THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 99 
‘spent the week-end, and did some valuable collecting; the 
other at Easter, when the members camped at Wamberal. 
This was a very great success, and the four Haster holidays 
were spent in various excursions in the neighbourhood of one 
of the most beautiful localities on the New South Wales 
coast. So successful were these excursions that we look for- 
ward to others during the coming Summer. 
The Council of the Club organised the Science Section | 
of the Girls’ Realm Guild at the Sydney Town Hall, and the © 
lecturers were members of the Club. 
Mr. Cheel was elected Librarian during the year, and 
is now cataloguing the books and thoroughly organising the 
Library. 
Mr. W. J. Rainbow resigned the position of Editor of 
‘tthe Glub Journal, and his resignation was accepted by the 
Council with extreme regret. For many years he has edited 
the Journal with conspicuous success, but increased pressure 
of work compelled him to relinquish the work. Mr. T. Steel, 
F.L.S., was elected to fill the position. 
EXCURSION TO ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. 
‘On Saturday, 8th July, the members went to the Zoo., on 
the invitation of the Director, Mr. A. S. le Souef. The 
visitors, of whom there was a large party, were met at the 
gate by Mr. le Souef, who personally conducted them round 
the gardens, and in a most interesting manner imparted a 
great amount of information. The first item to be brought 
under our notice was a comparison of a number of skins of 
the common ‘‘opossum,’”? Trichosurus vulpecula, showing 
variation due to environment. Skins of this animal, intro- 
duced 23 years ago to New Zealand from Tasmania, now 
have the fur long and hairy, and of a distinctly blacker 
colour than is the case in Tasmania, where the fur is dense 
and woolly, and more valuable commercially. 
In the marsupial section of the gardens, living examples 
of the Great Red Kangaroo, Macropus rufus, were pointed 
out, illustrating the change in colour due to the animals 
having been brought from their natural habitat in the in- 
terior of New South Wales. In their native haunts, these 
creatures are of a bright tawny red colour, which «under the 
greener and moister conditions of the Sydney gardens soon 
changes to a sombre grey, the red tint disappearing. A 
sub-species, Var. occidentalis, occurring in the dry, sandy 
North-West of Australia, is coloured a brighter red still than 
-the New South Wales form. 
it is interesting to note, too, that in captivity various 
