i88s.] 
Analyses of Books . 
617 
We note with mingled feelings the proposal for the establish- 
ment of a biological station in the neighbourhood of Sydney. 
We are certain that such an institution could not fail to yield 
results of the highest interest and value. The unworked field 
in every department of biology is in that region immense and 
fruitful. But we cannot help feeling a certain share of humilia- 
tion that this praiseworthy undertaking should have been left to 
be set about by a foreigner — the celebrated Russian traveller, 
Baron Maclay — and that his zeal should hitherto have met with 
but a cool response. The Government has granted an eligible 
site at Watson’s Bay, and has engaged to double the subscrip- 
tions up to £300, but the necessary £300 has not yet been made 
up. A small beginning has been made in a cottage, affording 
five work-rooms. It is not intended, as in Dr. Dohrn’s far-famed 
station at Naples, to make a charge for each work-table or room, 
but it is proposed that every naturalist making use of the building 
should pay, say, 5s., weekly towards current expenses. Baron 
Maclay remarks that the “time has arrived when mere collecting 
should be abandoned, and when the great aim of scientific 
travellers should be observation and investigation, exercised im- 
mediately and upon the spot.” He considers that “ next after 
the tropics the widest field offered to the investigator of nature, 
and consequently the most suitable region for the establish- 
ment of zoological stations, is Australia.” May we not 
hope that some among that numerous class of our readers 
who are specially interested in biological research will see 
their way to aid in the establishment of the Watson’s Bay 
Station ? 
The papers in the present number of the Society’s “ Pro- 
ceedings ” are “ The Climate of Mackay,” a port on the east 
coast of Queensland, by H. L. Roth, F.M.S. ; “ Notes of a 
Journey on the Darling,” by Mr. W. E. Abbott, a record of topo- 
graphical and geological observations, with important sugges- 
tions on the greatest practical problem of Australia, — the 
obtaining an ample and constant supply of water. The Rev. P. 
McPherson contributes a paper on the “ Astronomy of the 
Australian Aborigines.” Mr. H. C. Russell writes on the 
“ Spedtrum and Appearance of the Recent Comet.” The same 
author communicates memoirs on “ New Double Stars and 
Measures,” and on the “ Transit of Mercury of November, 1881.” 
Mr. W. A. Dixon, F.C.S., gives some interesting particulars on 
the “ Inorganic Constituents of Epiphytic Ferns,” the result of 
his inquiries being that the fronds contain a much larger propor- 
tion of mineral matter than would be looked for in plants growing 
not in diredt contadt with the soil. Baron von Mueller, F.R.S., 
contributes a “ Census of the Genera of Plants Indigenous to 
Australia,” — a document valuable for reference, but of course 
unsuitable for quotation or discussion. 
“Notes on Wool,” by P. N.Trebeck, contains some interesting 
VOL. IV. (THIRD SERIES). 2S 
