80 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXIV. 



Nests and Eggs of Birds Found Breeding in Australia 

 AND Tasmania. — Another part of this Special Catalogue, issued 

 by the Australian Museum, Sydney, being the second part of vol. 

 ii., has been published. In it the author, Mr. A. J. North, 

 C.M.Z.S., Ornithologist to the Museum, continues his descriptions 

 of the nests and eggs of a number of families of Passerine birds. 

 A large portion is devoted to those essentially Australian birds, 

 the honey-eaters, the nests of many of them being figured in the 

 text, while a full-page plate is devoted to the nest of Lewin's 

 Honey-eater. Two plates of eggs are given, figuring 66 specimens, 

 belonging to 51 species, which in the hand-coloured copies are 

 exceedingly faithful representations. Though called a catalogue, 

 the work is no mere record of species, for the divers notes and 

 records whicli Mr. North has gathered together form most 

 interesting reading. 



Natural History in Brisbane. — We have received from 

 Brisbane a report, in pamphlet form, of the first annual meeting 

 of the Field Naturalists' Club, but what the full title of the society 

 is the pamphlet does not indicate, so whether it should be referred 

 to as the Brisbane or the Queensland Field Naturalists' Club we 

 cannot say. It contains a brief statement of a successful year, 

 and an interesting and poetical address by the retiring president, 

 Professor S. B. J. Skertchley, in whicli he briefly touched on some 

 of the difiiculties encountered by such a society, and in calling 

 attention to the rapidly disappearing fauna and flora, urged that 

 a biological survey of the Brisbane district should be coii.menced 

 ere it is too late. The indiscriminate felling of trees drew forth 

 a scathing denunciation, while the solution of some of Nature's 

 mysterious migration problems was held out as useful work to be 

 done. 



A Correction. — It has been the usual custom in the 

 Naturalist to print all specific names as commencing with a small 

 letter. The latest rules of botanical nomenclature, adopted at 

 the 1905 congress, require all specific names derived from proper 

 names to be commenced with a capital. This detail was over- 

 looked in several instances in Prof. Ewart's papers on pages 12-14 

 and 56-60 of the current volume, and he desires to disclaim 

 any intention of disregarding the rules as framed. Through a 

 misreading of the proof the heading of the third paragraph on 

 page 13 has been transposed — the portion in italics should be in 

 small capitals, and vice versa, as is shown by the concluding 

 sentence of the' paragraph, Deyeaxia montaiia being merely a 

 variety of D. quadriseta, Benth. — Ed. Victorian Naturalist. 



