34 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. (Vol. XXVI- 



a separate collection of plants from the National Park, Wilson's 

 Promontory, has been formed, which consists of over 400 

 species, mainly collected by the members of the National 

 Herbarium excursion to the National Park during the past year. 

 The method of fumigation by bi-sulphide of carbon vapour, by 

 which the Herbarium collections are preserved from the attacks of 

 the museum beetle, was also explained. As showing the daily 

 work of the Herbarium, it may be mentioned, over 1,000 specimens 

 of plants, weeds, &c., have been named for various correspondents, 

 but few of these were worth preserving. The visitors were also 

 shown over the library, and were greatly interested in the various 

 scientific books, &c., contained therein. It was mentioned that 

 several hundreds of books, pamphlets, &c., were recovered during 

 the past year from the late Baron von Mueller's executors, thus 

 filling up many of the gaps. The Herbarium is indebted to the 

 Director of the Kew Herbarium for the completion of the sets 

 of Hooker's " Icones Plantarum " and the Kew Bulletin, and to 

 the British Museum for Banks and Solander's drawings of Capt. 

 Cook's first voyage to Australia. More than 400 volumes and 

 parts of journals, books, &c., have been received in interchange. 

 Over 200 books and scientific periodicals have been added to 

 the library by purchase, and in addition to these a considerable 

 number of books have been purchased from the libraries of 

 Messrs. Reader and W. R. Guilfoyle. I'he visitors were greatly 

 interested in the various pre-Linnean works, of which the 

 Herbarium possesses a very complete and valuable series. The 

 total number of books in the library exceeds 8,000, a very large 

 number being bound. Progress has been made in overtaking 

 the arrears of binding for the past 30 years. Nearly 2,000 

 volumes have been bound during the past three years, and over 

 300 are now in the hands of the binder, or are in course of 

 preparation for binding. Additional shelving has been added to 

 provide for the steady expansion of the non-Australian herbarium, 

 the shelves have been re-numbered, and the whole collection will 

 be re-arranged shortly. Another work that has been taken up by 

 the herbarium (in conjunction with the Botanical Department of 

 the University) is the testing of seeds, as regards purity and 

 germination value, a work which is of great importance to the 

 agricultural interests, and which is capable of considerable 

 extension with profit to the community. Various papers, &c., 

 have been published from the Herbarium and Botanical Depart- 

 ment of the University during the year. Included amongst 

 these are " Contributions to the Flora of Australia " and 

 " The Longevity of Seeds," &c. The publication of the short 

 descriptions and illustrations of the proclaimed plants has 

 now been completed, and these will also appear in a work 

 entitled, " Weeds, Poison and Proclaimed Plants of Victoria," 



