168 • THE VICTORIAK NATURALIST. 



Mr. D. M'Alpine, F.C.S., drew attention to a paragraph in a 

 recent number of Nature, urging the attention of botanists to 

 the closer study of the life histories of the common plants 

 around them. 



Professor Spencer read some particulars of an interesting 

 fossil — a portion of the cranium of a Physeter — recently found 

 by Mr. S. H. Wintle, F.L.S., at Cheltenham. 



The follov/ing were the principal exhibits of the evening: — 

 By Mr. F. G. A. Barnard, coleoptera and other insects collected 

 at Berwick, Narre Worran, Bundoora, aud Kew during Decem- 

 ber ; also a specimen of turf-plate, a German substitute for cork 

 for entomologists. By Mr. D. Best, coleoptera taken at Bun- 

 doora excursion. By Mr. A. J. Campbell, eggs of spotted emu 

 {Dro?naius irroratus), white-winged butcher-bird {Craciicus 

 leucopt.rus), and Australian dottrel {Eudi'omius Australis), all from 

 Western Australia ; also descriptions of eggs of the long- 

 legged tern {Sterna anglicd). By Mr. C. French, jun., eggs of 

 black-throated grebe, hoary-headed grebe, Australian tippet 

 grebe, little cormorant, and spotted bower-bird. By Mr. F. R. 

 Godfrey, the long-legged tern {Sterna anglica) and eggs, the 

 marsh tern {Hydrochelidon hybrida), and the Australian pratincole 

 {Glareola gallana^, from Pevensey, near Hay, New South 

 Wales. By Mr. W. R. Guilfoyle, F.L.S., flowers of seven 

 varieties of Eucalyptus ficifolia (F. v. M.), the scarlet-flowered 

 gum of Western Australia, grown at the Botanical Gardens. By 

 Mr. W. Hatton, silver ore from Broken Hill, N.S.W., and from 

 Penguin River, Tasmania ; also tin ore from Mount Bischoflf, 

 Tasmania. By Mr. E. H. Hennell, beetles, etc., taken at 

 Bundoora excursion. By Mr. H. W. Hunt, eggs, in illustration 

 of paper. By Mr. D. Le Souef, mounted specimens of an albino 

 laughing jackass ( Dacelo gigasj and an albino brindle nail- 

 tailed kangaroo (Onychogalea frcE^iata), from Queensland. By 

 Baron von Mueller, K.C.M.G., specimen of Wahlenhergia gracilis 

 (blue-bell), with double flowers, from East Gippsland. By Mr. 

 G. Renner, mineralogical specimens from Richmond quarries, 

 etc. By Mr. J. Seale, 200 specimens of coleoptera, etc., taken 

 at Bundoora excursion. By Mr. Percy Scott, a live specimen of 

 a rare lizard, the broad-banded cyclodus (Cyclodus occipitalis), 

 from the Wimmera district. By Prof. Spencer, geological speci- 

 mens, etc., forwarded by Mr. S. H. Wintle, F.L.S., comprising 

 portion of cranium of Physeter, from Cheltenham ; examples of 

 Phyllograpsus and Didyviograpsus, and a small portion of a 

 doleritic basalt boulder, weighing half a hundred-weight, found 

 in centre of coal seam, I\Ioe Company's mine, one side of 

 which was planed ; fossil fruit from coal measures, Ipswich, 

 Queensland. By Mr. H. T. Tisdall, F.L.S., specimens of 

 fungi, in illustration of paper. 



After the usual conversazione, the meeting terminated. 



