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THE PRICKLY PEAR. 
Institute has prepared a scheme for attacking the problem anew. 
Recently an agreement was completed whereby the Commonwealth 
Government agreed to pay £4,000 per annum for a period of five years, 
and the States of Queensland and New South Wales to each pay £2,000 
per annum for a similar period, for research work into the possibility of 
eradicating the pear. It is proposed that the work will be carried out 
under the control of a chief investigator who will receive a salary of 
£1,200 per annum, while a special Committee representing the Govern- 
ments of Queensland and New South Wales and the Institute will be 
appointed to control the expenditure of money and the business side 
of the investigations. 
i as ae a 
Photo. by A. T. Clerk, Lands Dept., Brisoane. 
THE PEST PEAR (Opuntia inermis), showing dense pear in open forest country. 
_ Ina bulletin dealing with the prickly pear issued by the Institute, it 
was pointed out by Mr. W. B. Alexander, M.A., that enemies of plants 
may be divided into two classes, namely those which live on a great 
variety of plants, which may be called omnivorous vegetarians, and 
those which can only live on a particular species of plant or plants of 
a single natural family, which may be called restricted vegetarians. 
He states that this distinction should be carefully borne in mind when 
discussing the possibility of utilizing natural enemies for the destruc- 
tion of vegetable pests. Owing to the fact that many forms of life 
introduced into Australia have become widely destructive to a great 
variety of plants, a strong feeling has grown up adverse to the intro- 
duction of any more foreign animals of any kind whatsoever. There 
is, however, no introduced animal whose destructive habits in Australia 
47 
