XXIX. 
Laboratory Notes: The Lesser Wax-Moth, etc. 
Noxious Weeds: The Bathurst Bur; Stinkwort; Dodder. 
Plant Diseases: Ear Cockle in Wheat; Potato Scab; “Take- 
All.” 
Useful and Noxious Birds: The House Sparrow; The Starl- 
ing; The Goat-Suckers. 
A Proposal for the Acclimatisation of a few Insectivorous 
Animals. 
From June to October, 1896, Mr. Helms visited the neighbour- 
hood of Wyndham with the special object of investigating cattle- 
ticks. A report on this subject was written by him, as well as an 
article in three parts entitled “East Kimberley,” which probably 
gives the best account of the geology, climate, fauna and flora of 
the neighbourhood of Wyndham which has yet appeared. 
In 1897 he made a trip to the Houtman’s Abrolhos, on which 
he read a paper to the Mueller Botanic Society on June 6, 1898, 
which was subsequently published by the Department of Agricul- 
ture. This is the best and most comprehensive account of that in- 
teresting group of islands which has appeared at present. 
A note in the Journal of the Department for January, 1900, 
records the fact that the Department had sustained a severe loss in 
the departure of Mr. R. Helms. 
Mr. Helms was an enthusiastic member of the Mueller Botanic 
Society, inaugurated on July 1st, 1897, and was elected Vice-Presi- 
dent. Two lectures on Entomology given by him were printed in the 
Society’s Journal, and after his removal to Sydney he was elected 
an Honorary Member. 
A collection of plants made by Mr. Helms is incorporated in 
the Herbarium of the Department of Agriculture, whilst his collec- 
tion of birds’ eggs is in the Western Australian Museum. 
W.B.A. 
