177 
Supplement. 
Mr. H. A. Hunt, Commonwealth Meteorologist, Melbourne, to whom my 1909 
paper (Royal Society of N.S.W.) was submitted, writes as follows concerning it. In 
regard to the suggestion as to communicating with entomologists and ornithologists, 
the present paper is entirely preliminary in character, and it is hoped that it may reach 
observers who deal with the subjects named : 
Department of Home Affairs, 
Meteorological Bureau, 
Central Office, Melbourne, 
DEAR MR. MAIDEN, 23rd August, 1909. 
It is very kind indeed of you to accord me the privilege of perusing your paper entitled "A Plea 
for the Study of Phonological Phenomena in Australia." I hail with pleasure any effort that will induce 
the residents of Australia to take this matter up, and record systematically the seasonal peculiarities of 
plant, insect, and bird life. After all, these phenomena are in some respects a truer index of the character 
of the season, they are the result of a complexity of elements that go to make climate, and which results 
cannot adequately be gauged by the mere tabulation and discussion of figures of the few elements of which 
we only have instrumental records. 
These are often found contradictory when compared with animal and cereal statistics. The cause 
of these contradictions is probably due to factors that we know operate, such as insolation, ionization, &c., 
for which we have no satisfactory means of acquiring knowledge on an extended scale, and probably also, 
to a number of unknown influences, the character of which will only be brought to light by a systematic 
study of phenological peculiarities of seasons. 
At the inception of the Commonwealth Meteorological service, I invited our esteemed observers, 
who now number some 5,000, to include any phenological phenomena with their ordinary weather notes. 
The request has not been very encouragingly replied to. 
It must be remembered that in our country districts, we have no leisured class, and I fear that, from 
occasional remarks furnished with returns, the recording of fundamental' climatological data becomes at 
times irksome, and a tax upon the time of many of our worthy settlers ; I have, therefore, hesitated to 
press for phenological observations. 
It may be that if a tabulation and grouping into districts of plants, insects, and birds, such as you 
suggest, were supplied to observers, it would stimulate an interest and facilitate a study of the subject. 
This Department has neither the material nor the qualification to classify and locate the plant, insect and 
bird life of Australia, but should the work be undertaken, I will gladlydistribute such with our usual annual 
supplies to observers, and plead again with them for co-operation in this interesting and valuable science. 
To place your views effectively and completely, would it not be advisable to consult with the entomologists 
and ornithologists of the various States before submitting the question to observers ? 
Honey and Eucalyptus Flowers. 
Taken as a whole, Eucalyptus trees flower freely and have a good nectar yield. 
Individual species are not gregarious as a rule, but E. rostrata of the Murray and other 
inland rivers, E. crebra of Northern New South Wales are exceptions. Turning to 
Western Australia, so also are E. marginata (Jarrah), E. diversicolor (Karri), and 
E. calophylla (Red Gum), also trees which are found preponderatingly in certain limited 
areas. 
We know little of the honey-yielding potentialities of the dense scrubs of 
Eucalyptus the Mallees of the Eastern States and the Marlocks of Western Australia. 
The notes which follow show what a wide field there is for investigation in regard to 
the native trees and other plants interesting to the bee-keeper in Australia. 
H 
