THE VICTOltlAN SATl'RALlST 



a. 



FIELD NATURALISTS' CLUB OF VICTORIA. 



KOYAL SOCIETV & HALL. 



The February meeting of tliis club was held on Monday, llth Feb., 



and was presided over by Mr. Watts, one of the vice-presidents. 



There was a large attendance of members. Two new members, viz., 



Messrs. Clarence Hicks and P. Cecchi were elected, and several 



names were submitted for membership. A letter was read from the 



Dandenong Horticultural Society, thanking the club for the valuable 



assistance rendered by it to the Society's first Spring Show. 



Mr. F. Gr. A. Barnard read " Some Notes of a Trip to Dande- 

 nong Ranges," in which he described the principal Plants and 

 Insects he met with whilst collecting there in November. Dr. 

 T. P. Lucas concluded his " Experiences of an Old Net," and in 

 doing so, mentioned that during the last five years he had collected 

 nearly 1000 species of Lepidoptera. A description of the 

 E-anunculaceee of the Grrampians, by Mr. D. Sullivan, of Moyston, 

 was also read. Mr. Sullivan has been a frequent contributor to 

 the Club, both of papers and specimens, and in the present 

 instance he also made a donation of the specimens, so that the 

 club's herbarium, so far at least as the botany of the Grrampians 

 is concerned, is becoming a valuable one. The exhibits were 

 numerous and good. Dr. Ralph showed under the microscope 

 the cheiViical action of ammonium molybdate on vegetable crlls, 

 and bis remarks as to the cause of this action gave rise to con- 

 siderable discussion. Dr. T. P. Lucas showed six species of eggs 

 of Victorian Cuckoos, two of them being hitherto undescribed ; 

 A Coles, a lizard and ten youug ones taken from it, ovary with 

 twelve eggs from Platypus, and also the mammary glands of a 

 Platypus ; H. Watts, odontophores of mollusca from shores of 

 Hobson's Bay; Colonel T, B. llutton, coleoptera collected from 

 some carrot flow^ers in his garden at Dandenong ; C, French, a 

 new Buprestis beetle, Sternocera Boucardi from mountains of 

 West Africa ; P. Dattari, diagram showing the development of 

 second section of coleoptera; J. F Bailey, three new species of 

 land shells of the genus Hells from Dandenong district; J. H. 

 Gatliff, three shells, viz., Myadora brevis, from iandridge, M- 

 striata from New Zealand, and Chamostrea albida, from Flinders ; 

 A. 0. Sayce, Fossil leaf impressions from the Mesozoic coal 

 measures near Hobart ; T. A. F Leith, Chinese or King Quail 

 (Coturnix regius), and pair of Java finches, white variety 



l»t<4. 



