28 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



A New Victorian Butterfly. — In the " Proceedings of the 

 Linnean Society of New South Wales," second series, vol. iv., 

 part 4, page 1,065, just issued, Dr. T. P. Lucas, a former member 

 of the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, describes a number of 

 new Australian Lepidoptera, among which is Heteronwipha affinis, 

 Luc, closely allied to H. banksii. Localities, Brisbane and 

 Gippsland. 



Australian Lepidoptera. — The Trustees of the Australian 

 Museum, Sydney, announce the publication, in parts, of a work 

 on " Australian Lepidoptera and their Transformations," by the 

 late Alex. Walker Scott, with illustrations drawn from the life by 

 his daughters, Harriet Morgan and Helena Forde. The manu- 

 scripts and drawings of the late Mr. A. W. Scott, relating to the 

 life-histories of many of the Australian Lepidoptera, having 

 passed into the possession of the Museum, it has been decided 

 to continue the publication (of which three parts, containing nine 

 coloured plates, were published bv Van Voorst, in London, in 

 1864), which will be edited and revised by Mr. A. S. Olliff, F.E.S. ; 

 and Mrs. Helena Forde, in parts, each containing three foolscap 

 (17 x 13^) plates, coloured by hand. The publication will 

 commence with part 1 of vol. ii. (price, fifteen shillings), and 

 only those species of which the transformations were known to 

 Mr. Scott will be figured. A reissue of the three earlier parts, 

 forming vol. i., will shortly be available for purchase. 



We are very glad to congratulate Mr. D. M'Alpine upon his 

 appointment as Consulting Mycologist to the Victorian Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. We have confidence that the Rust and 

 similar rural troubles will now be dealt with in a scientific manner. 

 With Mr. French to watch the insects, and Mr. MAlpine to look 

 after the fungi, our farmers' pests should have a rough time of it. 

 Such appointments are evidence of a more enlightened administra- 

 tion, which we very cordially welcome. 



Professor M'Coy has issued the twentieth of the Decades of 

 Victorian Zoology, thus completing the second volume. The 

 present Decade contains plates and descriptions of two of our 

 common lizards — Hi?iulia whii'ei and H. quoyi ; of three more 

 fishes — the brilliantly-coloured Dragonet, Calliovymus calauropo- 

 mus, the Common Red Gurnet, Neosebastes scorpcefioides, and a new 

 species of Trachinops, which appeared suddenly in large numbers 

 in Port Phillip in 1884 ; of more of Dr. Macgillivray's Polyzoa ; 

 of the two butterflies, Pyrantels kershaivi and P. itea, and the 

 handsome moth, Chelepteryx collesi ; of the crab-lobster, Ibaciis 

 peronii ; and of three of our commonest starfish, Asterina cr/car, 

 A. gunnii, and Tosia aurata. A goodly number, and the plates 

 are excellent. 



