THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 91 



Jennings, fossil shells from Hamilton, fossil whale's ear-bones 

 from Waurn Ponds. By Mr. J. Kershaw, bird, nest, and eggs 

 of Pyc7iopHlus floccosus from Trafalgar, Gippsland. By Baron 

 F. von Mueller, K.C.M.G., four new plants from West Aus- 

 tralia, and one from New South Wales. By Mr. F. Spry, larva 

 and moth of Thalassodes lithocroma (Meyrick) from Brighton. 

 By Mr. Searle, embryo kangaroo, snake from Yarrawonga, 

 insects collected during month. By Mr, M. Waterstrom, 

 •orchid, Caladenia Patersoni, in bloom. 



After the usual conversazione, the meeting terminated. 



SURFACE SHELLS. 



By F. R. Godfrey. 



(Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, Zth October^ 



1888.) 



When offering to read a paper on " Surface Shells" to the Field 

 Naturahsts' Club, I had to encounter two objections which pre- 

 sented themselves to my mind as barriers to the proposal. First, 

 that the subject of " Ocean Shells" was, perhaps, outside the 

 scope of a body which styles itself the " Field Naturalists' Club ;" 

 .and second, that I might be thought too bold and venturesome 

 in dealing with a subject of which I confess to be more fitted to 

 listen as a scholar than to appear to act as a teacher. 



The first objection was not hard to remove, when I considered 

 that the object of this Club is to encourage the pursuit of a 

 knowledge of natural history in all its branches, and that the 

 portals of the Temple of Science are many and various ; that in 

 the study of natural history the different forms of animated beings 

 are like the marble steps which approach the temple's fane from 

 opposite and apparently diverse directions, but all leading to one 

 great centre j that whether we study one or other of the four 

 great groups into which all the animal kingdom is divided — the 

 vertebrata, the mollusca, the articula.ta, or the radiata — we may 

 see some link of connection between them, so that we may trace 

 an ideal progression from the lowest form of infusorial monad 

 upwards to the highest and most perfectly developed being of 

 the vertebrate order. Thus my first objection was satisfactorily 

 disposed of, at least to my own mind. 



My second objection presented more serious obstacles, for I 

 could not help recalling to mind the advice given by Horace to 

 all who attempt to write on any subject — 



" Sumite materi^m vestris, qui scribetis, equam 

 Viribus ; et versate diu quid ferre recusant, 

 Quid valeant humeri." 



which I may be allowed to give .a translation of for the benefit 

 of those who are not classical scholars in the apt and clever 

 ■language of Lord Byron — 



