317 



(about 7 inches) long and 33 millimetres (about 1^ inches) 

 in diameter. The wall of the tube was about I'd to 2 milli- 

 metres in thickness, and was composed of fused sand, smooth- 

 ed and glazed on the inner surface, rough like sandpaper 

 outside, and longitudinally folded in about seven nodose 

 corrugations. It was very brittle. This fulgurite was given 

 to Dr. Verco by Mr. Whitton, of Warrina, near Oodnadatta, 

 who supplied the following particulars : — At the end of No- 

 vember, 1902, a severe thunderstorm, passed over the dis- 

 trict, and a tremendous explosive report was heard, attend- 

 ed by a marked vibration of the ground. The next day a 

 black boy found, about three-quarters of a mile from the 

 station, a stunted mulga-tree, one of whose branches was 

 split and charred, and immediately below was a depression 

 in the sand. Groping in this he found a piece of sand tube, 

 and took it to the station. Mr. Whitton visited the spot 

 and followed the tube down for about 12 feet, beyond which 

 he could not go, because the sand rolled in as fast as he 

 threw it out. The tube stood in alm.ost a vertical position, 

 and varied but little in diameter and in the thickness of 

 its walls. These curious tubes, produced by lightning, are 

 not uncommon in New South Wales, and are found, Mr. 

 Mawson stated, in the high peaks of Mexico and in the 

 Pacific islands, and on Mount Ararat they have been found 

 to penetrate the Andesite rocks. Mr. A. H. C. Zietz, F.L.S., 

 Assistant-Director of the Museum, showed bones of kangaroos 

 and the extinct ''pouched lion'' (Thylacoleo camifex), found 

 by Mr. Zietz and his son at Salt Creek, Normanville. The 

 kangaroo bones were very clearly marked by the sharp-cut- 

 ting teeth of the marsupial "lion." Mr. Zietz also exhibited 

 varieties of goldfish (Carassius auratus). These . fish vary 

 much in size, colour, and general appearance. Specimens 

 have been obtained from the Murray and Torrens Rivers 

 over a pound each in weight. The dark variety is numerous 

 in both rivers. Those received in the Museum lately were 

 killed by the influx of saltwater into the Murray. About a 

 dozen varieties have been described. 



Papers. — ''A New Species of Microtis" f^[. orhicularis^ 

 nov. sp.), by R. S. Rogers, M.A., M.D. "Notes on South 

 Australian Marine Mollusca, with Descriptions of New 

 Species," Part v., by J. C. Verco, M.D., F.R.C.S. ''Mineral 

 Notes," by Douglas Mawson. B.E., E.Sc. "New Australian 

 Lepidoptera." by Oswald B. Loaver, F.E.S. "A Compari- 

 son of the Various Types of Electric Radiation," bv Profes- 

 sor W. H. Bragg, M.A., F.R.S. 



Professor E. H. Rennie, D.Sc, and The President re- 

 ferred to Professor Bragg's scientific investigation of radiant 



