80 THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST, 
After the release, however, they just stayed a few minutes 
combing out the proboscis, and then flew away. The time 
of imprisonment was usually from five to ten minutes. 
The longest time I noted was a little over ten minutes, and 
then release came in an unexpected way, just when I was 
beginning to think the fly was exhausted. Until then, it 
seemed to me that the best way was a straight pull over 
the centre; but release came when the fly had got down 
on the oyum and the proboscis was bent with a sharp 
curve between the petals. It may be that the legs of the 
fly are not long enough to exert the necessary force in the 
other position. I noted that none of the honey bee, A. 
mellifica, were ever held. This led me to examine the 
proboscis of both insects. The Drone fly has a very long 
proboscis, with a sort of hook at the end, which is not 
present on that of the bee; and this is evidently the rea- 
son why the fly is held and the bee not. The larvae of 
the Drone fly are those white larvae with long, rat-like 
tails, common in foul, stagnant water. 
C. Puiuuies Frost. 
Kew, Melbourne, 
28th Dec., 1913. 
OBITUARY, 
THE Lare J. R. GARLAND, M.A.—Towards the: end of Feb- 
ruary of this year, our Society sustained a great loss by the death 
of our member Mr. J. R. Garland. Mr. Garland was one of the 
founders of the present Naturalists’ Society, its first Hon. Trea- 
surer, for some time a Vice-President, and during almost the whole 
existence of the Society a member of Council. ‘Though on several 
occasions it was the desire of the members to elect him President, 
he could not be prevailed upon to accept the position. During the 
early days of the Society he was always ready with sound advice 
and assistance, and for several years the meetings of the Council 
were held at his office. He frequently brought most interesting 
exhibits and notes to our meetings, and was of material assistance 
to beginners at our excursions on account of his wide botanical 
knowledge: only in the previous part of this journal did he make 
a contribution to our Natural History knowledge. Towards the 
close of his long and useful life, he further showed his interest and 
sympathy with our Society by presenting us with his copies of the 
Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. Our most 
Sincere sympathies are extended to Mrs. Garland, who has generously 
presented to our library many valuable Natural History works 
possessed by our friend. 
—G. ATW. 
