8 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST, 



the * Lichen-Flora of Great Britain and Ireland,' by the Rev. 

 W. A. Leighton, who devoted the spare time of half a century 

 to the elaboration of this work, — then we would need now 

 already for Mosses, for Lichens, for Fungs, and for Algs 

 a volume each, to elucidate the Australian plants of these four 

 large orders of vasculares, or two good sized volumes for 

 Victoria alone. It seems therefore to our Gov. Botanist 

 advisable, considering the large expenditure involved, and the 

 enormous labour required to do justice to such an undertaking, 

 that in first instance a small descriptive volume should be 

 constructed for the genera of the Australian Evasculares only ; 

 that would enable amateurs in cryptogamic Botany to work 

 under some particular literary guidance, and meanwhile we 

 would learn a great deal more of the specific forms pertaining 

 to Australia, of their geographic and regional distribution, and 

 of the limitability of their characteristics, which latter in 

 almost endless instances are still obscure." 



The Linnean Society of New South Wales maintains its 

 position as the foremost science society in the colonies, and we 

 cannot be too grateful for the solid series of papers issued in its 

 journal. This year Mr. Masters completes a catalogue of 7200 

 described Australian coleoptera. Mr. Meyrick describes the 

 600th of his micro-lepidoptera, and is, moreover, at work on a 

 revision of the larger moths, which have come into a sad state 

 of confusion ; and for other work on insects we are indebted to 

 the veteran M'Leay, and to Mr. Sidney Olliff, formerly of the 

 British Museum. Mr. Haswell has succeeded in obtaining some 

 of the stages in the development of the embryo of the emu ; and 

 his observations are of interest, inasmuch as the development of 

 a member of the struthioid group of birds has not before been 

 traced. Tlie observations are very incomplete, but the author 

 has been able to throw light on some controverted points in 

 avian development, and, amongst other things, claims to have 

 shown that " the foundation of the raesoblast of the whole 

 embryo is laid by the cells of the lower layer" (hypoblast). An 

 appreciation of the difficulties of investigating this subject will 

 be gathered from the fact that the period of incubation of the 

 emu is three'* months, as contrasted with the three weeks of the 

 fowl. Mr. Haswell has also illustrated a genus of trematoda, 

 ecto-parasitic on astacopsis, in the Q.J. M.S. Mr Fletcher has 

 been engaged in skilfully sorting our earth-worms, and has found 

 time also, in conjunction with Mr. Hamilton, to work out some 

 of the Australian land planariaus. He has been the first, too, 

 to record the distinguished find of Peripatus in Australia. 



* I am informed by Mr. A. J. Campbell that he estimates the term, of incubation of the 

 emu as about eight weeks. 



