=: 
SCIENCE AND INDUSTRY. 
THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF QUEENSLAND. 
At the June meeting Mr. H. A. Longman, F.L.S., exhibited a number of marsupial 
crania, showing variations in the perforations of the cribriform plate, and pointed out 
that members of the Polyprotodontia (Perameles,-Myrmecobius, Thylacinus, Sarcophilus, 
Dasyurus, Phascologale, &c.) were characterized by the presence of two major perforations 
situated near the superior median margin. 
Mr. CG. T. White, F.L.S., exhibited (1) pieces of the'stem of Vitis acris F.v.M. When 
collecting in the Rosedale district recently Mr. Schmieden had told him that when the 
stem of this vine was chewed, the tongue and lips became inflamed, the secretion of saliva 
was increased, and intense pain ensued. (2) Seeds of Macrozanomia macrocarpa Cogn., 
‘collected in the Aru Islands by Mr. Snowden, who had forwarded them to Mr..M. J. 
Colclough, of the Queensland Museum. Mr. Snowden stated that these beautifully 
winged seeds were sometimes found floating about in the air 10 miles out to sea, and 
not uncommonly fell on schooners’ decks. The exhibitor stated that he had observed 
specimens on the road between Bioto and Mafulu, in Papua, while collecting in that 
region. ‘The seeds had previously been described by the late F. M. Bailey in the Society’s 
Proceedings (xviii., 3) as those of an unknown Bignoniaceous plant. For the correct 
identification Mr. White was indebted to the Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, 
Kew (Lieut.-Colonel Sir D. Prain), who, in forwarding the determination, stated that an 
article on this interesting plant had been prepared for an early number of the Kew 
Bulletin. ; 
Mr. W. D. Francis read a paper on ‘‘ The Origin of Black Coatings of Iron and Man - 
ganese Oxides on Rocks.” The author described black coatings of iron and manganese 
oxides on rocks in streams of the dense rain forests of the Kin Kin District (which is 
situated in the coastal belt, about 100 miles north of Brisbane), and stated that it is 
highly probable that they are the altered remains of a fine, red, rock-incrusting alga 
' (Hildenbrandtia). This conclusion is supported by the following facts :—(a).The cor- 
respondence in distribution of the black coatings and the incrusting alga ; (b) comparability 
of thickness of the black coating and the alga ; and (c) the presence of the cellular structure 
of the alga in 50 per cent. of the examples of the black coating rendered transparent by 
hydrochloric acid. Coatings of apparently similar chemical composition observed by 
- Humboldt, Darwin, and others on rocks in the Orinoco, at Bahia, and in the Nile and 
Congo are briefly referred to, and it is suggested that they may be the remains of incrusting 
organisms. 
