190 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXVI. 



personally I hold this species of bird responsible for the dis- 

 appearance of some species of orchids from a district or locality. 



We lunched at the Britannia Falls — a cataract having a fall of 

 about 60 feet in about four chains — and on our way home were 

 courteously afforded an opportunity to pay a brief visit to Messrs. 

 Cuming, Smith and Co.'s chemical works, in the western corner of 

 the forest. There we saw the process of converting forest trees 

 into charcoal, methylated spirit, formalin, acetic acid, &c. 



The members of the party being all botanically inclined I am 

 unable to give an account of the bird and insect life, but, 

 generally speaking, insects and large birds, except parrots, were 

 scarce, though small birds, such as Tits, Wrens, and the like, 

 were numerous. In a '■ Spotted Gum " sapling by the roadside, 

 near West Warburton, a nest, constructed of bark fibre, &c., 

 about 6 or 7 inches deep, and about 3 or 4 inches across, and 

 elliptical in vertical section, was noticed, and reached by means 

 of a fence post. Careful examination failed to disclose an 

 entrance, and it was only by burrowing one's finger through with 

 some force that it was ascertained that two warm eggs were 

 enclosed. We knew of no bird that so closes its nest up when 

 leaving it temporarily, perhaps an ornithological member present 

 could venture a guess at the kind of bird to which the nest 

 belongs.* 



On the whole the excursion was enjoyable and profitable, and 

 the climb of nearly three thousand feet to " The Rock " as a one- 

 day excursion can be recommended to anyone who desires to 

 keep to beaten tracks, and at the same time enjoy the great 

 beauty and variety of the trees and shrubbery passed en route. 

 The distance from West Warburton station is probably a little 

 over five miles, while Millgrove is even nearer, and were the 

 tracks taken in hand by the Tourist authorities and improved 

 in places, and a few sign posts put up, there would be no better 

 outing to be obtained in the vicinity of Melbourne. — A. D. 

 Hardy. 



VICTORIAN FORAMINIFERA— RECENT AND FOSSIL. 

 By Fredk. Chapman, A.L.S., F.R.M.S., Palaeontologist to the 

 National Museum. 

 (With plate). 

 (Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, l-ith March, lOlt). 

 It is hoped that the following remarks upon one of our most 

 interesting groups of marine organisms may awaken in some of 

 the members, either of the Field Naturalist's Club or the Micro- 

 scopical Society of Melbourne, a desire for research ; and that it 

 may set them on the road to investigate some problems still open 



* Mr. Keartland informed the meeting that it was probably the nest of one 

 of the Acanthizas. — A. D. H. 



