[82 TUK VICTORIAN NATUKALIST. [Vol. XXVI. 



Botanic Gardens, but which is unfortunately being rapidly covered 

 by ornamental vegetation. Further along to the east of Anderson- 

 street the [Dosition of another much-decomposed dyke was jDointed 

 out, and several interesting fossils were obtained by examination 

 of the material used for forming the new roadway. 



A report of the excursion to Beaumaris on Saturday, 12th March, 

 was given by the leader, Mr. O. A. Sayce, A.L.S., who reported a 

 good attendance, but the work was somewhat hampered by the 

 unfavourable tide. However, comparisons were made between high 

 and low-tide life, while marine and fresh-water forms were 

 compared with land forms. 



A report of the junior excursion to Beaumaris on Saturday, 5th 

 March, was given by the leader, Mr. R. W. Armitage, who 

 reported an attendance of about fifty juniors, and that an 

 interesting afternoon had been spent. 



ELECTION. 



On a ballot being taken, Mr. E. A. Petherick, F.R.G.S., 

 Melbourne, was duly elected a member of the Club. 



PAPER READ. 



By Mr. F. Chapman, A.L.S., entitled " Victorian Foraminifera : 

 Recent and Fossil." 



The author pointed out that there are still many problems 

 regarding Foraminifera which require working out. questions 

 which can be answered both by the study of living and fossil 

 forms. He called attention to the richness of the Victorian 

 Tertiary deposits, which compared favorably with the better 

 known ones of Spain, Italy, and the West Indies. He gave a 

 number of useful hints on the collection of recent and fossil 

 species, with methods of cleaning and mounting for the microscope, 

 and illustrated his remarks with a fine series of lantern slides and 

 later by mounted specimens under the microscope. 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTE. 



"Apple-nuts." — Mr. D. McAlpine forwarded a note on the 

 so-called " apple-nuts " or " fossil apples," which were recorded 

 in the Naturalist of May, 1906 (vol. xxiii,, p. 4), as having been 

 found in coal cargoes at various times. These he had, by 

 inquiry, found to be the seeds of a sago-yielding palm, Metroxylon 

 amicarum, Hook, f., indigenous to the Solomon Islands, from 

 whence they had been sent to Sydney as articles of commerce, 

 and becoming loose in the steamers had become mixed with 

 subsequent coal cargoes. 



EXHIBITS. 



The following were the principal exhibits : — 



By Mr. C. French, F.L.S. — Male and female of a remarkable 

 beede, taken in ants' nests, Mulgrave River, Queensland, by 

 Mr. J. Hacker. Its determination by Mr. A. M. Lea, Government 

 Entomologist of Tasmania, had required the establishment of a 



