46 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



On the question being put to the meeting the motion for the 

 alteration of the rule was carried by the requisite majority. 



The ordinary meeting was then held. 



ELECTION OF MEMBERS. 



On a ballot being taken, Messrs. F. H. Hayden, State school, 

 Yarra Park, East Melbourne ; A. Strahan, Lands Department, 

 Melbourne ; A. Symington, Education Department, Melbourne ; 

 and John Wilson, 153 Buckley-street, Footscray, were duly 

 elected members of the Club. 



GENERAL BUSINESS. 



Mrs. M. Bage alluded to the honour recently conferred on one 

 of the past presidents of the Club, and moved — " That the con- 

 gratulations of the Club be forwarded to Professor \V. Baldwin 

 Spencer, C.M.G., M.A., F.R.S., on being created a Companion of 

 the Order of St. Michael and St. George by His Majesty the 

 King." Seconded by Mr. J, Shephard, and carried unanimously. 



PAPERS. 



I. By Mr. T. S. Hall, M.A., entitled " Notes on Some Vic- 

 torian Echinoids." 



The author gave some account of the references to Australian 

 species in the bibliography of the group, and referred to the more 

 notable collections made on Victorian shores. He was able to 

 identify nine species, and gave their synonymy and references as 

 a guide for future collectors. 



Mr. A. Mattingley congratulated the author on his efforts to 

 smooth out the complicated tangle into which the species of the 

 genus Amblypneustes had got, and, although agreeing in the main 

 with Mr. Hall's conclusions, he was not disposed to regard A. 

 formosus, A. griseus, A. ovum, and A. pallidus as one species, 

 his idea being that only A. ovum and A. pallidus should be 

 regarded as identical. He further remarked that when dredging 

 in Western Port, on a gravelly bottom, he had obtained the three 

 forms, A. formosus, A. ovzim, and A. pallidus, in one haul of the 

 dredge. 



Mr. F. Chapman, A.L.S., remarked on the value of the notes 

 submitted by Mr. Hall, and concurred with him in the desirability 

 of amalgamating the several recent species of Amblypneustes, 

 since no two previous authors seem to have exactly agreed as to 

 the separate standing of the recorded species, and, in the light of 

 evidence afforded by a long series of specimens, a variable form 

 like this, both as to shape and colour, was seen to be connected 

 by the most inappreciable gradations. In illustration of the case, 

 he called to mind the two species of tertiary Echinidge described by 

 Laube, from Southern Australia, which were identified from a large 

 number of specimens by Professor Tate. Subsequently Professor 



