450 



ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



Royal Society of South Australia 



(Incorporated) 



FOR 1912-13. 



Ordinary Meeting, November 14, 1912. 



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

 chair. 



The President stated, in reference to resolution passed 

 at the last meeting, that a catalogue of the library was being 

 prepared as quickly as possible. 



A letter was received from the Indian Museum, Calcutta, 

 enclosing By-laws re loan of specimens from the Museum for- 

 the purpose of description or identification. 



Nominations. — A. R. Riddle, science student, Yorke- 

 town, Y.P., and T. G. B. Osborn, M.Sc, Professor of Botany, 

 Adelaide University, were nominated as Fellows. 



Exhibits. — Dr. Pulleine described his recent visit to 

 Tambourine Mountain, one of three mountain plateaus form- 

 ing the extremity of the Macpherson Range in the East More- 

 ton district of Queensland. The geological conditions were 

 favourable to an extensive fauna and flora. The basal rocks 

 of sandstone or conglomerate of Trias-Jura age, being pro- 

 tected by a cap of basalt, were weathered into precipices 

 resulting in numerous cataracts, while the weathering of the 

 basalt provided a rich surface soil 3 or 4 ft. thick. The 

 height of the plateau was from 1,800 to 2,000 ft., and the 

 rainfall about 80 in. per annum. The flora was of four dis- 

 tinct classes, found respectively in the jungles, the open forests, 

 the creek sides, and the precipices. Dr. Pulleine described 

 a large number of trees, plants, marsupials, birds, and land 

 mollusca which he had observed in several habitats. He ex- 

 hibited four species of trap-door spiders which he could not 

 find in the Brisbane Museum, viz: — (1) One which built a 

 true trap-door; (2) one which built a well-defined tube with 

 a soft trap-door surrounded by a large web extending over 

 the surface of the ground; (3) a large spider which built no 

 trap-door, but constructed a bifurcated tube with two exits; 

 this spider eats frogs, and he collected one with a frog half 

 consumed; (4) a spider which built no trap-door, but sur- 

 rounded the opening to its nest with a fence of leaves. He 



