460 
Miscellanea. 
a few clays ago at Trevallyn, near Launceston; so far supporting 
Mr. Gunn's statement, made at the last meeting of the Society, 
that this animal has become naturalized in Tasmania, and may 
soon be added to the list of our Fauna. 
Lieut. M. C. Friend, R.N., produced five species of Echinidce 
found at George Town. 
Read from the London Colonial Gazette of March, 1845, 
“ Papers on the Progress of Discovery in Australia"—vide Tasm . 
Journ., vol. 2, p. 384. 
August 20, 1845. 
Mr. Ronald C. Gunn read a paper “ On the probable cause of 
the destruction of the forests of Eucalypti in the lower levels of 
Tasmania." Mr. Gunn observed that the death of the forests of 
gum trees (Eucalyptus) at Quamby's, Formosa, Epping Forest, 
and many other localities in the settled districts of the island had 
been attributed by Mr. James Backhouse, Lieut. Breton, and 
other writers, to various causes, such as long continued drought, 
severe frost, depasturing the land by sheep and cattle, and 
electricity, but Mr. Gunn was of opinion that they were all 
destroyed by an insect—but the species at present unknown— 
most likely allied to the Scolytus destructor . The insect 
seems to penetrate the bark of the Eucalypti, and then cut 
innumerable channels in all directions in the inner bark and soft 
wood so as to prevent the circulation of the sap : their operations 
being precisely similar, except as to the form and direction of the 
channels, to those of the Scolytus destructor , as described by Mr. 
W. S. Macleay. Mr. Gunn further observed that the death of 
the forests in the alpine regions of the colony was caused by a 
severe frost in the winter of 1836. 
Mr. Gunn exhibited a specimen of Hapalotis albipcs, Licht ., 
received from Portland Bay, south coast of New Holland ; and of 
which animal an interesting account is given by Mr. Ogilby in the 
Linnean Transactions, vol. 18, p. 124. 
Mr. Gunn read an extract from a letter from Dr. E. C. Hobson, 
Port Phillip, dated August 1,1845, wherein that gentleman states, 
“ A fossil bone of gigantic dimensions has been brought to 
Melbourne from one of the salt lakes near Colac; it is the distal 
end of a femur, and upwards of ten inches in diameter. The 
bone is beautifully fossilized, and the articulation and outline are 
as sharp and perfect as if it had been only yesterday removed from 
the living animal. I suppose it is the femur of the Diprotodon ." 
September 3, 1845. 
The Secretary read a paper “ On Solar Radiation, with a 
description of the Actinometer," by Lieut. J. H. Kay, R. N., 
Director of the Magnetical Observatory, Hobart. 
