228 THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 
Four parts of our official journal, “The Australian Natura- 
list,’ have been published during the year. We are indebted 
to the Hon. Editor, Mr. T. Steel, for his services in maintain- 
ing the high standard of the journal. 
Mr. P. D. Murray, the Hon. Librarian, has completed ‘a 
catalogue of the books and periodicals, which it is proposed to 
have printed. 
Epwin CHEEL, 
Hon. Secretary. 
NOTES ON THE ORCHIDS OF NEW SOUTH WALBS.” 
Summary or Presrpenrran Appress By A. G. Hamiuron. 
Orchids are the most beautitul and interesting of our native 
plants. Their wonderful structure, bizarre shapes, and brilliant 
coloring impress even the most casual observer. ‘They are very 
well worth observing on this account, and from the fact that 
they are gradually passing away, particularly in the neighbor- 
hood of Sydney. The clearing of suburban lands for building 
has wiped out many species once common. ‘They appear to 
have very little power of resistance. When land is broken 
up, many native plants spring up again, either from the roots 
or from seeds lying in the ground. But the orchid roots when 
disturbed, do not recover, and although they produce innumer- ° 
able seeds, seedling plants are very rare. ‘The seeds are so 
minute that only under an extraordinarily rare set of cireum- 
stances do they ever germinate. 
Curiously enough, one of our rarer orchids—S‘piranthes 
Australis—does appear to be able to recover from disturbance. 
I have found plants in a field which had been cultivated, on the 
side of a railway embankment, and once near Bell railway 
station, growing among the stones between the rails. 
They are very widely distributed, being found all over the 
world except in the Frigid Zones, and in the tropics they are 
particularly plentiful and very gorgeous. 
New South Wales is rich in species, 176 distributed among 
39 genera. Some are very restricted in their habitat. In a 
sheltered gully near Mudgee, I once found a patch of leaves 
which I took to be Corysanthes, but on mentioning it to the 
late Mr. R. D. Fitzgerald, he told me it was very unlikely as 
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