94 THfe VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



the reasons for smooth or hairy leaves, climbing or trailing stems, 

 conspicuous or inconspicuous flowers, and so on, nearly every 

 page presenting some suggestion to the reader which he can 

 apply to the plants around him. Even such a point as the 

 development of seedlings receives close attention, but space will 

 not allow a complete statement of its many points of excellence, 

 and it only remains to say that the volume is so entrancing that 

 one longs to be transported to New Zealand to wander about 

 and study at leisure its remarkable forms of plant life. Thus, to 

 a lover of nature visiting that country, were it not for its weight, 

 it would be indispensable as a travelling companion. Finally, its 

 publication marks a distinct advance in Australasian botanical 

 literature. 



Memoirs of the National Museum, Melbourne. — The 

 first part has been issued of a new publication, under the title of 

 " Memoirs of the National Museum, Melbourne," which is 

 intended to be published from time to time as occasion requires. 

 The part under notice is devoted to a memoir entitled " On a 

 Carboniferous Fish Fauna from the Mansfield District, Victoria," by 

 Dr. Arthur Smith Woodward, F.R.S., keeper of the Department of 

 Geology in the British Museum. The specimens described were 

 obtained in 1888 by Mr. Geo. Sweet, F.G.S., at the instance of 

 of the late Prof. Sir F. M'Coy, who had plates drawn and printed 

 off illustrating the collection, but at the time of his death no 

 letterpress existed referring to them beyond a brief notice 

 published in the " Annual Report of the Secretary for Mines, 

 Victoria," for 1889. Under the circumstances Dr. Woodward was 

 asked if he would describe the specimens, at the same time 

 making use of the plates already prepared. This he has done, 

 and while giving Prof. M'Coy credit for his great skill in the 

 selection of types for illustration, points out that his preliminary 

 deterniinations are to some extent erroneous, and that the 

 remains, instead of being of Devonian character, are essentially 

 Carboniferous. Six genera are represented in the collection and 

 eleven plates, some of double size, are devoted to their illustra- 

 tion. 



The Victorian Year-Book, 1904. — An additional feature in 

 the Annual Year-Book recently issued by the Government Statist 

 of Victoria is the inclusion of articles on " The Physical 

 Geography, Geology, and Fauna of Victoria," by Mr. T. S. Hall, 

 M.A., and on "The Flora of Victoria," by Mr. G. Weindorfer. 

 In the former, which occupies about eleven pages, Mr. Hall, 

 after a brief glance at the physical features of the State, devotes 

 considerable space to a more detailed review of the various 

 geological formations, with the more prominent associated fossils 

 and minerals. In dealing with the fauna, the principal mammals 



