THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 33 



of marine forms were observed, of which some were taken home 

 alive for more leisured observation. It should perhaps be added 

 that the party consisted of the leader only. 



A. H. S. L. 



NOTE FROM BOTANIC GARDENS. 



An interesting object to visitors to the Melbourne Botanic 

 Gardens who are unfamiliar with the Banana plant, is the Masa 

 ensete ( "Brace's Banana" ), Abyssinia, of which there are several 

 specimens positioned near that portion of the grounds devoted to 

 medicinal plants. The director, Mr. Guilfoyle, had these Musas 

 put out three or four years ago as small plants, and they now 

 vary in height from 10 to 18 ft. The false stems formed by the 

 sheaths of the leaves are in some instances nearly 3 ft. in 

 diameter. The largest of the leaves, which are of a beautiful 

 bright green, and have a thick highly coloured red midrib, on 

 measurement was found to be 12 ft. in length and 3 ft. in width. 

 One of the plants is now flowering. The spike is 4 ft. long, and 

 still indefinitely increasing. The bracts are in the first stage of a 

 rich colour, and as each whorl expands there is exposed to view a 

 new set of floral organs, which ultimately develop into rings of 

 fruit around the spadix. Although one of the hardiest of the 

 genus for ornamental and sub-tropical effects in sheltered posi- 

 tions of groupings, the fruit of this species is said to be very dry 

 and inedible, unlike Musa sapientum, M. cavendishii, and others 

 of the eighteen or more described species and varieties. — F.P. 



Some years ago an effort was made, especially by the Fish 

 Acclimatization Society, Geelong, to stock the streams along 

 this coast with English trout and Californian salmon, and it 

 cannot but be satisfactory, not only to the members of that society 

 but to anglers generally, to learn that the effort has not been 

 fruitless. Lusty specimens of both fish have been seen at 

 various times up and down the streams, and several gentlemen 

 have succeeded in landing nice trout, but the finest seen was a 

 beautifully marked one caught in the Erskine River a few days 

 ago by Mr. W. A. Mountjoy. It measured 19 in. and turned 

 the scale at 2^ lbs. It is questionable, however, whether the 

 fry supplied by the society are not too small and young, and 

 therefore at the mercy of the voracious mountain trout that 

 abound in our creeks and rivers. — Argus, " Notes from Lome." 



The efficacy of inoculation against anthrax, according to M. 

 Pasteur's method, is demonstrated by the fact that 30 sheep 

 inoculated in June, 1888, in New South Wales, have been living 

 ever since without injury to their health in company with anthrax- 

 infected animals. 



