THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 55 



absolutely peculiar to the Devonian and Silurian periods, and 

 hitherto found no higher than the Lower Old Red Sandstone of 

 England, in which the type is common. The Mansfield species 

 has very nearly the form and size and internal structure of 

 Scaphaspis lloydi ; but more specimens are desired, and the 

 name Pteraspis- (? ) mansfieldensis (M'Coy) is only provisionally 

 given. 



Besides the foregoing there are large, probably rhizodont teeth, 

 but the internal structure of which has not yet been ascertained ; 

 also, some large, undetermined bones, with distinct bone cor- 

 puscles, or lacunae. Professor M'Coy concludes by saying that 

 the mixture of Lower Devonian, Upper Devonian, and types 

 related to some of the Calciferous Sandstone series, at the base of 

 the carboniferous system, is of great interest, and should be 

 illustrated by further collections at Broken River and the over- 

 lying conglomerates to the south, to fix the base of the true 

 Carboniferous series in Victoria. 



F. G. A. B. 



A GROWL. 



To the Editor of the Naturalist. 



Dear Sir, — Reviewing the " Programme of Excursions" for 

 last year, one finds that of 18 outings the following were the 

 objects, namely : — Botany, 7 ; entomology, 3 ; botany and ento- 

 mology, 4; marine zoology, 3; and ornithology, 1. May I ask 

 why botany and entomology should have the monopoly (777 per 

 cent.) whilst ornithology is the solitary exception. 



Of ornithology, Alfred Newton, M.A., F.R.S., F.L.S., Ac, 

 Professor of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy in the University 

 of Cambridge, states in the " Encyclopaedia Britannica" " that 

 there is no group in animated nature that more assuredly deserves 

 the further attention of the highest zoological intellects than birds ; 

 and, looking to the perplexities which on all sides beset their 

 scientific study, there is no department of zoology that will better 

 repay the application of those intellects than ornithology." 



As there are many young members who, like myself, are devoted 

 to the study of this branch in the Club, and who would gladly 

 avail themselves of the opportunity of an outing, under the leader- 

 ship of some of the older and more experienced ornithologists, it 

 is to be hoped that the committee who are entrusted with the 

 arrangement of the syllabus for the current year will not make it 

 the usual one-sided affair. — I am, yours, &c, 



DACELO. 



