THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 65 



present site of Melbourne. The sandy beds, of considerable 

 depth, hold water like a sponge, and afford suitable soil, under 

 a fair rainfall, for a thick growth of trees and scrub. Such a 

 growth, in the memory of many of our members, occupied most 

 of tlie country to the east of the Yarra. To the westward the lava 

 plains are covered with a thin coat of soil, rich in plant food, but 

 with a subsoil of dense bluestone, which neither holds water nor 

 allows of drainage. It is a country rich in grass, but devoid of 

 trees and scrub. The fauna depends on the flora for its existence, 

 and rarely do we find so close together two such extensive and 

 distinct classes of country as we do on the two sides of Mel- 

 bourne. The differences in the plants and animals cf the two 

 areas are known, at any rate in part, to all. The tendency in the 

 past has been to study the richer life of the eastern area, and to 

 somewhat neglect the western. 



In the far past, when conditions were similar on both sides of 

 Melbourne, the same life — both plant and animal — was to be 

 found at Sydenham and at Caulfield. Now the greatest contrast 

 exists in every way, and we can see even from this sketch how 

 far-reaching are the effects of geological changes. Not alone is 

 this seen in the distribution of plant and animal, but we trace it 

 in the scenery and in the growth of JNlelbourne's suburbs, for we 

 prefer to build our houses on the sand, and not to found them on 

 the rock. 



In conclusion, I would like to suggest that an attempt should 

 be made to compare critically the flora and fauna of the two 

 classes of country that are here dealt with. We want comparisons 

 of what lives on the basalt with what lives on the sands. But to 

 (io ihis properly we must keep out of those valleys which trench 

 to the underlying rocks, and confine our attention strictly to the 

 dwellers on the two geological formations. This is a problem 

 which may be studied in many parts of Victoria, but here we can 

 do it at our doors. — T. S. Hall. 



DESCRIPTIONS OF SOME NEW VICTORIAN 

 COCCID^. 



By E. E. Green, F.E.S., Government Entomologist, Ceylon. 

 (Communicated by C. French, F.L.S.) 

 {Read be/ore the Field Naturalists' Cluh of Victoria, lltliJidij, 1904.) 

 AspiDioTus (Hemiberlesia) immaculatus, n. sp. (fig. l). 



Female. — Puparium snowy-white ; the pellicles completely 

 concealed — both above and helow — by the white secretionary 

 covering, but indicated by the presence of a raised disc above 

 the first larval skin. Form strongly convex; the apex tilted over 

 towards the anterior extremity. Diameter, 1.25 to 1.50 mm. 



