 omitted to mention a number of plants noted which had 

 already been recorded by Dr. Sutton in his interesting and 

 ably written paper in the Victorian Naturalist for February, 

 1909 (vol. XXV., p. 155), on the botany of the Snowy River 

 district. 



The Nomenclature of Australian Birds. — The July Enm 

 contains a long letter from Mr. Gregory M. Mathews, author of 

 the great work on Australian birds now going through the 

 press, on the subject of the systematic names of Australian 

 birds, in which he virtually says that the time has come when 

 the trinomial system of naming must be adapted for scientific 

 purposes. He quotes different authorities, among them Mr. A. 

 J . North, of the Australian Museum, as to the use of the term 

 " sub-species," which has of late years become exceedingly 

 common. Mr. Mathews argues that trinomials are distinctly 

 better than such binomials as — 



Oreocichla cuneata, De Vis 

 ,, heinei, Cabanis 

 ,, lunulata, Latham 



,. macrorhyncha, Gould, 



which he would render thus (Oreocichla having been replaced 

 by Turdus) — 



Turdtis hmulatus cuneatus, De Vis 

 „ ,, heinei, Cabanis 



„ „ lunulatus, Latham 



„ ,, macrorhynchus, Gould, 



showing at once that only one distinct species of Thrush is 

 recognizable, the others being races or varieties inhabiting 

 different areas. Mr. Mathews' suggestion seems reasonable, and 

 saves the use of " var." and "sub-species"; and may even 

 prevent the founding of new species on mere minor details. 



