301 



Mannum. The shell is of unusual proportions and thickness, 

 measuring 7 inches in length and 5^ inches in breadth, while 

 the shell has a maximum thickness of 2f inches, and weighs 

 If lbs. ; the ligamental cavity is 1| inches in length, and the 

 muscular impression is very large and deep. It represents the 

 only oyster known to occur in the lower marine tertiaries of 

 Australia, but as individuals is moderately common. The 

 largest example in the museum of the Adelaide University is 

 very small in comparison. The shell gives evidence of age, not 

 only in its massive development, but also in the modification 

 of the form. The radial ribs and foliaceous scales of the 

 younger stages of growth have become nearly obliterated by 

 the coarseness of its shelly growth. Mr. A. M. Lea exhibited 

 a male and female of the largest known South Australian 

 insect, Tropidoderus childreni, belonging to the Phasmidae or 

 leaf insects. The female, with legs and wings extended, 

 measured 9 inches by 9 inches. 



Papers. — "Australian Fungi and Notes and Descriptions,. 

 No. 1," by John B. Cleland, M.D., and Mr. Cheel ; "Notes 

 on South Australian Marine Mollusca, with Descriptions of 

 New Species, Part XVI.," by Jos. C. Verco, M.D., 

 F.R.C.S. 



Ordinary Meeting, August 8, 1918. 



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

 chair. 



Oapt. S. A. White reported having attended a deputa- 

 tion to the Attorney-General re amendment of the game laws, 

 with the result that he and two others had assisted the 

 Government in drafting a Bill for their amendment and 

 consolidation. 



Exhibits. — Mr. W. Howchin exhibited the casts of the 

 two largest known shells of the Australian Tertiary. One of 

 these, supplied by the President (Dr. J. C. Verco) was 

 obtained from the flux quarries at Stansbury, Yorke Penin- 

 sula, and sent by Mr. O. H. Rogers. It is apparently a 

 Trochus, and Dr. Verco thinks it may be an immature Trochus 

 niloticus maximus, a form that is living on the northern shores 

 of Australia. If this identity of species can be established it 

 will supply another link in fixing the geological age of our 

 tertiary beds. The other cast was that of a giant Turbo, which 

 must have been at least 9 inches in diameter. The specimen, 

 with others of a like kind, was obtained from northern Yorke 

 Peninsula. As casts of shells are usually too indefinite to 

 admit of scientific diagnosis neither of these forms can be 

 described. Mr. Rogers also sent from Stansbury a fragment 

 of a turreted shell which is probably a Turrit ella, and is much 



