240 



THE ZOOLOGIST. 



EDITOEIAL GLEANINGS. 



At a meeting of the Linnean Society of New South Wales, held 

 on October 28th, 1908, a letter from the West Australian Natural 

 History Society at Perth was read, asking the Society's support in 

 approaching the Government, with the object of having Barrow 

 Island, sixty miles off the north-west coast, set apart as a Fauna 

 Eeserve. The island, which is remarkable for its Kangaroo (Macropus 

 isabellinus), Bandicoot (Perameles barrowensis), Eat (Mus furculinus), 

 and Wren (Malurus eclouardi), none of which occur on the mainland, 

 is likely to be leased for sheep-farming, to the detriment of the fauna. 

 The President stated that, with the object of saving time, the Council 

 had responded to the appeal by sending a communication to the 

 Premier strongly supporting the movement. The wise policy of the 

 Crown's retention of islands as sanctuaries for wild life was being 

 amply justified by the experiences of New Zealand and the United 

 States ; and the Barrow Island fauna was worth an effort to save. 

 After a copy of the Council's communication had been read, it was 

 unanimously resolved, on the motion of Mr. Kesteven, seconded by 

 Mr. Clunies Eoss: "That this meeting heartily endorses the action 

 of the Council, and hopes that the movement will be completely 

 successful." 



Mr. E. D. Hoben, editor of the 1 Manawatu Daily Times,' Pal- 

 merston North, writes : — " I have been especially interested in the 

 Eel discussion (cf. 4 Zoologist,' ante p. 160), and have been corre- 

 sponding with Mr. E. C. Bruce regarding it. Have any of your 

 readers heard of the curious fact that there are no Eels in the waters 

 on the western side of the dividing range in New South Wales, but 

 plenty in the eastern waters, although the streams, in some cases, 

 start within practically a few yards of each other ? " Mr. T. Allan, 

 of Avondale, Auckland Province, states that there are two creeks in 

 his garden. They join and flow into a mud-flat. Large numbers of 

 Eels live in the creeks and also in the bog close by. Along the 

 course of the smaller creek there were some swamps or flats. Mr. 

 Allan attempted to fill these up in order to get the water to run into 

 only one channel. When digging the soil in the swamps he found 

 countless numbers of small Eels which had been living in the place. — 

 (' Lyttelton Times' (Christchurch, N.Z.), May 1st, 1909.) 



