96 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



is placed under Hydrozoa. Surely these cannot all be printers' 

 errors. 



West Australian Science. — The appearance of the eleventh 

 issue of the Year-Book of Western Australia will be well received 

 by all interested in science, for it contains articles far above the 

 average for such publications, both in quantity and quality, most 

 of the articles having the advantage of being written by those who 

 knew what they were talking about, and not by mere compilers. 

 Amongst those of special interest to us is an account of the fauna 

 by Mr. B. H. Woodward, which gives a list of the mammals and 

 birds, and a brief sketch of the other groups. The flora is 

 treated by our old member, Dr. A. Morrison, while Mr. A. M. 

 Lea discusses the insects. Geology falls to the lot of Mr. A. 

 Gibb Maitland, and articles on History, Exploration, Aborigines, 

 Minerals, Geography, Forest Resources, Fisheries, together with 

 maps and illustrations — which latter, alas ! are mostly bad — furnish 

 a volume which most of our members will find of interest and 

 value. 



Romulea bulbocodium, Seb. — This plant, which is an intro- 

 duction from Cape Colony, has become a troublesome weed, de- 

 stroying pasture lands in Victoria, principally near Melbourne. It 

 belongs to the order Iridese, and spreads at an alarming rate, 

 killing out the native and introduced grasses. A few years ago 

 a small patch of this weed or bulb was noticed in the Richmond 

 Park, where it has now spread to such an extent that the whole 

 park is covered with it, while the parks adjoining the Melbourne, 

 Richmond, and Scotch College cricket grounds are overrun with 

 it. I am informed that it is also growing at Murrumbeena, Oak- 

 leigh, &c, destroying the grazing paddocks there. Birds have been 

 noticed feeding on the seeds, thus disseminating this pest in all 

 directions. — C. French, jun. 



[The plant, which may be known by its short-stalked pink 

 flowers, almost hidden in its grass-like leaves, is now in bloom, 

 and is very common both at Essendon and Kew ; in the latter 

 suburb it was noticed at least ten years ago. — Ed. Vict Nat.~\ 



" Hard-sat " Eggs — a Suggestion. — A correspondent in a 

 recent Zoologist suggests that the difficulty sometimes experienced 

 by oologists in having to deal with " hard-sat " eggs because fresh 

 ones are not available might be overcome by treating them as 

 small mammals or birds are often done to obtain their skeletons 

 — viz., by placing them within reach of an ants' nest, and 

 allowing those industrious insects to remove the contents. Of 

 course, a hole must be drilled in the egg, but it would doubtless 

 be much smaller than the one ordinarily required to remove the 

 " hard-sat " contents. The method might be worthy of trial and 

 report by some of our oologists. 



