26 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



GEELONG NATURE STUDY EXHIBITION. 

 The Nature Study Exhibition held by the Geelong Field 

 Naturalists' Club during Easter week was a decided success. 

 The entries were much more numerous than last year, and the 

 quality of the work, especially in the schools section, showed a 

 marked improvement. 



The opening ceremony was performed on the evening of 

 Thursday, J2th April, by Mr. F. Tate, M.A., I.S.O., Director of 

 Education. Before declaring the exhibition formally opened, Mr. 

 Tate delivered a capital address, showing the benefits the State 

 was likely to gain when its people had undergone an intelligent 

 course in nature study during their school life. 



Several members of the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria gave 

 their services as judges and lecturers, and among the prize-winners 

 Messrs. C. French, jun., and H. B. Williamson were successful 

 in the Botany section, while Messrs. J. S. Kitson, of State school, 

 Redhill, and J. F. Haynes. of State school, Lower Homebush, 

 were the most successful in the schools' exhibits. The juvenile 

 members showed up well with individual exhibits. Frank 

 Watson gained first prize, and W. Reed second, for life-history of 

 the frog. Montaigne O'Dowd was first for the best collection 

 of local rocks and minerals. Miss Bertha Keartland was first 

 for some splendid bird notes in the form of a nature 

 Ktudy diary, and C. Chapman was awaided a certificate for a 

 collection or fossils. Lectures were delivered by Alessrs. T. S. 

 Hall, J. Shephard, G. B. Pritchard, J. A. Leach, and others 

 during the course of the exhibition, and as the Club had 

 purchased a splendid lantern with microscopic attachment, 

 enabling ordinary microscopic preparations to be shown on the 

 screen, these were much appreciated. The attendance of the 

 general public was good, and we understand it has been a 

 financial success. 



Abnormal Formation of Apples. — In the middle of March 

 I received from Mr. Christopher Crisp, of the Bacchus Marsh 

 JExpress, a few abnormal apples, which had been produced under 

 very peculiar circumstances. They grew from the stem of an 

 apple tree underneath the bandage of a graft, and it was rather 

 surprising to find that flowers and apparently fruit could be 

 formed under such conditions. As might be expected, being 

 developed without exposure to light, they were pale and whitish 

 in colour, without the green colourmg matter or chlorophyll 

 which is normally formed. There were apparently two apples, and 

 the larger of the two was about ij^ inches across, while the 

 smaller was about i inch, and flattened vertically by being closely 

 pressed against the other, which was somewhat depressed instead 

 of globose. From the short stub formed under the bandage 

 there grew four slender branches, two of which produced the 



