Che Uictorian naturalist. 



Vol. XXXII.— No. 9. JANUARY 13, 1916. No. 385. 



, FIELD NATURALISTS' CLUB OF VICTORIA. 



The ordinary monthly meeting of the Club was held at the 

 Royal Society's Hall on Monday evening, 13th December, 



The president, Dr. C. S. Sutton, occupied the chair, and 

 about fifty members and visitors were present. 



CORRESPONDENCE. 



An acknowledgment was received from the treasurer of the 

 Victorian Red Cross Australian Sick and Wounded Fund for 

 the sum of £"54 4s. nd., proceeds derived from the Wild- 

 Flower Exhibition in the Athenaeum Hall on Tuesday, 28th 

 September. 



The president said the receipt might be considered to have 

 terminated an undertaking that reflected great credit on the 

 Club and its supporters, as well as materially increasing the 

 balance of the Victorian Red Cross Australian Sick and 

 Wounded Fund. 



REPORTS. 



A report of the excursion to Upper Beaconsfield on Saturday, 

 13th November, was made by the leader, Mr. C. French, jun., 

 who said that a party of ten members had spent a very inter- 

 esting day in the district. They had been very cordially 

 welcomed and invited to lunch by Dr. and Mrs. Drake, who 

 afterwards showed them round their garden, which contains 

 a number of good specimens of Australian trees and shrubs, 

 among which was a specimen of the New South Wales Waratah 

 bearing no less than thirteen spikes of bloom. After luncheon 

 Mrs. Drake had conducted them to some of the beauty spots 

 of the district, where a fair collection of flowering plants had 

 been made. Owing to the cloudy day, insects were scarce, 

 only a few species of buprestid beetles of the genus Stigmodera 

 being secured. Cicadas were in thousands, and a number of 

 specimens were secured for exchange purposes. Among the 

 birds noticed were the Coachwhip-bird, Harmonious Thrush, 

 Spotted Ground-Thrush, Sordid Wood-Swallow, Fire-tailed 

 Finch, and Bell-bird. Returning towards Lower Beaconsfield 

 through a fine fern gully on Dr. Drake's property, Mr. J. R. 

 Tovey's week-end residence was reached, where again they were 

 treated very hospitably by Mr. and Mrs. Tovey. He stated 

 that the district is a good one for the field naturalist, and if a 

 longer visit could be made earlier in the season the results 

 would doubtless be of more importance. Mr. French said that 



