48 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



curious snake-like lizards, of which the English blind-worm 

 is a familiar example, and which, though on the whole more 

 closely related to the lizards, go a long way towards bridging over 

 the gap between the lizards and the snakes. Professor Spencer 

 has completed his " Monograph on the Giant Gippsland Earth- 

 worm," published by the Royal Society of Victoria as part i 

 of its " Transactions." It has been received with warm praise, 

 and even with a touch of envy, by the English reviewers. Mr. 

 Dendy has published an account of a new and singular genus of 

 polyzoa, in which the polypes incrust themselves with aggregations 

 of small particles of sand, and of which two species have already 

 been found in Port Phillip. He has also continued his work on 

 the " Sponges," contributing papers, both systematic and histo- 

 logical, to the Royal Society of Victoria, the " Annals and Maga- 

 zine of Natural History," and to the Q.J. M.S. Results of Dr. 

 Macgillivray's work on the polyzoa appear in the " Prodromus 

 of Zoology ;" and of Mr. Bale's on the hydroida, in the " Pro- 

 ceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales." The work 

 of the Port Phillip Biological Survey by the Royal Society has 

 been continued, and reports have been received from specialists 

 on the Crinoids, the Mollusca, and the fish of Port Phillip. 

 Mr. Bracebridge Wilson has devoted his summer, as usual, to 

 work on the marine fauna of the deeper waters of the bay, and 

 we may look for fresh results without fear of disappointment. 



I have been favoured by a statement of botanical progress in 

 the following letter from the Baron von Mueller : — 



1st May, 1889. 

 In accordance with your wishes, dear Mr. Lucas, I beg to explain that an 

 " Atlas of Australian SalsolaceEe" is under progress in my department, by the 

 aid of Mr. G. Luehmann, the drawings and lithography by Mr. R. Graff. The 

 object is, to enable pastoralists to ascertain with ease and exactitude the scientific 

 names and characteristics of the rather more than one hundred species of 

 Australian salsolacese mostly peculiar to this part of the world. It can be 

 easily foreseen that methodic re-dissemination will have to be resorted to 

 on the runs, to keep up the growth of the most nutritious of these salt-bushes 

 for the herds and flocks, irrespective of the desirability to raise, as new for any 

 suitable locality, such of these salsolaceas as do not originally exist there. The 

 volume will contain about a hundred plates, will be in conformity with those of 

 the " Myoporinse " and " Acacise," and will likely be finished by the end of this 

 year. I hope, also, to resume, as a bye work, the elaboration of the Papuan 

 plants, and am further eager to finish early, also, the twelfth volume of the 

 "Fragmenta." The supply of the "Census of Australian Plants" being 

 exhausted, a new edition, comprising all supplements, also, since 1882, can, I 

 trust, be early brought out, and in a slightly extended form. That the " Key 

 I." and the seventh (enlarged) edition of the " Select Plants" did appear since 

 your last address you will be aware. — Regardfully yours, 



FERD. VON MUELLER. 



In Palseontology there is also something to report. Some of 

 our Victorian caves have been opened up, the stalagmitic floor 

 removed, and the bones found beneath preserved. We shall 



