92 



NATURE 



[September 24, 1914 



consider their week of research in Western Aus- 

 tralia has amply repaid them for their long- journey 

 from England. Xo meetings of sections have been 

 held whatever. A number of visitors, chiefly 

 botanists, zoologists, and geologists, arrived early 

 in July in order to spend two, or even three, 

 weeks in the State ending with the official week. 

 The official party arrived by the Ascanius on 

 July 28 and the 1'. and O. mailboat of the same 

 date. 



Hospitality had been previously found for all 

 the visitors, and the Government of Western 

 Australia had provided funds for official excur- 

 sions during the week for the botanists, zoo- 

 logists, and geologists, together with free railway 

 passes over the State railways. 



A very well illustrated handbook had also been 

 printed, and was distributed to the guests on 

 arrival. This handbook is on somewhat different 

 lines from those of the other State handbooks, 

 the articles being chiefly on the sciences repre- 

 sented by the visitors. The various sections in- 

 clude a general introduction by the Hon. W. 

 Kingsmill (chairman of the executive committee 

 in Western Australia) ; agriculture and climate, 

 by W, Catton Grasby ; botany, by C. Andrews 

 and Mrs. C. M. G. Dakin ; geology, by A. Gibb 

 Maitland ; mineralogy and mining, by A. Mont- 

 gomery; and zoology, by Prof. \\'. J. Dakin and 

 W. B. Alexander. 



On the day of arrival of the visitors Sir Harry 

 Barron, the Governor of Western Australia, held 

 a reception at which about 2,500 guests were 

 present. The first British Association evening 

 discourse was given the same evening by Prof. 

 Herdman, the title being " Why we Investigate 

 the Ocean," and was very largely attended. 

 Three other lectures have been given in Perth 

 during the week and one in Kalgoorlie. The 

 subjects of the Perth lectures were, " Stars and 

 their Movements," by Prof. Eddington ; "The 

 Primitive Methods of Making Fire," by Mr. H. 

 Balfour; and "The Electrical Action of the 

 Heart," by Dr. Waller. The Kalgoorlie lecture 

 by Mr. Buckmaster was on mining education in 

 England. 



The excursion parties left Perth on Wednesday 

 morning, the day after arrival, with .the exception 

 of a small party of keen geologists which started 

 away under the leadership of Prof. Woolnough, 

 of the University of Western Australia, on the 

 previous day. 



Prof. W. J. Dakin, one of the local secretaries for 

 the Western Australia meeting, conducted a large 

 party of zoologists to the famous Yallingup and 

 Margaret River caves, situated near the coast in 

 the south-western corner of the State. This ex- 

 pedition, favoured by remarkably fine weather 

 (exceptional for the season of the year), afforded 

 not only a glimpse of the south-west region, where 

 rain is abundant and the vegetation has many 

 peculiar characters, but enabled the zoologists to 

 visit the deposits where such excellent discoveries 

 of fossil giant marsupials have lately been made 

 by the Western Australian museum staff. These 



NO. 2343, VOL. 94] 



investigations have been carried out through the 

 munificence of Sir Winthrop Hackett by Mr. 

 Glauert. The remains include bones of twi> 

 species of diprotodon, the Tasmanian wolf (Thyla- 

 cinus cynocephalus), the Tasmanian devil (Sarco- 

 philus harrisi), a giant Echidna {Zaglossiis 

 hacketti), and a giant kangaroo. Space forbids 

 a description of the cave formations — the caves 

 are water-formed chambers in a soft limestone 

 which is due itself to the action of atmospheric 

 agents on great accumulations of drift sand. The 

 second large zoological excursion was a motor 

 run from Perth to Mundaring Weir. A hunt was 

 made for arthropods, the greatest interest centr- 

 ing, of course, round Peripatus. About seventy- 

 five living specimens of the latter {Peripatoides 

 gilesii) were collected by the party in a few hours. 

 This excursion was also under the leadership of 

 Prof. Dakin. 



The zoologists completed their investigations 

 by a dredging expedition on almost virgin ground, 

 turning up many species new to Western Aus- 

 tralia. 



The botanists were extremely enthusiastic, and 

 well they might be, for Western Australia is with- 

 out doubt the pre-eminent State as a "botanist's 

 paradise." To quote the words of Mr. C. 

 Andrews, who was leader of all the botanical 

 excursions, " Nearly four thousand species have 

 already been described, and of the four thousand 

 species about two-thirds are endemic." 



The botanists commenced work with an excur- 

 sion to the Darling Ranges, which occupied a 

 full day. On the following day a longer excur- 

 sion was made, and the party visited a sand- 

 plain district, making their headquarters at the 

 Benedictine Monastery at New Norcia. The third 

 excursion took the party to the interesting Albany 

 district, where, amongst other plants, the famous 

 Cephalotus (the Western Australian pitcher plant) 

 lives. The most interesting plant collected here 

 was Phylloglossum, but very large collections of 

 the Proteacece and other characteristic plants 

 were made. 



The geologists had a most strenuous week, 

 especially since some of them had put in a hard 

 week immediately before, for the two official ex- 

 cursions covered a fortnight altogether. The first 

 visitors left Perth .for Mingenew (two hundred 

 miles north), and spent three days travelling 

 through the Irwin River Valley and examining 

 the Permo-Carboniferous Glacial beds. Marine 

 beds, and Coal Measures. Two more days were 

 employed in excursions in the vicinity of Perth, 

 and the visitors left for Albany on Monday night 

 (July 27). On the following day the geologists 

 of the main Western Australia party arrived and 

 proceeded to Mount Barker (three hundred miles 

 south), meeting the others at that place. The 

 whole party, under the guidance of Mr. H. P. 

 Woodward, acting Government geologist, 

 motored to the remarkable quartzite mountains 

 of the Stirling Range. The last few days were 

 spent in and about the goldfields. 



In completing an account of the week in 



