62 THK VIC'IORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXIV. 



no Other effect than to produce a few uncertain movements 

 after they have passed it ; but a broad beam, if the light is strong 

 enough, always stops them. It is very probable that the larvae of 

 the Codlin Moth also possess a negatively phoiotatic irritability 

 which causes them to hide in the dark folds of cloth bound 

 around the infested trees, but experiments are needed to deter- 

 mine this, and also whether they possess any geotactic sense. It 

 would be of interest if it were found that the imago and the larvae 

 possessed precisely opposite phototactic senses, or at least gave 

 opposed responses to the same light stimulus. Many plants give 

 changed responses to light according to the conditions or stage of 

 development, and this may apply to animals also. 



Wild Life in Australia. ByVV. H. Dudley Le Souef, C.M.Z.S., 

 M.B.O.U., &c.. Director Zoological Gardens, Melbourne. Mel- 

 bourne : Whitcombe and Tombs Ltd. 439 -f- xv. pp. 7s. 6d. 



In this profusely illustrated volume the author has made 

 available to naturalists all over the world the experiences of 

 a lifetime among the birds and animals of Australia. The work 

 really consists of a series of accounts of collecting trips made to 

 various portions of the States. Thus for Victoria we have 

 chapters devoted to the Gembrook district, the Western District, 

 and Mallacoota Inlet. For New South Wales is given an account 

 of Riverina, with its wealth of bird-life on its numerous rivers and 

 swamps. Sea-bird life is dealt with in visits to the Furneaux 

 Group and to the Hunter Group and Albatross Island in Bass 

 Strait ; while North Queensland and South-western Australia are 

 levied on for the life of the more distant parts of the continent. 

 The author enters just sufficiently into such details as Hfe -histories 

 or protective colouration as to whet the appetite of the reader and 

 stimulate him to extend his reading, though whenever a much- 

 disputed point, such as the existence of the bunyip, the sea- 

 serpent myth, or the mystery of the early life of the young 

 kangaroo, arises, he is ready to advance his opinion, and support 

 it by sound deductions. Much of the n'.atter has already 

 appeared in the Victorian Naturalist or the Emu, but it does not 

 suffer from repetition, and in its present form will, we hope, reach 

 a larger circle of readers. The illustrations embrace a great variety 

 of subjects, and will go a long way towards establishing a correct 

 idea of the life in the Australian bush. The majority are reproduc- 

 tions from the author's own camera, while Mr. A, H. Mattingley, 

 Mr. E. M. Cornwall, the late Mr. H. P. C. Ashworth, &c., 

 are worthily represented by characteristic work. The author has 

 not burdened his text with many specific names, having adopted 

 the plan of a separate scientific index at the end of the volume, 

 while there is also a comprehensive general index. The get-up of 

 the book is all that could be desired, and we trust it will have a 

 ready sale. 



