%'o] Notes. 



lOt 



usually regarded as suckers. It has ahvajs been fonsidered 

 as a parasite, but no definite proof of this fact seems to have 

 been secured until Mr. Herbert started his investigations. In 

 1893 Baron von Mueller wrote to Mr. W. Webb, of Albany, 

 for infomiation regarding the tree, and his reply, pubhshed in 

 the Victorian Naturalist for January, 1894 (vol. x., p. 158), 

 is borne out by Mr. Herbert's investigations, though Mr. Webb 

 concludes by expressing the opinion that the tree is an inde- 

 pendent growth. Mr. Herbert shows that from the long, 

 wandering stems of the Nuytsia arise branching roots, which 

 give rise to white, fleshy roots, up to about a quarter of an inch 

 in diameter, from which, in turn, smaller and more fragile 

 roots extend. From these, when they come in contact with 

 the root of some other plant (the species does not seem to 

 matter, even garden plants being attacked), a fleshy outgrowth 

 starts to develop, and two white fleshy arms start to grow 

 round the attacked root in opposite directions from the point 

 of contact, finally forming an unbroken fleshy ring round the 

 attacked root. On the inner side of the fleshy ring arise haus- 

 toria, or suckers, and through these it is thought the Nuytsia 

 obtains an additional supply of organic material, including 

 nitrogenous substances, and can therefore be regarded as a 

 true parasite. Whether it should be considered as a member 

 of the Loranthacea.', or placed in an order of its own, is a matter 

 of opinion. The paper is well illustrated with drawings, par- 

 ticularly of stem and root sections, and is an excellent piece 

 of work regarding one of the most extraordinary of Australia's 

 many remarkable vegetable productions. 



The Austral Avian Record. — Nos. 2 and 3 (issued as one 

 part) of vol. iv. of this publication, dated 28th July, 1920, is 

 to hand. In it the editor, Mr. Gregory Mathews, and Mr. Tom 

 Iredale provide; an essay on " Avian Taxonomy," in which 

 they give their reasons for a new grouping of the class Aves, 

 which they launcli as " our first attempt at providing a work- 

 able classification of avine forms." The classification com- 

 mences with the order Struthiones, and concludes with the 

 order Passeres. The minor divisions are sub-orders, super- 

 families, and families. As may be expected, a number of 

 changers in the names of famihar families have been made. 

 The super-family Passeroidea is the most extensive in the 

 list, including no less than sixty-two families, commencing 

 with Hirumhnidie and ending with Corvida?. Following this is 

 " A Name-list of the Birds of New Zealand," extending to 

 fifteen pages, classified according to the foregoing system, and 

 giving a vernacular name for each bird. The first portion of 

 " A Name-Ust of Australian Birds," extending to seven pages, 

 concludes the part. This commences with Dromiceius nover- 

 hollandice, Emu, and concludes with Vdola lapponica, Barred- 



