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ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



Royal Society of South Australia 



(Incorporated) 



for 1916-1917. 



Ordinary Meeting, November 9, 1916. 



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

 chair. 



Portraits of Officers. — Resolved: "That, as far as 

 possible, a collection be made of the portraits and signatures of 

 the Officers of the Society, viz. : — Presidents, Vice-Presidents, 

 Hon. Secretaries, Hon. Treasurers, and Editors, from its 

 establishment in 1853." 



Exhibits. — Mr. A. M. Lea exhibited a drawer con- 

 taining most of the insects taken on the recent Museum 

 Expedition to the Interior. Among these were some grass- 

 hoppers more than double the width of ordinary species, 

 having a striking resemblance to the small stones of the 

 "gibber" country, amongst which they were found; some pale 

 yellow crickets from the nest of a stinging ant ; and two 

 specimens of a small weevil, the toes of which are on a 

 different plan from those of any sub-family hitherto known. 

 He also showed a large butterfly and a moth from Northern 

 Queensland, and beautiful drawings of these made by Miss 

 Margaret Kelly, of the School of Arts and Crafts. Mr. 

 Edgar R. Waite showed two glass bottles from the Interior, 

 which had assumed a ground-glass appearance from the 

 drifting sand, and a violet tinge, supposed to be due to the 

 action of the sun upon some chemical, possibly manganese, in 

 the glass. Mr. Edwin Ashby showed Malurus assimilis 

 (southern purple-backed wren), M. melanotus whitei (tur- 

 quoise wren), and M. cyanotus (white- winged wren) from 

 Port Germein, to compare with M. cyaneus leggei (superb 

 warbler) and M. melanotus (black-backed wren) from the 

 Victorian mallee country. Capt. S. A. White showed two 

 specimens of M. melanotus callainus, one from Eyre Peninsula, 

 and one from the Far North. Also beans from a Bauhinia 

 tree in the Interior. Dr. R. S. Rogers exhibited and described 

 aii orchid found by Dr. Helen Mayo, near Victor Harbour, 



