BY E. PALMER, M.L.A. 23 



9. Fimbristylis, sp. Rush, growing densely over soft 

 springs, forming a compact mass. 



10. Eragrostis, sp. A grass about two feet six inches high. 



11. Schoenus, sp. Grass, two feet high, in large, strong 

 bunches, growing over the hot springs and through the water. 



12. Phragniites Roxburghii, Kunth. 



Some springs with similar characteristics are , found 

 about ten miles north of Gamboola Station, on the Mitchell 

 River, with Pandanus growing very plentifully through them."^ 



A spring on the Ennasleigh River, about thirty miles from 

 Georgetown, is hot enough to maintain a state of ebullition. 

 This last occurs near a great outflow of lava, and may be accounted 

 for by assigning the same cause to both it and those of the 

 Flinders. 



* Mr. liar, the Government Analyst, reports as follows, on a rather earthy sample of 

 the saline incrustation from these springs :— 



Per Cent. 



Soda .. .. .. .. 37-54 



Lime .. .. ... . 2. 8 



Oxide of iron ^ ,. . 2 19 



Sand ... .. 31-72 



The acids are undertermined, but carbonic acid is chiefly represented. The water 

 of the spring is alkaline carbonated. 



THE MOA ( DINORNIS) IN AUSTRALIA. 



By 0. W. DE VIS. 



(^Plates hi. and iv.) 



Though now for nearly fifty years it has been known that 

 Australia of yore, like New Zealand of late, was the home of 

 massive flightless birds, our knowledge of that dead race has not 

 hitherto gone beyond the opening stage. The existence of one 

 such bird in our post-pliocene age was first declared in the year 

 1836 by Sir Richard Owen. His judgment was delivered upon 

 a thigh bone, 13 inches long, from the Wellington Valley, so 

 broken, crushed, and cased by its stony matrix that nothing could 

 be said of it more than that it had belonged to a large bird of the 

 Ostrich family. Thirty-three years subsequently Queensland 

 yielded up from a well sunk on the Peak Downs another 



