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Oedinary Meeting, May 9, 1918. 



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

 chair. 



Nominations. — Ernest H. ■ Ising, Locomotive Depart- 

 ment; PL W. Andrew, Botanical Assistant, Department of 

 Agriculture; and the Rev. James C. Jennison, Minister of the 

 Gospel, were nominated as Fellows. 



Election. — A. H. Elston, clerk, was elected a Fellow. 



The President congratulated Capt. S. A. White upon 

 his recognition by the British Ornithological Union as a Dis- 

 tinguished Colonial Ornithologist. Also that an open letter, 

 signed by himself and the Hon. Secretary, had been given to 

 Mr. Edwin Ashby on the eve of his departure for America, 

 introducing him to scientific workers there. 



Exhibits. — Prof. Chapman showed a form of viscometer 

 constructed by Mr. A. G. M. Michell, of Melbourne, by which 

 the viscosity of an oil is measured by the time taken by a 

 bearing-ball before falling from a concave cup, from which 

 it is separated by a film of the oil yttVo millimeter in thickness ; 

 the time in seconds divided by 50 being the viscosity. Capt. 

 S. A. White exhibited a spray of Eucalyptus pyriformis, 

 gathered in the sandhills at the Ooldea soak, on the Port 

 Augusta to Kalgoorlie Railway. The flowers are bright 

 scarlet, and occasionally cream -colour. Also two aboriginal 

 grinding stones, found 15 or 20 feet below the surface of the 

 swamp at the Reedbeds. Mr. Edgar R. Waite exhibited two 

 necklaces from Stormy Island, to the northward of New 

 Ireland; one, 27 feet long, made of portions of beetles' legs; the 

 other of beetles' legs and antennae of crustaceans. Also a com- 

 plete set of Australian Typhlopidae, with the exception of the 

 species T. waitii. These all live underground, and feed chiefly 

 on termites. Mr. A. M. Lea showed two drawers of showy 

 beetles, mostly from South America, some having tufts of hair 

 on the antennae and legs. Mr. Edquist showed two objects 

 found in sandhills, near the roots of wattle trees, about 1| 

 inches long, approximately egg-shaped, with a J-inch circular 

 aperture on one side, composed of agglutinated sand. Their 

 origin is unknown, but it was suggested that they might be 

 the pupa cases of beetles or other insects. Mr. F. R. Zietz 

 exhibited living specimens of four species of lizards : gecko or 

 night-lizard (Gymnodactylus miliusii) ; mountain devil 

 (Moloch horridus) ; jew or bearded lizard ( Amphibolurus 

 barbatus), adult and young; and two specimens of the 

 banded skink (Li/gosoma fasciolatum ) . Mr. Selway stated 

 that he had recently found under a log an egg about the size 

 of a sparrow's, which, while held in the hand, had hatched out 

 a gecko. 



