262 



THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 



^\liich the}' can be extracted only with 

 (hfficulty. To phmge one's hand into 

 a mass of these, as hapjiened to one of 

 lis, is therefore a serious matter, resulting 

 in severe inflannnation and poisoning 

 for a long ])eriod aftei'\\ards. Reef eels 

 live among the coral, ready to sna]i at 

 an offending hand thrust near them, 

 and octopi with their nasty suckers, 

 while thoughts of sharks sometimes 

 tiash through one's mind when swim- 

 jning in deeper water. 



With our dinghy laden, sometimes 

 so heavily that some of the party had to 

 swim ashore, we carried our gatherings 

 to the beach. Here the corals A\ere 

 bleached by the simple process of 



burying them in the sand between tide 

 levels. A few days sufificed to kill 

 the polyps and macerate the animal 

 matter, leaving their skeletons more 

 or less clean and white Fragile and 

 special specimens were boiled in a tub 

 A\ith soda, which speedily removed the 

 slime and left them snowy white. Sam- 

 ples of each were then recoloured with 

 oil paints from living specimens on the 

 reef, while many coloured sketches of 

 fishes and other animals were pre])ared 

 from living specimens to ensure ac- 

 curacy in the reconstructed exhibit. 



The construction of the exhibit is the 

 A\ork of Messrs. G. C Glutton and J. 

 Kingsley of the museum staff. 



71ip Mammals of tiouth Australia, 

 Part I., containing the Monotre tries 

 and the Carnivorous Marsupials. 

 By Frederick Wood Jones, D.Sc. 

 {Handbooks of the Flora and Fauna 

 of South Australia), issued by the 

 British Science Guild (South Aus- 

 tralian Branch), Adelaide, Govern- 

 ment Printer, 1923 ; ]irice four 

 shillings. 



Although this work })rofessedly deals 

 with the mammals of South Australia 

 only, it is a fine contribution to Aus- 

 tralian mammalogy, and will be of the 

 greatest value to zoologists in general. 

 The gifted author has dealt with his 

 subject in a thoroughly scientific man- 

 ner, and the treatment is so fresh and 

 original that one retui'ns to the work 

 again and again and always with re- 

 newed delight ; the non-scientific reader 

 too, will be able to peruse it with pleas- 

 ure and profit. 



The handbook is divided into a 

 general part, wherein, after defining a 

 mammal, a restrained and readable 

 account is given of external features, 

 some anatomical details and the classi- 

 fication of mammals, followed by a 

 section dealing with some special 

 problems connected with the mam- 



malian fauna of Australia. Then comes 

 a special part dealing with the Mono- 

 tremes and Marsupials respectively, des- 

 cribing the various genera and species 

 in detail. A useful feature is the 

 series of simple keys by which the 

 genera and species may be identified. 

 Perhaps the most interesting sections 

 are those in which are discussed the 

 distribution and part history of the 

 Marsupials (which the author prefers 

 to call Diclelphia), their place in the 

 mammalian world, and their classi- 

 fication. Professor Wood Jones will 

 probably find that not all zoologists 

 will agree with him at all points. He 

 favours the view that the marsupials 

 entered Australia from the north by 

 way of the Malayan chain, rather than 

 from the south by way of the An- 

 tarctic continent, which latter is the 

 view preferred l)y many. Again his 

 classification of the marsupials by their 

 foot structure into Syndactyla and 

 Didactyla, rather than by their dentition 

 into l)i]irotodonts and Polyprotodonts, 

 will not meet with acceptance from 

 everyone. The author has certainly 

 made out a very strong case, which can 

 be demolished only l)y very sound 

 arguments. 



