82 Field Naturalists' Club — Proceedings. [vd"^xxxvi 



miles. Some uncultivated ground was traversed on the way, 

 where many of the usual spring flowers were noticed, Acacia 

 myrtifolia being particularly fine. A few early orchids, such 

 as Caladenia carnea and Diuris maculata, were fairly common. 

 At the creek were some nice young trees of the Silver Wattle, 

 Acacia dealhata, well covered with blossoms. The return 

 journey was made mostly through uncleared paddocks, where 

 numerous other flowers were added to the collections. The 

 best find of the day was a plant of Hovea heterophylla bearing 

 white flowers instead of the usual lilac, this reversion to 

 albinism on the part of H. heterophylla being of very unusual 

 occurrence. Some discussion followed on the subject of 

 albinism and reversion from type in flowers, the chairman 

 mentioning that he had recently had sent to him a flower of 

 Early Nancy, Wurmhea dioica, w^hich was of a purple colour 

 instead of the usual white. Mr. J. Booth suggested that the 

 alteration in colour might be due to the presence of iron in the 

 soil. Mr. Hardy said that this was perhaps the reason, for 

 the ground where the flower had been picked was littered with 

 disused portions of machinery, all of which were encrusted with 

 rust. Mr. H. B. WiUiamson mentioned that a white specimen 

 of the Common Centaury, ErythrcBa australis, had recently been 

 forwarded to him, which he considered very unusual. Mr. P. C. 

 Morrison said that last spring he found a cream-coloured Spider 

 Orchid at Ringwood. In this case he considered the lack of 

 colour was due to the situation in which the plant was growing 

 being deficient in sunhght. 



GENERAL BUSINESS. 



Mr. C. L. Barrett, C.M.Z.S., referred to the intention to 

 devote portion of the proceeds of the forthcoming exhibition of 

 wild-flowers to the publication of a list of common names for 

 Victorian plants, and asked whether the idea was a bare list 

 or something in the way of an informative booklet giving hints 

 for the recognition of the flowers. 



Dr. Sutton said that details of the proposed publication had 

 not yet been worked out by the Plant Names Committee. In 

 any case it would be impossible to bring out a book whereby 

 anyone not acquainted with botany could accurately ascertain 

 the species of any wild-flower he might come across. 



Mr. F. Keep suggested that at any rate a column giving the 

 usual colour of the flower might be included. 



Mr. Barrett said that something popular was badly needed, 

 and that a botany along the lines of Dr. Leach's " Australian 

 Bird Book " would pay for itself many times over if introduced 

 into the schools. 



Mr. C. C. Plante concurred with Mr. Barrett's remarks, saying 

 that at present, unless one were a botanist, or devoted the whole 

 of his spare time to plant study, it was impossible to recognize 



