42 Analyses of Books . [January, 
Into the commercial, statisical, and historical portions of this 
little work, whilst fully conceding their importance, we are not 
prepared to enter. We note merely the author’s conviction that 
the sea is not inexhaustible, and that without proper regulations 
the supply of fish, as far as British waters are concerned, may 
come to an end. 
Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 
Vol. XVII. Melbourne : Mason, Firth, and McCutcheon. 
London: Williams and Norgate. 
We are very sorry to have to pronounce this volume most un- 
satisfactory as issued by the principal scientific body in a country 
like the colony of Victoria, where an almost infinite amount of 
work remains to be done. From the Presidential address we 
learn that there are already recorded as natives of Australia 
yooo dicotyledonous plants, 1600 monocotyledons, and 1900 
acotyledons. Sixty species of Eucalyptus have already been 
described and figured by Baron Mueller in a work which he has 
in progress. It is satisfactory to learn that a Field Naturalists’ 
Club has been formed which may do some of the work which the 
Royal Society neglects. The Melbourne Museum of Natural 
History now numbers upwards of 44,000 specimens completely 
classed and labelled. 
The most interesting paper in the Transactions is an account 
of the Hodgkinson Gold Field, Northern Queensland, hy the 
Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, F.L.S., &c., which gives a geological, 
botanical, and physiographical sketch of a little-known region. 
Mr. P. H. MacGiilivray, M.R.C.S., describes two new genera 
of polyzoa, Diplopora and Densipora. 
“ Additions to the Lichen Flora of Queensland,” by Dr. James 
Stirton, F.L.S., is an account of upwards of thirty new species, 
several ? of which belong to new genera. This paper, as well as 
a subsequent one by the Rev. J. C. Tenison-Woods, on some 
new marine mollusca, is open to a grave objection. The respec- 
tive authors have followed the very stale and unmeaning practice 
of giving the descriptions in Latin. 
To us, at least, it seems curious to find in the Transactions 
of a Royal Society 18 pages occupied with a paper on “ Propor- 
tional Representation,” by a Prof. E. J. Manson. Its proper 
sphere would have been a political debating club. Two papers 
on “ Recent Improvements in Electric Lighting,” and on the 
tt Tay Bridge Catastrophe,” are merely accounts of well-known 
facts and not records of research and observation. In short, to 
any lover of Science the volume before us cannot be other than 
a disappointment. The President, indeed, speaks hopefully, and 
notes the “ acquisition of new and energetic working members 
who have taken up investigation and research.” But as to any 
results the volume before us is silent. 
