112 Field Naturalists' Club — Proceedings. [vor'xx?x. 



By Mr. R. Kelly. — Specimens of various acacias in seed, 

 and of Acacia mollissima in bloom. 



By Mr. J. Searle. — ^A new copepod, Asymmctrica, sp., col- 

 lected on Alphington excursion. 



By Mr. P. R. H. St. John. — Dried specimens of Eucalyptus 

 linearis, Dehnhardt, syn. E. piilchella, Desfont., collected by 

 Mr. L. Rodway, Government Botanist, Tasmania ; Levenhookia 

 Sonderi, F. v. M., " Slender Style-wort," collected by exhibitor 

 at Eltham, 9th November, 1912 ; growing plant (in bloom) of 

 orchid, Diuris punctata. Smith, var. alba. White Diuris, 

 collected by exhibitor at Sydenham, 26th October, i()i2. 



After the usual conversazione the meeting terminated. 



EXCURSION TO LAVERTON. 



Only a small number of members took part in the excursion 

 to Laverton on Saturday, 19th October. The locality is, 

 perhaps, not very inviting, being portion of the well-known 

 Werribee Plains ; but, as the natural history on the western 

 side of Melbourne is of so different a character to that met 

 with in the localities usually visited to the east of the city, it 

 is as well to sometimes arrange an excursion to the district. 

 On leaving the station we walked along the railway enclosure 

 for about a mile towards Altona Bay, finding a number of plants 

 were in flower, but nothing of any great rarity was noticed. 

 Reaching Altona Bay, several old aboriginal camping-grounds 

 were visited, and, after some searching, a few interesting stone 

 relics were ol^tained. Growing in the sand near the coal mine 

 were a number of jilants of the introduced weed, Siloic 

 cucubalis, N.O. Caryophylle;e, "Bladder Wort" or "Bladder 

 Champion." On pulling up some of these we were surprised 

 to find their roots to extend to five or six feet in length — 

 rather remarkable for such a comparatively small plant. On 

 the beach were found two birds which had been washed np by 

 the tide — a Short-tailed Petrel or Mutton-bird, and a White- 

 faced Storm-Petrel — two species which occur in considerable 

 numbers about Port Phillip Heads. Mr. C. C. Brittlel)ank, 

 Acting Government Vegetable Pathologist, has identified some 

 micro-fungi collected as Uromyces puccinioidcs on the Silenc, 

 Phyllachora trifolii on the leaf of a trefoil, and Puccinia 

 hypochceridis on HypochcBtis radicuta. During our ramble two 

 Tiger Snakes, Hoplocephalns curtus, were seen, one of which 

 was killed ; the other escaped into some tussocks. Mr. J. R. 

 Tovey, of the National Herbarium, who devoted his attention 

 to the jilants, says at least seventy s]x^cies were seen, of whicli 

 the more interesting were : — Kcuucdya prostrata, l^iiiiclra 

 fllauca, P. huinilis, I\ curvi/lora, liracliycomc ca/ocarpa, H. 



