176 



NATURE 



[December 3, 1914 



treat a tuberculous patient with greatest advantage, 

 and that even he can do little without the hearty 

 co-operation of his patient. 



Many interesting questions are raised by Dr. Hins- 

 dale; he gives numerous excellent and interesting 

 illustrations of shelters, of institutions, of methods of 

 treatment, of the results of heliotherapy and immo- 

 bilisation in plaster; he delineates patients before 

 treatment, patients during treatment, in plaster 

 jackets and in sun baths, and patients after treatment, 

 and altogether makes us feel that the publication is 

 what it pretends to be, a collection of data that will 

 interest those engaged in the treatment of tubercular 

 patients. With all this it is a constant matter for 

 regret that the author has not put a little more of 

 himself into his work. For what it is, however, we 

 are grateful, and it may be anticipated that it will be 

 very widely consulted. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION IN 

 TASMANIA. 



THE Tasmanian contingent of the British Associa- 

 tion left Melbourne by the s.s. Loongana on 

 Saturday, September 5, at 10.30 p.m., and arrived at 

 Launceston about 5 p.m. on the following day. The 

 party numbered twenty-one. Owing to an unfortun- 

 ate dislocation in the boat service it was impossible 

 to carry out the Launceston portion of the original 

 programme, although time was found to visit the 

 Launceston Museum on Sunday evening, under the 

 guidance of the curator, Mr. H. H. Scott, to whose 

 zeal and energy this excellent little museum owes so 

 much. On the following day there was just time for 

 a brief visit to the beautiful Cataract Gorge before 

 leaving by rail for Hobart. Tuesday, September 8, 

 was occupied by receptions at the Hobart Town Hall, 

 the museum, and the university, and a luncheon at 

 Government House, and in the evening Dr. G. T. 

 Moody gave a lecture on some commercial aspects of 

 education. Wednesday, September 9, was devoted to 

 a motor excursion to Mount Wellington, the party 

 being entertained at lunch at the Springs Hotel by 

 the Hon. Henry Dobson, who has done so much to 

 open up Mount Wellington as a tourist resort. Some 

 of the party proceeded on foot from the Springs to 

 the summit, while others devoted themselves to the 

 collection of natural history specimens, including the 

 remarkable "mountain shrimp," Anaspides tasmaniae, 

 so characteristic of the mountain streams of the 

 island. 



On Thursday, September 10, the party divided for 

 several excursions in the neighbourhood of Hobart, 

 including a dredging trip to the D 'Entrecasteaux 

 Channel, which resulted in the collection of much 

 interesting material. On the following day they left 

 for Maria Island, on the east coast, proceeding by 

 motor as far as Spring Bay, whence the crossing to 

 the island was made by motor boat. Maria Island is 

 celebrated as the scene of a former convict settle- 

 ment, and afterwards of various industrial experi- 

 ments of the "wild-cat" type, in which much capital 

 appears to have been sunk. The limestone rocks, of 

 Permo-Carboniferous age, are crowded with fossils, 

 which may be collected in unlimited quantity both in 

 the " Fossil Cliff " on the shore and in an extensive 

 quarry excavated to supply the now defunct cement 

 works. Perhaps the most conspicuous of the fossils 

 in the cliff is the large bivalve Eurydesma, but numer- 

 ous others occur in profusion. A dredging trip in the 

 neighbourhood of the island, in about 20 to 25 fathoms 

 of water, yielded an enormous profusion of sponges 

 in great variety, including some very remarkable and 

 novel Calcarea. On the island itself numerous land 

 planarians were collected, and the botanists were de- 



NO. 2353, VOL. 94] 



lighted to find the curious Tmesipteris growing upon 

 tree-ferns. 



The party left Maria Island early on Sunday, 

 September 13, and after crossing to Spring Bay 

 visited the kitchen middens at Little Swan Port. 

 These were found to consist almost entirely of im- 

 mense quantities of oyster-shells, forming a deposit 

 several teet in thickness, and extending over a good 

 many acres. The curiously rough chipped "flints," 

 so characteristic of the Tasmanian aborigines, were 

 found here in abundance. After lunch at Spring Bay 

 the party motored back to Hobart through very beau- 

 tiful scenery. This concluded the main part of the 

 programme, but the zoological visitors remained by 

 special invitation to take part in a collecting expedi- 

 tion to the Great Lake. Before leaving Hobart on 

 this trip Prof. Dendy gave an address to the Royal 

 Society of Tasmania on progressive evolution, and 

 Dr. W. M. Tattersall delivered a public lecture on 

 the depths of the sea. A visit was also paid to Mrs. 

 Roberts in H'>bart, whose collection of living Tas- 

 manian and other animals excited much interest, two 

 "native devils" (Sarcophilus) with young ones being 

 particularly admired. 



The party for the Great Lake started from Hobart 

 on the morning of September 16 in three motor cars, 

 and reached their destination the same evening. It 

 had been hoped that they would be able to obtain a 

 good deal of marsupial and monotreme material for 

 the committee appointed by the council of the British 

 Association for that purpose, but these hopes were 

 only very scantily fulfilled. No monotremes were 

 seen, though tracks and burrows of Ornithorhynchus 

 were found on the shore of the lake, and only 

 a very few wallabies and rat kangaroos were ob- 

 tained to represent the marsupials. The invertebrate 

 fauna of the neighbourhood, however, yielded a large 

 number of extremely interesting specimens. The 

 shrimp-like Paranaspides was obtained in quantities 

 by dredging in the lake, and under the stones along 

 •the shore were found Phreatoicus, numerous fresh- 

 water planarians (one of remarkably large size), etc. 



The forest around the lake has unfortunately been 

 ravaged by fire, but laborious turning over of the 

 fallen timber yielded many most interesting crj'ptozoic 

 animals, including the land nemertine {Geonemertes 

 australiensis), which was fairly common, a number 

 of species of land planarians, and several specimens of 

 the rare Tasmanian Peripatus {Ooperipatus insignis). 

 The visitors returned to Hobart on September 22, and 

 some of them left Launceston for Melbourne by the 

 s.s. Rotomahana on the following day. 



In every respect the Tasmanian visit must be re- 

 garded as a very great success. The thanks of the 

 visiting members are due to all who contributed so 

 generously to this result, and especiallv to his Excel- 

 lency the Governor of Tasmania (Sir W. Ellison- 

 Macartney) and Lady Ellison-Macartney, to the 

 Premier and other members of the Government, to 

 local scientific men, such as Mr. R. M. Johnston, 

 Mr. Rodway and Mr. May, and, above all, to Prof. 

 T. Thomson Flynn, the able and energetic organiser 

 of the visit. A. D. 



AUSTRALIA AND THE BRITISH 

 ASSOCIATION.^ 



IT is just one hundred and forty-four years since 

 the first scientific expedition from Great Britain 

 to Australia visited Moreton Bay. The expedition con- 

 sisted of his Majesty's barque Endeavour, a vessel 

 which had been built for the coal trade and 

 was chosen because she was an excellent Sea- 



1 Concluding discourse dc-livered before the British Association at 

 Brisbane on August 31 by Sir Edward Schiifer, F.R.S. 



