Mammalia, fyc. 



8483 



most probably wandered from the Avon close by. — H. Blake-Knox ; 49, Pulteney Street, 

 Bath, March 4, 1863. 



Introduction of a new and useful Fatina into Australia. — It seems that an Associ- 

 ation called the Victorian Society has been formed at Melbourne with this object. 

 The ' Melbourne Argus ' gives us a Report of the last annual meeting, showing the 

 progress already made. After stating the objects of the Society it proceeds as follows. 

 " Having thus reminded our readers of what is the proper aim of the Society, let us 

 see how far this end has been hitherto furthered. In stating this we shall take the 

 list in the order in which Professor M'Coy gives it in his Lecture, although he does not 

 confine himself strictly to animals actually new to the colony, for he begins with the 

 oyster. There can be little doubt that the work of increasing our supply of this first 

 of all purely natural delicacies properly belongs to a Society like this; and this being 

 granted there can be no doubt that it should stand first on the list. The oyster, then, has 

 engaged the attention of the Society during the year ; and the Professor tells us that 

 the measures suggested for the preservation of the oyster-beds on our coast have been 

 partially adopted by the Government with beneficial results; ' and in the coming y^ar 

 the experience acquired by the French Government in the formation of artificial oyster- 

 beds, and the preservation of the young, will be applied, as far as is in our power, to 

 the extension and improvement of those on our own coasts.' If only the Society suc- 

 ceed in obtaining for us a good and lasting supply of this delicate morsel it will merit 

 the warmest thanks of the community. Among the Insecta, which stand next, we are 

 to have the Arrindy silkworm, which has an additional value to us here, because it 

 thrives on the castor-oil plant, which grows in the colony ' as a perfect weed ;' and the 

 Ligurian bee, famed for the quality as well as the quantity of its honey. Of the Crus- 

 tacea it has been attempted to bring only the English crab and lobster, shipped by 

 Mr. Lachlan Mackinnon. These died on the voyage, but, as with the salmon, the 

 failure itself proved the feasibility of the experiment, because the causes of failure were 

 manifest and are preventiMe. The Murray lobster, scarcely inferior to the English, 

 has been successfully acclimatised in the Yarra. Of the fish, the first, of course, is the 

 salmon ; and as to the failure which has hitherto attended the attempts to introduce it 

 we need only repeat, in Professor M'Coy's words, what has been more than once stated 

 in the colums of the 'Argus,' that' these failures are only looked upon by all concerned 

 in them as indicative of success, and,' he adds, ' we are trying again.' But English 

 bream, dace, tench, roach and carp have already been imported ; the Yan Yean 

 reservoir has been stocked with tench, and the noble Murray cod is now at home in the 

 Yarra. Among birds we have the ostrich, the great crowned pigeon, ' a species of 

 delicate flesh, nearly as large as a guinea-fowl,' the curassow, ' as large as small turkeys, 

 and equally good for the table.' These have already been introduced by the Society 

 in some numbers and distributed. The common pheasant has been introduced in 

 large numbers by the Society, who ' may claim to have already acclimatised it.' The 

 English partridge, too, has now been acclimatised ; ' so that, after a few years, we 

 may let, at certain seasons, the sportsmen indulge their bumps of destruction to at 

 least a moderate extent on them.' Besides these Professor M'Coy tells of numbers of 

 other birds already here or on the way to our shores. Of quadrupeds the hare and 

 rabbit have been introduced, ' and the latter so thoroughly acclimatised that it swarms 

 in hundreds in some localities.' Then we have two ' species of the Brahmin bull,' 

 and more are coming ; several kinds of deer, including the red and the fallow. Of the 

 llamas we at present possess thirty-eight, and ' five hundred more alpacas are expected 



