July, 1952 
THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST 
Page sixty-three 
It must be of interest to many natur- 
alists to know that J. M. Black was in an 
important way responsible for the inaugu- 
ration of the long series of Handbooks 
issued by the South Australian Branch of 
the British Science Guild and including 
such other valuable works as the Mammals 
by F. Wood Jones, the Reptiles and 
Amphibians by Edgar R. Waite, the Fishes 
by the same author, and the Vegetation 
by J. G. Wood. When I returned to 
South Australia in January 1920, the only 
available work describing South Austra- 
lian Plants was Professor Ralph Tate’s 
Flora. This work was out-of-date and 
rather inadequate. A new Flora was emin- 
ently desirable and I particularly wanted 
one. J. M. Black, a youngish man then of 
about 65, who had retired from Hansard, 
had already made a name for himself by 
his study of the South Australian Flora, 
and had contributed instalments of Addi- 
tions to the Flora of South Australia to 
our Royal Society. The British Science 
Guild was at this time, just after the con- 
clusion of World War i, seeking avenues 
to encourage the use of scientific knowl- 
edge. I put a proposal to the South Aus- 
tralian Branch that it should undertake 
arrangements for the preparation by 
specialists, working in an honorary capa- 
city, of Handbooks dealing with the Flora 
and Fauna of South Australia and that 
the Government might be approached to 
see whether, if these Handbooks were so 
prepared and offered free to the State, the 
Government would arrange for their pub- 
lication and sale at cost price, on a kind 
of pound for pound basis. The Branch ap- 
proved of the suggestion, and a deputation 
composed of Professor F. Wood Jones, 
NATIVE PLANTS GROWING ALONG - 
SIDE A RAILWAY LINE 
(continued from page 44) 
is closely related to the aboriginal food- 
stuff, nardoo. 
All these finds have been made in the 
last few years. 
So the botanist who keeps his eyes open 
even during the prosaic business of travel- 
ling to work, or wandering about in the 
most unpromising places trying to kill 
time, as is sometimes necessary, never 
knows what surprises may greet him next. 
Professor T. G. B. Osborn and myself 
waited upon the Premier. Fortunately, I 
had prepared a type-written sheet outlin- 
ing the proposal. This was handed to the 
Premier of the day, Sir Henry Barwell, 
who read it through and then, turning to 
us, said: “A very generous offer, gentlemen. 
I shall lay it before Cabinet.” In a few days, 
we received a request for further details 
which were approved by the Government, 
and Mr. Black was then asked whether 
he would undertake the preparation of a 
Flora of South Australia. 
Almost the last occasion in which he 
appeared before our Section was in 1945 
when, on behalf of the Field Naturalists’ 
Club of Victoria, the Natural History 
Medallion for 1944 was presented to him. 
On that occasion, the speakers were loud 
in their encomiums of him and his work, 
and the intervening years have added mat- 
erially to our debt to him. With his pass- 
ing away, we feel botanically lost, having 
no one with his authority to whom to 
appeal when possible new species or new 
introductions have to be considered. Full 
accounts of his life and scientific activities 
will appear in “Herbarium News” by Miss 
C. Eardley, and in the Proceedings of the 
Royal Society of South Australia. Here 
we can but record how much we, as natur- 
alists, appreciate what he had done for 
us over the years, with thankfulness that 
he was spared for so long and died so 
peacefully without serious inconvenience 
from his advanced years, and with regret 
that he did not live to see his revision of 
Part IV in print, though the text is mostly 
prepared. 
— J. B. CLELAND. 
EXCURSION TO RAZOR-BACK 
RIDGE 
(continued from page 61) 
To this may be added the ecological effect of 
seasonal variations in that this year almost all 
the gums, excepting the stringybarks and pepper- 
mints have their stems clean and bright and therr 
leaves fresh and green. For this is due probably 
to the unusual heavy rain in February of this year. 
And this phenomenon was very noticeable on the 
way home in the rows of sugar gums along the 
Norton Summit road above Magill. They were 
indeed a delightful spectacle for nature lovers, 
and a grand finale to a beautful and profitable 
day. 
—EDGAR W. PRITCHARD. 
