January 29, 1920] 



NATURE 



587 



on Acacias. No. iv. With descriptions of new 

 species. The author describes seventeen new species 

 of Acacia or wattle, together with three new varieties. 

 The present are chiefly natives of New South Wales 

 and Queensland, and also of Western Australia; some 

 promise to be of economic importance. This revision 

 of the species will, it is hoped, enable the author 

 later on to offer a modified classification of the whole 

 of the Australian wattles. — C. A. Sussmilch and Prof. 

 T. W. Edgeworth David : Sequence and correlation of 

 the Permo-Carboniferous and Carboniferous rocks of 

 New South Wales. Part i. The Carboniferous forma, 

 tion of the Hunter River Valley. The Carboniferous 

 strata of the Hunter River Valley, N.S.W., are 

 divisible into a lower and an upper series, the 

 former deposited under marine, the latter under 

 terrestrial, conditions. The Lower Carboniferous 

 strata consist of marine mudstones, limestones, con- 

 glomerates, and tuffs, and contain an abundant and 

 typical marine fauna ; they also contain some fossil 

 plants (drift vegetation), of which the genus Lepido- 

 dendron is the most characteristic. No angular un- 

 conformity exists between the Lower and Upper Car- 

 boniferous formations, the passag'e from one to the 

 other being marked by an extraordinary development 

 of conglomerates from looo ft. to 2000 ft. thick; above 

 these conglomerates there occurs a very thick series 

 of volcanic rock (lava-flows and tuffs), with which are 

 inter-stratified conglomerates and shales, the latter 

 containing fossil plants (the Rhacoptens flora). — 

 W. .\. W. de Beuzeville : Determination of the incre- 

 ment of trees bv stem analysis : Eucalyptus rnminalis. 

 The calculations show that the tree increases in height 

 rapidly until about thirtv years old, averaging 2-8 ft. 

 per annum. This rate gradually diminishes, dropping 

 to 1-6 ft. mean annual increase when sixty-six years 

 old. The diameter increase likewise is greater during 

 youth, but is fairlv evenly maintained during the 

 whole period, ranging from 037 in. to 03 in. per 

 annum. The mean annual volume increment, which 

 was 01 cub. ft. at ten years, shows a steady improve- 

 ment, reaching 1-13 cub. ft. at sixty-six years of age. 



Linnean Society of New South Wales, November 26, 

 1919. — Mr. J. J. Fletcher, president, in the chair. — 

 G. L Playfair : Peridineae of New South Wales. Of 

 a total of sixteen species and twenty-three varieties 

 described or recorded, three species and eighteen varie- 

 ties are described as new. The material dealt with is 

 mainly from the Sydney and Lismore districts, and, in 

 addition, a few examples are from the Brisbane dis- 

 trict. — C. T. White : A revised account of the Queens- 

 land LeCythidaceae. A revision of the material be- 

 longing to the genera Barringtonia and Careya in the 

 Queensland Herbarium. The following species are 

 retained : Barringtonia speciosa, Forst., B. calyptraia, 

 R.Br., B. longiracemosa, n.sp., B. sp. (possibly 

 longiracemosa), and Careya australis, whilst two 

 species, B. racemosa and B. acutangula, are excluded. 

 — M. Aurousseau : An interesting form of sub-surface 

 drainage. The lines of sub-surface drainage described 

 consist either of series of small holes up to a foot in 

 diameter and 3 ft. in depth, spaced irregularly along 

 definite lines, or partly of series of holes and partly 

 of lengths of trench-like depressions terminating in a 

 tunnel at either end. The formation of these is be- 

 lieved to be due, not to any peculiarity of the soil, but 

 to the climate of the region which is characterised by 

 marked seasonal rainfall. The possibilitv is suggested 

 that this sub-surface drainage mav be a factor in the 

 intake of the coastal artesian basin of Western Aus- 

 tralia. — J. Mitchell : .Some additional Trilobltes from 

 N.S.W. Four new species are described, one (Trinu- 

 cleus Clarkei) from rocks of Ordovician age, the other 



three (Ceratocephala fhalaenocephaia, Odontopleura 

 Hartleii, and Cyphaspis Filmeri) from Upper Silurian 

 rocks. — Dr. R. J. Tillyard : Mesozoic insects of Queens- 

 land. No. 7. Hemiptera homoptera, with a note on 

 the phylogeny of the order. Twenty-three sf>ecimens 

 of homopterous tegmina from the Upper Trias of 

 Ipswich are dealt with in this paper; one of these, 

 Mesojassus ipsviciensis , Till., had been previously 

 described. The results show that the Ipswich fauna 

 contains as its dominant element the Upper Permian 

 family Scytinopteridae, of which seven species, placed 

 in six new genera, are described. — E. W. Ferguson 

 and Marguerite Henry : Tabanidae from Camden 

 Haven District, N.S.W. With descriptions of 

 new species. The species described were col- 

 lected during the course of investigations as to the 

 means of transmission of Onchocerca Gibsoni ^ in 

 cattle, special attention being paid to the Tabanidae 

 as possible vectors of the larvae. Of the forty-one 

 species described or recorded, ten are proposed as new. 

 The seasonal distribution of the species is indicated by 

 a table. 



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NO. 2622, VOL. 104] 



