156 THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 
white nail-tailed kangaroos were bred in Sydney, and Mr. 
H. Ll. White, of Belltrees, has a race of white opossums. 
The pouched mice and smaller flying phalangers, ban- 
dicoots, etc., have an economic value in that they are 
insectivorous, and assist in keeping insect pests in check. 
A great deal yet remains to be done in studying the 
habits and life-histories of our animals; little has been 
done in this direction, and I would appeal to anyone who 
has the opportunity not to lose any chance of adding to 
our knowledge of the subject. 
AROIDS FROM STANWELL PARK. 
By A. A. Haminron. 
The following are notes on two interesting Aroids 
from Stanwell Park, viz., Typhonium Brownti, Schott, and 
Gymnostachys anceps, R.Br., ‘‘Settlers-flax.’”’ In the 
family Aroidex the inflorescence normally consists of two 
series of unisexual flowers, accompanied by a number of 
neutral organs, variously arranged on a spike (spadix), 
the latter usually enclosed in a spatha, of which the large 
white floral envelope of the ‘‘Arum,”’ or ‘‘Calla,’’ Lily, 
iichardia africana, Kunth, is an example. The spatha of 
TY. Brownii is naturally a dull flesh-colour, but is evi- 
dently susceptible of improvement by cultivation, as a 
. coloured plate in Curtis’ Bot. Mag., of a plant grown 
at Kew, delineates a spatha of a rich, glowing purple. The 
true flowers are insignificant in size, the pistillate ones 
placed at the base of the spadix, a series of neutral organs 
immediately above, and a bare interval of about an inch 
between the latter and the staminate flowers. G. anceps, 
the only representative of a genus which is endemic in 
Australia, differs from the typical Aroid. in two impor- 
tant characters. In the place of an individual spadix, it 
possesses a series, and instead of the usual prominent 
coloured spatha, a scarious bract, minute when present. 
but frequently undeveloped, subtends the spadices. 
\ NOTES ON STICTACE A. 
By KE. Cuegn. 
In 1772, John Reinhold Forster and his son, George 
Forster, both well-known botanists of their days, left the 
