THE 



^xctavxan ^aturalt^t. 



Vol. YIII.— No. 4. AUGUST, 1891. No. 92. 



FIELD NATURALISTS' CLUB OF VICTORIA. 



The ordinary monthly meeting of the Field Naturalists' Club was 

 held in the Royal Society's Hall on Monday evening, nth May, 

 Mr. F. Wisewould occupying the chair. 



The first paper was contributed by Mr. C. French, F.L.S., and 

 formed the second of a series on " The Insectivorous Birds of 

 Victoria." Descriptions were given of the Southern Stone Plover, 

 the White-fronted Heron, and the Night Jar, and their usefulness 

 as friends of the farmer, fruit-grower, and public generally was 

 dwelt upon. In this connection an interesting exhibit was made 

 of some 57 specimens of the common black Field Cricket, taken 

 by Mr. A, Coles from the stomach of the White-fronted Heron. 

 The insect has been making itself conspicuous lately by " ring- 

 barking " orange trees ; its destroyer, therefore, is worthy of all 

 fostering care. 



Mr. H. H. Baker also read a paper on " Microbes," in which 

 he explained the nature, function, and growth of these organisms, 

 as well as reviewed at length the researches of Pasteur, Klein, 

 and Koch. Reference was also made to the "phagocyte" theory, 

 according to which certain cells, similar in form and structure 

 to the white corpuscles of the blood, and very numerous in 

 the lymphoid tissues of the alimentary tract, eat up all the 

 disease-producing germs which we are continually breathing in. 

 Mr. Baker controverted this theory, on the authority of Klein. 

 In the discussion which followed, Mr. T. Steele, F.C.S., expressed 

 his regret that the latter theory should have had such a short life, 

 and he was somewhat relieved when Dr. A. Dendy, in reviewing 

 De Bary's theory of preventive inoculation, upheld the existence, 

 nature, and function of the so-called " phagocytes." Dr. Dendy 

 insisted on the fact that all microbes are of vegetable organization, 

 and that many of the different so-called genera and species are 

 probably but different stages in the life-history of the same 

 organism. He then briefly passed in review Koch's cure for 

 tuberculosis, in which the poisonous material formed by the 

 consumption bacillus is dissolved in glycerine and injected into 



