no Field Naturalists' Club — Proceedings. [vc^'^xxxiii 



of opinion that the roots of almost any species of the mallee 

 gums would yield water in more or less abundance, as would 

 the roots of the Needle wood. The device was seldom or never 

 resorted to by bushmen, because they realized that more fluid 

 would be expended in perspiration in securing the roots than 

 would be yielded by them. To his knowledge, the Quandong, 

 which was believed to be a root parasite, had not yet been 

 cultivated with a view to improvement of its fruit. Mr. 

 Johnson, at the Creswick nursery, had, however, succeeded in 

 getting the seeds to germinate. The fruit had a pleasant sub- 

 acid flavour, and was largely used by the early settlers for 

 jam making. 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTE. 



Mr. F. Keep referred to the seeming scarcity this season of 

 the Bronze and the Narrow-billed Bronze Cuckoos. The two 

 larger birds, the Pallid and the Fan-tailed Cuckoos, were as 

 numerous as ever. 



Mr. St. John stated that both the Narrow-billed and the 

 Bronze Cuckoos were plentiful at Upper Ferntree Gully on 

 Saturday, nth inst. 



Mr. G. A. Keartland mentioned that, as a general rule, 

 Cuckoos were averse to calling in dull or wet weather. This 

 peculiarity might account for their seeming absence from 

 favoured haunts. 



EXHIBITS. 



By Mr. A. N. Burns. — Group of Ichneumon (Microgaster) 

 cocoons. 



By Mr. E. Cox. — Variegated Hedgehog Holly, Ilex aquifolium 

 ferox variegatum, from Emerald Nursery. 



By Mr. Geo. Coghill. — Native flowers from Mooroolbark. 



By Mr. C. Daley. — Fresh specimens of Actinohis helianthi, 

 Labill., Flannel Flower, from Manly, New South Wales ; also 

 aboriginal grinding stone, from Trida Station, N.S.W., showing 

 on reverse side the depressions made for holding the stone with 

 the fingers when using it for grinding seeds. 



By Mr. C. J. Gabriel. — Victorian Mutton-fish shells, Haliotis 

 conicopora, Peron, H.. cyclobates, Peron, H. emmcB, Reeve, H. 

 albicans, Q. and G., H. ncBVOsa, Martjni. 



By Miss G. Nethercote. — Flowering specimens of Westringia 

 glabra, Violet Westringia, collected 28th October, Lerderderg 

 Gorge ; also Hibiscus Htiegelii, End., Western Australia, grown 

 at Hawthorn. 



By Mr. D. Paton. — Wild-flowers from Bendigo, including 

 Cheiranthera linearis, Diufis sulphurea, &c. 



By Mr. F. Pitcher. — Flowers of Telopea truncata, R. Br., 

 Tasmanian Waratah, from Devonport, Tasmania. 



By Messrs. E. E. Pescott, F.L.S., and C. French. — Fresh 



