846 



Dulciornis alisteri mayi, nov. sp. (Northern Territory Grass- 

 bird) ; Microphilemon orientalis sordidus, Gould (Little Friar- 

 bird) ; Pardalotus melanoce'phalus melvillensis, Mathews 

 (Orange-rumped Pardalot) ; Cracticus nigrogularis picatus, 

 Gould (Pied Butcher-bird) ; Psephofus dissimilis, Collet 

 (Black-hooded Parrot), which nests in the tall spire-like nests 

 of termites. Captain S. A. White exhibited several bezoars, 

 <eight from the paunch of a wether, one large one from a sheep, 

 one from a young cow, which was soft and fibrous inside, with 

 a hard, shiny coating ; and one of medium size, soft and 

 fibrous, from the stomach of a sheep. Also three birds, I'/z.: 

 — Upupa africans (Crested Hoopoe), from near Colesberg, 

 Cape Colony, but rarely seen in that district ; it hunts on the 

 ground for insects, which form its entire food ; its flight is low 

 and undulating, and its call "Hoop, hoop, hoop" ; Geocolaptes 

 olivaceus (Ground Hopper), which, although a true wood- 

 pecker, has adapted itself to a treeless country, using its stiff 

 and spine-like tail feathers as an aid in hopping up perpen- 

 dicular rocks ; its cry is very harsh ; it congregates in small 

 parties in the winter, then pairs off and nests in holes bored 

 in a bank or between rocks, laying a pure white round egg. 

 Pezoporus terrestris (Ground Parrot), from Mallacoota Inlet, 

 Victoria ; now extremely rare, although very numerous in the 

 Adelaide plains about 1860-70 ; it is closely allied in habits, 

 colour, and structure to Geopsettacvs occidenfalis (Night 

 Parrot), now almost extinct, which, however, is found in the 

 dry interior, while the Ground Parrot inhabits swampy coun- 

 try. Mr. A. R. Riddle showed various formes of gypsum from 

 Yorke Peninsula, including simple and twin crystals from the 

 mud under the salt lakes ; seed gypsum, being small weathered 

 crystals found in large banks ; and solid gypsum from continu- 

 ous horizontal beds underlying the surface soil : also a calcite 

 breccia formed in rock fissures, and washed up on the beach 

 at Marino. 



Papers. — ''On the Occurrence in South Australia of Two 

 Previously Unrecorded Ferns (Filices), with Notes on their 

 Probable Origin," by Edwin Ashby, M.O.B.U. In the dis- 

 cussion which followed, transport of the spores by wind or 

 birds was suggested as another possible origin. ''Additions to 

 the Flora of South Australia, No. 8," by J. M. Black. "On 

 Two New Species of Leucopof/on," by Edwin Cheel, Botanical 

 Assistant, National Herbarium, Sydney (communicated by J. 

 H. Maiden, F.L.S., F.C.S.). 



Ordinary Meeting, June 10, 1915. 

 The President (J. C. Verco, M.D., F.R.C.S.) in the 

 chair. 



