154 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. [Vol. XXV. 



iginals, several nests of Newton's Bovver-bird were met with. The 

 fact of the nest being placed in an unusual position for that of a 

 bower-bird has probably tended to make the search for them 

 fruitless during the twenty-five years the bird has been known to 

 science, while the eggs are quite unlike those of typical Ptilono- 

 rhynchidae. Only two nests of the Tooth-billed species were 

 found, the eggs of which resemble the eggs of the Cat-bird, 

 though the nest is totally different. 



Photographs of the nests and eggs were exhibited in illustration 

 of the papers. 



The chairman congratulated Mr. North in having, through Mr. 

 Sharp, cleared up another of the oological uncertainties of 

 Australian ornithology, and remarked on the general character- 

 istics of the bower-bird family. 



Mr. J. G. O'Donohue stated that he had noticed in Gippsland 

 that the Satin Bower-birds generally construct their bower or 

 playing place near a low, stout limb of a tree, as if to obtain some 

 measure of protection from it. 



2. By Mr. J. W. Audas, entitled " Notes of a Trip to North 

 Queensland." 



The author detailed his experiences during a visit paid to 

 North Queensland in July and August last, more particularly as 

 regards the flora and introduced plants of the Kuranda district, 

 where he succeeded in making a number of interesting observa- 

 tions. 



Some discussion followed, in which Messrs. Hardy, Coghill, and 

 Mattingley took part. 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTE. 



Mr. F. Pitcher drew attention to his exhibit of a specimen of 

 Poa {G/yceria) dives, Victorian Sweet Grass, commonly known as 

 " Wild Oats," from Sassafras, Dandenong Ranges, over nine feet 

 in length ; also a frond of the Bracken Fern, Pteris aquilina, from 

 same locality, over ten feet long. 



EXHIBITS. 



By Mr. J. W. Audas. — Specimens of twenty Queensland forest 

 timbers ; Balanophora Jungosa, R. and G. Forster ; two varieties 

 of cotton ; fruits of EUeocarpus Bancrojtii, F. M. and Bail. ; 

 *' Johnstone River Almond," gnawed by scrub rats to obtain the 

 kernel ; nuts of Helicia Whelani, Bail., used by the aboriginals for 

 food, in illustration of paper. 



By Mr. F. G. A. Birnard — Growino; specimen of fern, Lomaria 

 Patp.rsoni, from Falls Creek, Upper Yarra. 



By Mr. C. French, jun. — Ten specimens of the buprestid beetle, 

 Cyria imperia/is, from Mordialloc, showing variations in mark- 

 ings , also, polished aboriginal stone tomahawk, from Port 

 Fairy.' 



