May,! Field Naturalists' Club — Proceedings. 3 



The author gave some notes of a few days' collecting during 

 November, 1912, among the islands of the Furneaux Group, 

 at the eastern entrance to Bass Strait. The species observed 

 numbered 152, but probably many more could have been 

 added had time permitted. The locality is the meeting-place 

 of the molluscan faunas of south-eastern Australia and 

 northern and eastern Tasmania, and representatives of each 

 fauna were present. The only endemic species obtained peculiar 

 to the islands was a land snail. 



Mr. J. H. Gatliff (who read the paper, in the absence of the 

 author) and Mr. C. J. Gabriel made some remarks concerning 

 some of the species mentioned. 



2. By Mr. St. Eloy D'Alton, C.E., entitled "The Botany of 

 the Little Desert, Western Wimmera, Victoria." 



The author gave an interesting description of the flora of 

 the " Little Desert," a tract of sandy country lying to the 

 west of Dimboola and south of the Adelaide railway. Though 

 an apparently dry, sandy area, the variety of plants and shrubs 

 to l)e met with is very striking. Many are comparatively 

 rare and confined to the district, while others have an extensive 

 range through other parts of the State. He thought that 

 plant-lovers would find much to interest them were they to 

 spend a few days visiting the more accessible parts of the 

 desert. 



Mr. F. G. A. Barnard congratulated the author on his paper, 

 and said that he was probably one of the best field workers 

 we have in Victoria. He remarked on the number of plants 

 mentioned by the author which were well known in localities 

 around Melbourne. 



Dr. T. S. Hall, M.A., in commenting on the paper, mentioned 

 having passed through similar desert country south of 

 Wolseley, South Australia, some years ago. He was struck 

 with its likeness to Sandringham coastal type of country. 



Mr. F. Pitcher said that the value of the paper lay in that 

 a certain part of the State had been l:)otanically mapped, and 

 he hoped that the whole State would be worked in this way. 

 If this paper were compared with Dr. Sutton's " Sandringham 

 Flora " a large number of the plants would be found to be 

 common to both. 



Dr. Leach said it was valuable to have such records. He 

 had driven recently along the Upper Murray River, and was 

 surprised to note how the native plants were being displaced 

 by the poorest of European weeds. 



NATURAL HISTORY NOTE. 



Mr. J. C. Goudie contributed a note on the behaviour of 

 two kinds of ants when irritated. 



