THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 91 



remarking that it was found on the living leaves of grasses, 

 violets, &c, although hitherto noted only on dead leaves. 



Referring to this he replied : — "The plasmodium feeds on dead 

 leaves, but when the time for fruiting arrives it leaves its feeding 

 habitat and climbs on to the surrounding herbage or sticks, where 

 the conditions are favourable to the ripening of the fruit, but it 

 does not feed on the living leaves. The late Dr. Rex, of 

 Philadelphia, gives so pleasing an account of this habit that I 

 quote the passage : ? I recall an instance in which the plasmodium 

 of Diachcea leucopoda ( = Diachcea elegans) crept up a clump of 

 blackberry stems to a foot in height, and thence upon the radiat- 

 ing threads of a spider's web suspended between them, where it 

 matured its exquisite sporangia.' We have seen a growth in a 

 damp wood where the plasmodium had crept up herbaceous 

 stems to a height of about 2 feet from the dead leaves on which 

 it had fed, and there formed a vast number of sporangia." 



This crawling habit, of course, is not confined to this species. 

 I remember a case where spent tan was used as a mulch and the 

 so-called " flowers of tan " (Fuligo seplica, Gmelin) had crept up 

 the stems of herbaceous plants to the height of a foot or more, 

 and the yellow plasmodium was very conspicuous. Such in- 

 stances show the necessity for scientific caution and careful 

 observation before determining the habits of these organisms, with 

 their plant-like structure and their animal-like motions. 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW PARRAKEET FROM THE 

 BURKE DISTRICT, NORTH QUEENSLAND. 



By Alfred J. North, C.M.Z.S., 

 Ornithologist, Australian Museum, Sydney. 



ORDER PSITTACI. 



Fam. CaCATUIDjE. 

 Sub-Fam. Platycercinse. 

 Platycercus macgillivrayi, sp. nov. 

 Adult. — General colour above verditer-green, the feathers on the 

 occiput, hind neck, and back tipped or broadly edged with green, 

 and the centres of those on the lower back, rump, upper tail and 

 central wing coverts distinctly shaded with yellow ; primaries and 

 primary coverts black, their outer webs deep blue, the apical half 

 of the outer primaries edged with ashy-grey ; inner secondaries 

 and scapulars verditer-green shaded with yellow; outer series of 

 the greater wing coverts pale blue ; lesser wing coverts, like the 

 back, margin of the shoulder, and under wing coverts, rich turquoise- 

 blue ; two central tail-feathers green, the next feather on either 

 side green, passing into blue on the apical portion and bluish- 

 white at the tip, the remainder deep blue at the base and 

 gradually passing into bluish-white at the tip ; cheeks and 



