The South Australian Katuralisi. 



family of plants, benefit the soil in whieli they grow by using 

 nitrogen from the air and retaining it in the soil. A table 

 showed how rapidly microl)es multiply, and if they all lived 

 they would form a mass as large as the world in a few years. 

 Dr. Johnson explaiiied that germs have many enemies. Perhaps 

 the main one is suidight : also they must have proper soil in 

 which to grow. Then some germs live on other germs, and so 

 lessen their numbers to the benefit of mankind. The lecturer 

 referred to Pasteur and others, who by their discovery and work 

 in this science have made themselves famous and benefited 

 mankind. 



Lecture, 12/11/20. — The Director of the Melbourne Zoologi- 

 cal Gardens, Mr. DiuUey Le Souef, C.M.Z.S., M.B.O.U., delivered 

 a lecture on the "Value of Australian Bird Life." The lecture 

 was most interesting and was well illustrated. The lecturer 

 gave interesting figures regarding the value of birds in destroy- 

 ing insects. He said the ibis lived largely upon grasshoppers 

 and similar insects. In a rookery of about 200,000 birds, nesting 

 in the Riverina district, in New South Wales, the total number 

 of insects, mostly grasshoppers, taken by them in one day had 

 been estimated at m.ore than 4,000,000, weighing about 25 tons. 

 When dealing Avith the question of protective colour of birds, 

 the lecturer mentioned that where the male and female were the 

 same colour, as seen in emus and pigeons, the former mostly sat 

 on the eg^^ ^luring the day time, and in some cases altogether; 

 while the mnle and female "willy wagtail" took turn and turn 

 about for a few hours each on the nest. Male birds of a bright 

 hue never went jiear the eggs, and that was particularly notice- 

 able with roosters. In the case of scrub turkeys and mallee 

 fowls, the male bird always prepared the mound for the eggs 

 and kept it in order during the whole of the season, and when 

 an egg was laid the cock bird placed the large end, which con- 

 tained the air chamber, up])ermost, before packing leaves around 

 it. A direct result of that was that the young bird could 

 breathe freely and scratch its own way out of the mound, 

 which procedure could not be followed were the egg placed the 

 other way. 



Excursion, 7/8/20. — In the absence of Mr. H. W. Andrew, 

 who was out of town, Mr. E. H. Ising took charge of the party 

 which visited Waterfall Gully. Not many wild flowers were 

 then in bloom, but there were abundant evidences of a coming 

 season. There was a fine volume of water coming over the 

 waterfall, which presented a magnificent sight. 



