Microscopical Society of Victoria. 
43 
one branch of microscopical science. As has been remarked by 
one of our members, on a previous occasion, “ The observer who 
works out and records the life-history of any one of the simplest 
forms of minute animals, 'will have done more for science than a 
whole host of Diatomaniacs.” And again, when we consider that 
here in Australia the scientific observer lias at his feet whole 
worlds of undescribed life, where everything is new and strange, 
nothing can be advanced to excuse him from setting to work 
steadily and usefully to record his observations by means of 
papers for publication by this or kindred societies. He will find 
helping hands around him, and soon discover that his work is 
useful, and that it will be eagerly accepted and acknowledged by 
more able and learned workers in other parts of the world. 
I fear that I have allowed myself to run too far in the direction 
of a homily, and that my few opening remarks will be considered 
anything but introductory to the subject of this paper. I will 
only say further that it must not be supposed that, in collecting the 
Polyzoa here described, I met with no other objects of interest, 
each haul of the dredge or scraper brought up literally myriads 
of minute forms of life, consequently the pages of my note-book, 
scant though they be, are not wholly occupied by notes on Polyzoa , 
but embrace observations on a variety of other objects well worth 
the attention of any student. From these notes I have, however, 
selected only such as refer to the favourite object of my study, the 
Polyzoa . 
The most of the species, some twenty, which I was so fortunate 
as to secure alive, were obtained from the piles of the jetty at 
Portland some thirteen years ago. And, as evidence of the wealth 
of life in these waters, I may instance a piece of Retepora , in size 
about the bulk of two fists, which comprised within itself a 
veritable museum of curiosities. It contained tiny starfishes of 
lovely hues, serpulce and terrehellw of different sorts, nerides , 
sp07irjes> two sertularians , several minute crustaceans, and a variety 
of molluscs, besides other things I had not time to identify. Why, 
here alone was work for a week ! But Polyzoa was my chief 
object, so I placed a small piece of the Retepora , with a little sea 
water, in a common watch glass under the microscope. What a 
sight was there ! No diatoms were ever half so lovely. Fancy a 
