^ u fg'J Field Naturalists* Club — Proceedings. 59 



Club, the author explained what he took to be the method 

 by which the apparently interrupted tracks made by snails 

 are produced. The intermittent track was due as much to 

 the surface crawled over as to the action of the animal, a 

 smooth surface, such as glass, yielding an unbroken line, 

 because the mucus is easily spread by the animal's foot as it 

 progresses, while on rough surfaces the mucus remains where 

 deposited, or the interrupted patches are connected by an 

 almost invisible film. 



Prof. Spencer said that he agreed with Mr. Steel's theory, 

 but he had hoped that some less experienced member would 

 have taken the matter up. 



The chairman said that he had tried some experiments with 

 a snail by causing it to cross the edge of a razor, which it did 

 by looping its body and avoiding the .edge, and so escaped 

 receiving any apparent injury. He said that a somewhat 

 similar question was, " How does the larval form of the Cup 

 Moth move ? " This, he thought, would provide an inter- 

 esting problem for a junior member. 



LECTURE. 



The president then introduced Mr. Joseph Hatch, of Hobart, 

 who had kindly offered to give an illustrated lecture on " The 

 Bird Life of Macquarie Island." 



Before dealing with the question, Mr. Hatch said that stories 

 of cruelty to the birds at the island were in circulation, and he 

 had received from the Premier of Tasmania a copy of a letter 

 from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 

 Adelaide, calling attention to the matter. At his request the 

 letter was read by the hon. secretary, when the lecturer said he 

 would deal with it during the course of his remarks. 



By means of a fine series of lantern slides the lecturer gave 

 some idea of the scenery of Stewart Island, New Zealand, of 

 Antipodes Island, and of Macquarie Island. The latter is 

 situated some 800 miles south of Invercargill, or 600 miles 

 south of Hobart, and had been leased by him for some twenty 

 years for the purpose of obtaining penguin and sea-elephant 

 oils. On the latter are several rookeries of Royal Penguins, 

 but only two of them are utilized for commercial purposes, 

 and then only the birds which have reached the age of twelve 

 months are used, older birds being useless. Three other species 

 of Penguins are found on the island — the King, Emperor, and 

 Victoria ; but none of these yields sufficient oil to render 

 its killing profitable. A description was given of the method 

 of treating the birds, and a denial given to the stories which 

 have been circulated ascribing great cruelty in the methods 

 adopted. Some interesting notes were given regarding the 



