Dec, 1906.] THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 151 



discoveries in this department of science would have been no less 

 remarkable than in that of botany, while there can be no doubt 

 that if Priestley and his immediate successors had only preceded 

 Grew instead of following him, the chemical physiology of the 

 latter would have attained the same standard of excellence as his 

 other work. However that may be, what remains is sufficient to 

 give to Grew the honour of being one of the foremost, if not the 

 foremost, founder of experimental and deductive plant physiology, 

 and his researches form the definite point of departure from the 

 more philosophical and speculative methods of former times. 



Grew, it may be mentioned, was secretary to the Royal Society 

 of London when Malpighi's classical work was submitted to the 

 society. This naturally caused him to publish a full account of 

 his own work, parts of which had been published some time 

 before Malpighi's work was received. Few copies of Grew's 

 work are in existence. The extracts in the foregoing paper were 

 made from the copy in the Botanical Library of the Oxford 

 University Gardens. So far as I am aware no copy exists in 

 Australia. The special merit of Grew's physiological work lies in 

 its striking originality. 



Note on the " Common Sole " of Victoria. — In a recent 

 paper (Rec. Austr. Mus., vi. (1906), 3, p. 198) Mr. E. R. Waite 

 assigns to this fish the name of Peltorhamphus bassensis, Castlenau. 

 This is rather a step backward. Ogilby (Cat. Fishes N.S.W. 

 (1886), p. 49) pointed out as far back as 1886 that Castelnau's 

 Rhombosolea bassensis was to be identified with Kner's (Voy. 

 Novara, Fische, p. 286) Ammotretis rostratus, var. adspersus — a 

 determination which, in my opinion, was undoubtedly correct. In 

 any case there would not appear any justification for placing this 

 species in the genus Feltorhamphus, from the single species of 

 which it differs in a very marked degree. Ammotretis rostratus, 

 Gunther, has a fairly wide distribution, being found along the 

 coasts of New South Wales (where it is known as " Long-snouted 

 Flounder "), Victoria, Tasmania, and New Zealand. In Victoria 

 and Tasmania it is usually termed " Sole," a name applied in 

 New South Wales to Synaptura nigra, Macleay. In colour the 

 species is exceedingly variable, being modified to agree with its 

 surroundings. — David G. Stead, Department of Fisheries, New 

 South Wales. 



Victorian Year-Book for 1905. — An article contributed 

 by Mr. A. E. Kitson, F.G.S,, to part ix., Production, of the 

 Victorian Year-Book for 1905, entitled " The Economic Minerals 

 and Rocks of Victoria," has been reprinted as a special report 

 (price 6d.) by the Department of Mines. In some 19 pages Mr. 

 Kitson briefly deals with the various minerals which have been 

 found in Victoria, giving their mode of occurrence and the 



