THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 171 
that Bentham regarded Brown’s P. dubia as a starved form of 
P. cucullata, but that further observations may enable the two to 
be kept as distinct. Whether the plant I collected on Mount 
Wellington and the higher levels of Mount Barrow is identical 
with Brown’s P. dubia I am not in a position to say, but I ven- 
ture to think there are greater specific differences between it and 
P. cucullata. than those which separate some other acknowledged 
species. Even in the dried state the plants are very dissimilar, 
and the disparity is more marked in the living plants. It may 
be noticed that both are summer-flowering, but the high-level 
plant, living from two to three thousand feet above the other, 
has finished flowering when the other is just coming to maturity. 
NATURALISTS’ SOCIETY. 
TEACHERS’ COLLEGE BRANCH. 
Exeursion to Kurnell. 
On Friday, November 9th, a small party of Training Col- 
lege students, under the leadership of Mr. A. G. Hamilton, em- 
barked on an excursion to Kurnell. Catching the 2.15 p.m. 
launch from La Perouse the trip across the Bay proved very 
enjoyable, albeit the water was choppy under the force of a 
stiff westerly wind. On this account none of the water-loving 
species of life were observed. 
Great was the disappointment of the party at Kurnell 
jetty, when they learned that permission to gather flowers in 
the protected area had been refused. However, as there was 
much to see, and (owing to the inconvenience of the launch 
service) very little time in which to see it, this slight gloom 
was soon dispelled by an all-engrossing interest, not only in the 
abundant flora, but also in the even more plenteous insect life. 
Indeed, honeysuckle flowers could not be distinguished from 
their foliage without close scrutiny, because of thousands of 
hawk and noctuidae moths seeking seclusion there. 
Vine moths abounded in every sunlit space and magnificent 
butterflies tempted the all too clumsy students to ensnare them. 
The most lethargic of these latter—Precis vellida— were “bottled” 
on a wholesale scale. 
Kurnell, being sparsely inhabited, the billions of assorted 
flies and colossal mosquitoes—some of the latter outrivalling 
the renowned “Hexham Greys’—welcomed the party as fair 
