THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 45 
A matter which calls for the active attention of all lovers of 
nature in Australia is the preservation of the native fauna. The 
indiscriminate and wanton destruction of birds and mammals 
which is now going on over the length and breadth of the land 
is appalling. It is bad enough when introduced pests like the 
fox are threatening the absolute extinction of such characteristic 
birds as the lyre-bird, but when to this is added the meaningless 
slaughter, for the mere sake of killing, of anything, be it bird or 
mammal, which is capable of being shot, by the so-called sports- 
man, it is surely time to calla halt. A member of this Society 
put the case excellently when, in speaking of the purposeless 
killing of the native bear, he said:—“A man who can go and 
shoot bears for the fun of it should feelat home witha gunamong 
a flock of sheep.” To this must be added the inadvertent destruc- 
tion of native animals through poison laid for rabbits. By the 
careless use of poison, either in baits or in water, enormous 
numbers of our native mammals and birds ave being killed, and 
as the latter include some of the most valuable insectivorous 
species, their destruction must have its inevitable result in the 
undue multiplication of noxious insects which will exact a heavy 
toll from the crops of the agriculturist. As a community we 
seem strangely slow to learn by experience. The introduction of 
sheep and cattle, to say nothing of rabbits, has been a profound 
factor in altering the balance of nature in Australia, and when 
in addition useful and harmless creatures alike are persecuetd 
out of existence in a spirit of mere idle brutality, it is little to 
be wondered at that nature retaliates in no uncertain way. 
CURRENT LITERATURE. 
By the Editor. 
Workers in the various fields of biological research continue as 
active as ever, and so far as Australian naturalists are con- 
cerned, new recruits are entering the field. Among the latter 
we note, and welcome, Mr. Allan McCulloch, of Sydney, who 
in collaboration with Mr. F..E. Grant, F.L.S., has recently 
contributed to the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New 
South Wales, Part I., 1906,—a valuable memoir. The paper 
quoted, “ On a Collection of Crustacea from the Port Curtis 
District, Queensland,’ by I". K. Grant, F.U.S., and Allan R. 
McCulloch, is the first of an interesting series by these co- 
workers that will be fully appreciated by all interested in 
this branch of zoological investigation, For many years our 
native Odonata had been a neglected group, but this is now 
being worked up by Mr. R. J. Tillyard, B.A., who last year 
contributed several valuable papers dealing with life-histori 
etc., of Australian Dragon-flies; these will be found in 
XXX. of the Proceedings quoted above, together with 
