lOO Field Naturalists' Club — Proceedings. [vLT^'xxx 



A lady living in Hawthorn, and very fond of wild animals, 

 has for months past been in the habit of feeding regularlv 

 an opossum which came every evening to the window. She 

 was very sorry to lose its visits for about four weeks, when 

 it returned, bringing two young " joeys " to be fed with her. 



Mr. J. Searle drew attention to a specimen of a pelagic 

 Tunicate, exhibited by him, and said the tunicates '' sea- 

 squirts " begin life as free-swimming organisms, tadpolelike 

 in shape. With a few exceptions, which continue a pelagic 

 existence, these later in life attach themselves by the head 

 regions to some object and develop into a sessile animal such 

 as we find on rocks at low tide. In the tail of the free-swim- 

 ming stage of the Tunicata is to be found the first indication 

 of a notochord. This is lost when the animal settles down to 

 a sedentary life. 



EXHIBITS. 



By Mr. F. G. A. Barnard. — Two mounted specimens of the 

 smallest Victorian marsupial, Acrohates pygmccus. Opossum 

 Mouse. 



By Mr. F. Chapman, A.L.S. — A series of limestone fossils 

 and samples of fossiliferous limestones from Victoria and 

 New South Wales. 



By Professor A. J. Ewart, D.Sc, Ph.D. — A specimen of 

 Loranthus pendulus, Sieber, Drooping Mistletoe, parasitic 

 on Cytisus prolifcrus, L.f. Tagasaste, collected by Mr. J. B. 

 Gregson, at St. Arnaud, August, 1913. 



By Mr. C. J. Gabriel. — Marine shells in series. Chlamvs 

 irradians, Lam., from North America. 



By Mr. J. Searle. — A specimen of a pelagic Tunicate from 

 Corio Bay, Port Phillip. 



After the usual conversazione the meetine terminated. 



The Cabinet Timbers of Australia. — At the present time, 

 when attention is being called to the terrible waste of timber 

 going on in all parts of Australia, the publication by the 

 Technological Museum, Sydney, of a handsome volume illus- 

 trating the Australian timbers suitable for cabinet work, &c., 

 comes most opportunely. The Curator of the Museum, Mr. R. 

 T. Baker, F.L.S., is to be congratulated on the excellent 

 arrangement and get-up of the work. The coloured illustra- 

 tions of the various woods are beautiful examples of colour- 

 printing, and are true to life. Numerous illustrations are 

 also given of articles and uses to which the timbers may be 

 put. A brief description of each tree is given, but one 

 essential point seems to have .been overlooked — that is, the 

 average size of the logs which are available for cutting up. 

 Sixty-four species are described, of which sixty are repre- 

 sented in the coloured illustrations. The work is well 

 indexed, and is a credit to the Government Printer of New 

 South Wales. 



