2 THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 
Fresh flowering specimens of VPoranthera corymbosa ang 
Cassinia denticulata from Hill Top. j 
The President announced that Mr. C. J. White had very. 
kindly offered to act as honorary lanternist to the Society, ang 
on the recommendation of the Council it was resolved that 
Mr. White be elected an honorary member. 
2nd December, 1913. Mr. A. G. Hamilton (president 
in the chair. About 47 members ana visitors were present, 
Miss Preston and Mr. P. O’Hara were elected memberg_ 
Rev. W. W. Watits delivered a lecture on ““A Fern Hunt 
in Northern Queensland.’’ The lecture was illustrated with g 
large collection of mounted ferns, including several species. 
probably new to science. Mr. Watts described the ravines ang 
gullies in the neighbourhood of Mount Bartle Frere and other 
localities, and gave an interesting and instructive account of 
the habits and structure of ferns. A cordial vote of thanks to, 
Mr. Watts was carried by acclamation. 
The exhibits were:—Mr. E. Cheel. skin of the so-calleq 
Australian Flying Mouse or Pigmy Flying Oppossum ~ 
[Petaurus (Acrobata) pygmaeus] killed by a cat at Hill Top 
also specimens of “‘cuckoo”’ or “‘frog-spit’’ on plants; Mr, (em 
A. Waterhouse, a fine series of butterflies representing the. 
sub-species of Zistphone abeona; Mrs. Wyndier Edmunds 
caterpillars from Hanging Rock Gravel Pits affected by the. 
parasitic fungus Cordyceps, and Potamides ebenoea with 
attached oysters; Mr. E. J. Bickford, West Australian ‘“‘Black 
Kangaroo Paw’’ (Macropidia fumosa), with a note thereon . 
MissG. H. Froggatt read a note on Thynnus variabilis ; Mr. 
Hamilton, herbarium specimens of Gompholobium uncinatum, 
Billardiera scandens, Asplenium adiantoides, and Grevilleg 
phylicoides, with notes thereon; Mr. H. E. Finckh, diamonds. 
from an old river bed above Cope’s Creek and from ironstone 
at Copeton diamond fields, where they are associated with 
quartz, tin, garnets, tourmaline, sapphires, etc. 
A list of names of aquatic and semi-aquatic plants, com- 
piled and sent from England by Miss Tobin, was laid on the 
table for the use of members. Several of these occur in this 
State, and it is intended to introduce some of the more desir- 
able of the other species. 
THE NATURALIST PAST AND PRESENT. 
(Summary of Presidential Address). 
By E. 8. Edwards, M.A. 
There is a fascination in the endeavour to discover how 
primitive people accounted for the phenomena of nature. How 
did they explain the glory of the spring, the summer heat, the 
falling of the leaf, and the cold hand of winter The 
