Petaums sciureus ifi Tasmania. 253 



ton, that price being due to the high rates paid for freight. 

 It is stated on good authority that, if supphed at a moderate 

 price, four hundred tons of coal a week, or 20,800 tons 

 annually, would he consumed at Melbourne for steam 

 engines, foundries, and other works. As regards the 

 probable consumption for domestic purposes, it appears from 

 official returns that there are about 3500 rate-paying families 

 at Melbourne. Assuming that each family uses on the aver- 

 age twelve loads of wood annually, and taking three loads 

 of wood as equivalent to one ton of coal, we should find 

 that each family would consume four tons of coal a year, and 

 that the total consumption for domestic use would be 

 14,000 tons annually. If we assume that for private 

 purposes coal would supersede wood as fuel only to the 

 amount of two-thirds of the actual consumption, we should 

 still have a total of upwards of 30,000 tons as the annual 

 consumption of Melbourne alone, in its present state of half 

 development. 



XXI. 



On the Introduction and Naturalizatioti of Petaurus 

 sciureus in Tasmania. By K. C. Gunn, Esq., F.L.S. 

 {Bead %Uh October, 1850.] 



In the year 1845 I drew the attention of the Tasmanian 

 Society to the interesting fact that the Petaurus sciureus 

 {Desni.) or Flying Squirrel, of Port Phillip, was becoming 

 naturalized in Van Diemen's Land, as several individuals 

 had been killed in a forest near my house, in the vicinity of 

 Launceston {Tasmanian Journal, vol. ii. p. 458.) 



Subsequently, in April, 1846, Dr. James Grant, of 

 Launceston, announced to the Tasmanian Society that a 

 specimen of the Petaurus had been brought into town 



T 2 



