30 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



I took an excursion to Watervalonder, which is in Eland's Valley 

 and about 230 miles from Johannesburg. We had a very 

 successful and enjoyable camp-out for eight days, and took a 

 number of beetles, a great variety of locusts, and many rare butter- 

 flies, some of which are not described in Trimen's " Butterflies of 

 South Africa." The gorges between the mountains were our best 

 places for birds. The most uncommon taken were : — Corythaix 

 musojyhaga, Dendrojncus nienstruus, Coccystes serratus, Goccystes 

 Jacobinus (?), Terpsiphone cristata, and a thrush believed to be 

 new. This bird, and. all the notes jotted down during the trip, 

 have been sent to Dr. R. Bowdler Sharpe, Natural History 

 Museum, South Kensington, London. Manis Temminckii, and 

 Hyrax Capensis were the only mammals procured. This was the 

 club's first extended trip, and proved so successful that it was at 

 once proposed to organize another, which is now being done. 



During the year the club has published a list, after Trimen, of 

 all the South African butterflies, and has purchased from a private 

 collector 300 species of South African butterflies and as many 

 beetles. These form an interesting addition to the museum which 

 is in connection with the club. 



At the second half-yearly meeting the report showed an increase 

 in membership by 19, making a total of 65 elected during the 

 year, while the balance-sheet showed the assets to be ;!^42 17s. 

 6d., and the liabilities nil. The success of the movement is due 

 to the efforts of individual members, who are determined to 

 thoroughly establish the club, and which is already showing great 

 promise of becoming an important centre for the study of South 

 African zoology. p j Ellemor. 



A Catalogue of the Australian Birds in the Australian 

 Museum, Sydnev. — The trustees of the Australian Museum have 

 just issued, in one volume, the first and second parts of a new 

 edition of the catalogue of the Australian birds in the museum. 

 The work is based on the catalogue by Dr. E. P. Ramsay in 

 1876-90, and has been prepared by Mr. A. J. North, C.M.Z.S. 

 It comprises the orders Accipitres (diurnal) and Striges (noc- 

 turnal birds of prey). In the former twenty-eight species are 

 included under seventeen genera. A complete list of references 

 and synonyms is given under each species, with full descriptions 

 of both sexes of the adult birds, and in many cases references to 

 the immature stages. Of the order Striges, two genera and 

 sixteen species are catalogued. 



Mr. Dudley Le Souef, C.M.Z.S., has been appointed to 

 represent the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria at the Zoo- 

 logical Congress about to be held at Cambridge, England. 



