30 JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 
years past; and in the Waikato has on several occasions 
seriously affected the yield of clover. The occurrence of C. 
hassiaca on sorrel and wire-weed is remarkable, as in Europe it 
has not been recorded as occurring on either of these plants, 
though it sometimes occurs on a_ sow-thistle (Souchus asper) 
and on stinking May-weed (Axthemis cotula.) 
Datura Stramonium, or common Thorn-apple made its 
appearance among carrots and ripened a few seeds, but is not 
expected to become an established weed. 
Centaurea Calcitrapa, or Star thistle, has made its ap- 
pearance in one or two places in the vicinity of the school, 
chiefly by road sides. It occurs in great abundance at Akaroa, 
where it was probably introduced by the early French settlers. 
Though a handsome it is an obnoxious plant, the recurved 
pungent species of the. flower-heads becoming readily en- 
tangled in the wool of passing sheep. 
Erigeron Canadensis, the American flea-bane, is becom- 
ing naturalised about Lincoln and Springston. Though often 
eaten by stock it is a coarse weed, and will probably be widely 
wind-spread over the’ Canterbury Plains. In neglected Maori 
cultivations in the vicinity of Hokianga it often attains the height 
of 5 or 6 feet, but in Canterbury rarely exceeds 18 inches. 
NEW VEGETABLE FOSSILS OF THE (AUSTRALIAN) AURI- 
FEROUS DRiFTs.—The second decade of this publication of the 
Geological Survey of Victoria has been forwarded to us by the 
author, Baron F. von Mueller. The ten coloured lithographs 
are accompanied by descriptions of the genera and species de- 
scribed. Among the interesting specimens described are fruit of 
Rhytidocaryon Wilkinsoni, found at Beneree at a depth of 110 
feet under basalt, and also between Carcoar and Orange, and re- 
ferred with certainty to the order Menispermacee. The genus 
Lllicites is founded for a fruit apparently very near that of the 
living star-anise (///zczwm), and the occurence of this magnolia- 
ceous plant, allied as it is to the living Drzmys of Australia, New 
Zealand, &c., is of particular interest. Conchocaryon smuthit, 
from the pliocene drifts of Gulgong, would appear to belong to 
the Proteacez. having an unsymmetrical fruit somewhat similar 
in external form to those of some Grevz/ias, but with the peri- 
carp thickened as in //akea. Baron von Mueller is conspicuously 
careful in the determination of the relationships of these interest- 
ing fossil remains not to hurriedly jump at any conclusions. 
The specimens described are those chiefly of fruits, and carpolo- 
gical characters are usually of far more value for purposes of 
identification than those of leaves only, which, however, are the 
most abundant. No subjects exercise a more fascinating influ- 
ence over the biologist than the distribution of plants and ani- 
mals in present and past times, and the attempt to reconstruct 
the former land and water surfaces of our globe, and observa- 
tions such as those we have referred to, are of particular value 
in establishing these questions on a firm basis. G.M.T,. 
. 
