96 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



NOTES ON THE FIERY PARRAKEET. 



Bv A. J. Campbell. 



(^Read before the Field Ndfuralists^ Ch(h of Victoria, XWi Novemhcr, 1808.) 



Although Gould at first figured the Fiery Parrakeet, Platycercns 

 Ignitus, in its truly flaming colouring, he afterwards believed the 

 bird to be an anomalous or diseased variety of the common 

 Rosella {F. eximius). But Count Salvadori recently has restored 

 it again to a species. Possibly Gould's second judgment is nearer 

 the truth. 



The original specimen of the Fiery Parrakeet, which John 

 Leadbeater described in 1837, was stated to have been procured 

 in the district of Brisbane. 



Dr. Charles Ryan has in his collection a similar beautiful bird, 

 which was shot in Victoria. There is in the Geelong Museum a 

 specimen, as far as I can recollect, resembling the ordinary 

 Rosella, but with the upper tail coverts red (scarlet) instead of 

 green, thus making a kind of connecting link between the Rosella 

 and the so-called Fiery Parrakeet. Again, in Gould's figure of 

 the latter bird, there are white markings on tlie wings, which 

 markings appear more or less on those parts in immature 

 Rosellas. If the Fiery Parrakeet be really a good species, then 

 it may be recorded as a new bird for Victoria. 



CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE FLORA OF VICTORIA. 



No. VII. 



By F. M. Reader, F.R.H.S. Communicated by G. Coghill. 

 {Read before the Field Nati(ralists' Club of Victoria, \Ath Nor., 1898.) 

 TiLLAEA ACUMINATA, sp. nov., F. M. Reader. 



A decumbent or erect branched annual from under an inch to 

 about 6 inches high ; in the decumbent state when old often form- 

 ing much-branched tufts upwards of 7 inches in diameter. 

 Leaves yk inch long, j',. of an inch broad, oblong, usually without 

 a point, connate at the base, those mixed with the flowers 

 shorter, broader, usually ending in a transparent point. Flowers 

 pentamerous, comparatively large, densely crowded in axillary 

 sessile clusters, leafy corymbs or corymbose panicles : others 

 shortly pedicellate ; stalklet comparatively stout. Sepals ^;, of an 

 inch long, ovate, more or less acuminate. Petals of a whitish to 

 a deep red colour, as long as, slightly shorter or longer than the 

 sepals, oblong-lanceolate, usually with longer points. Hypogy- 

 nous scales obliterated. Carpels }i of an inch long, acuminate ; 

 each carpel containing one or two seeds. Seeds about ]2 mm. 

 long, oval, brownish, shining, faintly striate. 

 Lowan, Dimboola shire, 1S90 ; F. M. Reader. 



