NOTES AND EXHIBITS. 



Mr. T. Stephens exhibited (i) portions of a joist and floor- 

 ing board showing " dry rot," the species of which had not been 

 determined. The underside of the board showed the dehcate 

 branching form of the mycelium of the fungus spreading from 

 the rotted joist. The pecuharity of the case was its occurrence 

 in the floor of a room not more than ten years old. The cause 

 of it was the absence of the usual provision for ventilation by 

 means of air-bricks. (2). A sample of the soil in which the 

 bones of a gigantic extinct animal, not yet positively identified, 

 were embedded in the Alowbray swamp, not far from Smithton, 

 about three feet below the surface. The bones were neither 

 decayed nor fossilised, and it would be interesting to ascertain 

 by analysis whether there was any specially preservative ele- 

 ment, such as that of European peat mosses, in the soil of the 

 Mowbray swamp. (3). A somewhat rare fern found by Mr. 

 Edward Stephens near the River xA.rthur. and identified by Mr. 

 Rodway as a species of Aspidium. 



Mr. T. T. Flynn exhibited three species of tunicates — Salpa, 

 Appendicularis, and Pyrosoma — which had been obtained in 

 dredging trips undertaken by the Field Naturalists' Club, and 

 stated that they had not previously been recorded for Tasmania. 



THE FOLLOWING PAPER WAS READ. 



New ^.larine ^Mollusca. By W. L. ^lay. 



The author remarks, speaking of the ]Marginellas, that recent 

 dredgings in our deeper waters, from 40 to 100 fathoms, have 

 brought to light a great number of new forms, some of which 

 are very distinct species, whilst others vary so greatly in both 

 form and size as to make them exceedingly puzzling, and that 

 the object of the present paper is to attempt to bring some 

 order out of chaos. In the second part of the paper 14 new 

 species are described, and it is illustrated by plates. 



