Cbc Uictorian naturalist 



Vol. XXIV.— No. 7. NOVEMBER 7, 1907. No. 287. 



FIELD NATURALISTS' CLUB OF VICTORIA. 



The ordinary monthly meeting of the Club was held in the 

 Royal Society's Hall on Monday evening, 14th October, 1907. 



The president, Mr. G. A. Keartland, occupied the chair, and 

 abf)iit 90 members and visitors were present. 



REPORTS. 



A report of the excursion to Sandringham on Saturday, 14th 

 September, for botany and pond life, was submitted by the leaders, 

 Messrs. C. French, jun., and J. Shephard. There was a good 

 attendance of members, who divided into two parties, the 

 botanists keeping along through the tea-tree belt as far as Black 

 Rock, where they turned inland, and thence back to the station. 

 It was noticed that many of the Banksias and the bushes of 

 Aracia longifolia were either dead or dying, as the result of the 

 borings of the larvae of the beetles Piesarthrius and Uracanthus, 

 or the attacks of the scale-insect, Aspidiotus rossi. Several 

 orchids were collected under the tea-trees, such as Pterostylis 

 nana, P. pednnculnta, and Caladenia lafAfolia, but the dryness of 

 the season greatly reduced the number of species of plants found 

 in bloom. Regarding the pond life, Mr. Shephard stated that 

 owing to the continued dry weather the usual ponds visited were 

 rapidly drying up ; however, a number of interesting forms were 

 collected for home examination. 



A report of the excursion to Ringvvood on Saturday, 28th 

 September, for botany and ornithology, was submitted by the 

 leaders, Messrs. C. French, jun., and C. F. Cole, the former 

 taking charge of the botany in the absence of Dr. Sutton owing to 

 illness. There was a good attendance of members, and a fair 

 number of botanical specimens were collected. Among them 

 may be mentioned — Phylloglossrim Druniinondi^ Polypompliolyx 

 tfi.neMa, a rare yellow variety of Daviesia corymhosa, Euphrasia 

 Brovmii ; and among the orchids collected were Caladenia 

 suaveolens, C. Cairnsiana, and Diuris punctata. Only about a 

 dozen species of birds were recorded by Mr. Cole as having been 

 seen during the ramble, none of them being of any great 

 rarity. Amongst those seen were the Black-faced Cuckoo-Shrike, 

 Striated Tit, Yellow-rumped Tit, Blue Wren, Grallina, and 

 Grey Shrike-Thrush. 



ELECTION OF MEMBERS. 



On a ballot being taken, Mr. M. F. Kemp, 17 Motherwell- 

 street, Hawksburn, and Mr. W. S. Littlejohn, M.A., Scotch 

 College, Melbourne, were duly elected as ordinary members ; 

 Mr. Howard Bell, lUawarra-road, Hawthorn, as an associate ; 



