PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 13 



Australian Alps or Snowy Mountains." 1 Concluding his 

 alpine explorations in 1889, he proceeded on a collecting 

 tour along the Darling River. After this he relinquished 

 the Museum service and proceeded to the Richmond River 

 in the interest of a private syndicate. He joined the 

 Department of Agriculture of New South Wales in November 

 1890 as collector, but resigned the position in April 1891, 

 to join the Elder Exploring Expedition. As naturalist he 

 travelled through Central Australia with this expedition, 

 which started in May 1891, and was dissolved in June 1892* 

 Here, as usual, he proved an expert and indefatigable 

 collector. Among his numerous discoveries, Baron von 

 Mueller called a new shrub Grevillea helmsiana, and Dr. J. 

 Miiller named a new lichen Endocarpon helmsianum. In 

 describing the results of the expedition, the Rev. J. Black- 

 burn took the occasion to name after Helms, ten new beetles 

 of the following genera: — Belus, Calycopeplus, Olivina, 

 Tetracha, Thryptomene, Zonitis, Dasytes, Heteronyx, 

 Plagianthus and Telaurina. An article on the Ethnology 

 of the expedition was written by Helms. 2 



Returning to Sydney, he was re-engaged by the Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture, as Assistant Entomologist. He 

 resigned this position in March 1896 to accept an appoint- 

 ment as Fruit Inspector in Western Australia. He finally 

 returned to Sydney in January, 1900, as Experimentalist to 

 the Department of Agriculture, the last occupation of this 

 versatile man. Here he was valued by Mr. Guthrie as 

 "one of the keenest and most original of workers." Helms 

 joined this Society in 1900, but relinquished his membership 

 in 1910. In conjunction with Mr. P. B. Guthrie, he wrote 

 three papers in our Journal on "Pot Experiments to deter- 

 mine the limit of endurance of different farm crops for 



1 Helms, Journ. Roy. Geograph. Soc. N.S.W., vi, pp. 75 - 96. 



2 Helms, Trans. Roy. Soc. S.A., xvi, 1896, pp. 238 - 332. 



