30 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXV. 



acting on it, and that the brilliance and frequency of the flashes 

 are controlled by the will of the insect. 



The objection may be raised that such an amount of nervous 

 energy would be expended by the Firefly Beetle in the production 

 of the light that it would be extremely short-lived. The larva 

 would not use up much nervous energy, as the light it produces 

 is not very brilliant. The energy expended could easily be 

 renewed by feeding. Whether the imago feeds or not I do not 

 know, but I see no reason why the perfect insect should not 

 produce a brilliant light for many nights, even though it should 

 not feed. The expenditure of nervous energy would doubtless be 

 great, but so must it be in the production of loud and continuous 

 sounds by some insects, and in the marvellously rapid movement 

 of the wings of other insects in flying, or of the legs of still other 

 insects in running. 



The " Queensland Naturalist."' — We welcome the first 

 number of the " Queensland Naturalist, the Organ of the Field 

 Naturalists' Club (Brisbane) and its Branches." The new periodical 

 is to be published quarterly, and will, no doubt, further natural 

 history in the northern State. The number contains the second 

 annual report of the Club — for 1907 — which indicates steady 

 progress; the presidential address of Mr. H. Tryon, Government 

 Entomologist, who took advantage of the bicentenary of the 

 births of the great naturalists Linnseus and Buffon, and indicated 

 their lines of investigation and mfluence on succeeding genera- 

 tions ; a paper by Mr. G. B. J. Skertchly on " The Brisbane 

 Tertiaries ; " some short notes; and a list of members of the 

 Club, in which we notice the name of Dr. T. P. Lucas, one of the 

 original members of the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria. 



" In Australian Tropics." — Reliable books dealing with the 

 varied aspects of tropical Australia are not numerous, and, there- 

 fore, Mr. Alfred Searcy's splendidly illustrated volume will be 

 read with interest both by the sportsman and the naturalist. Mr. 

 Searcy, during a residence of fourteen years at Port Darwin as 

 Sub-Collector of Customs for the Northern Territory of South 

 Australia, had many opporiunities, during official visits, of 

 becoming acquainted with the natives, the natural history, and 

 the productions of that almost terra incognita. The 370 pages 

 he has written will be found both entertaining and instructive, 

 and should tend to the formation of a better idea of life in tropical 

 Australia. The headings of a few of the chapters will indicate 

 the character of the work — Adventures with Malay Trepang 

 Fishers, Trips to the Roper, M'Arthur, and Victoria Rivers, 

 Buffaloes, Alligators, Fishing, White-ants— while many of the 56 

 illustrations included are delightful pictures. 



