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Published by the Gordon Technical College and the Allied Associations.

VOL. II.-No. 4.

JULY, 1897.

No. 8.

All communications to be addressed to the Editor, Mr. H. E. Hill, at the Gordon Technical College, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.

The Editor is not responsible for the statements in any paper.

NOTES.

The following note is supplied by Mr. J. Hammerton :"On March 8th, 1897, while returning from Torquay (Spring Creek), I noticed a pair of Black Cockatoos feeding on the seeds of the grass trees. This is the first time that I have noticed them on the Grass Tree Plain."

At the Conference of delegates of the corresponding societies of the British Association, Liverpool, 1896, perhaps the most original paper read was one by Mr. W. M. Flinders Petrie "On a Federal Staff for Local Museums." The author advocated the formation of "a federal staff to circulate for all purposes requiring skilled knowledge, leaving the permanent attention to each place to devolve on a mere caretaker." By this arrangement "each museum would have a week of attention in the year from a geologist, and the same from a zoologist and an archæologist." The duties of such a staff would be to arrange and label the new specimens acquired in the past year, taking sometimes a day, or perhaps a fortnight at one place; to advise on alterations and improvements; to recommend purchases required to fill up gaps; to note duplicates, and promote exchanges between museums; and to deliver a lecture on the principal novelties of their own subject in the past year. "The effect at the country museums would be that three times in the year a visitant would arrive for one of the three sections, would work everything up to date, stir the local interest by advice and a lecture, stimulate the caretaker, and arrange routine work that could be carried out before the next year's visit, and yet would not cost more than having down three lecturers for the local institution or society apart from this work.”

Zoologist, March, 1897.

Mr. J. A. Hill supplies the following note on the stumptailed lizard :- "The stump-tailed lizard is among the most interesting of Australian Reptiles. It has been well described by Prof. McCoy with its method of breeding. It is also called the "sleepy lizard" on account of its sluggish movements. During the winter it remains in a complete state of torpor from April till about September; its food consists chiefly of flowers when these are obtainable, and at other times it eats a flat fungus. When confined it will eat meat and will become quite docile. Unlike many of the lower creatures it has little or no regard for its offspring, leaving them to fight their battles alone soon after they are born. A remarkable instance of this came under my notice on the 7th of April last; while cutting a rabbit out of a log I came across a female and two young ones apparently only a day or two old; while observing them one of the young ones walked near its mother's mouth which she immediately opened; the young one put its head in her mouth when, to my surprise, she immediately closed it, killing the young one instantly.

Thinking she might have been mistaken as to her young one I put the other young one near her, when she again opened her mouth and, with her vice-like squeeze, killed it in an instant, thus showing that she had no maternal regard for her offspring. Perhaps this little incident may give food for thought to some of your Natural History readers.

In the Wombat of April 1896, page 71, in some notes on the museum Xmas camp for 1895-6, it is stated that a pinkbreasted robin (Erythrodryas rhodinogaster) was secured at the Phantom Falls, its nest being visible in a blackwood, but inaccessible. Some doubt having arisen as to this skin, it was submitted to Mr. A. J. Campbell, who kindly indentified it for us as the rose robin (E. rosea). As the pink robin was secured near the Erskine Falls by the museum camp of Xmas 1893, it appears that both of these birds inhabit the Otway Forest. The camp party missed a good thing in not securing that nest, as the eggs of E. rosea were not discovered till the following

season.

The German Zoological Society has planned a work which shall contain an account of all known species of recent animals described up to the present time. The work, Das ThierreichThe Animal Kingdom--has already begun to appear. It is roughly estimated that 96 volumes of 800 pages each will be required, so that the work is hardly suitable for a private liability.

Contributed.

The Number of Recent Species of Animals. The editor of the Zoological Record, with the assistance of his staff of recorders, last year made an estimate of the number of described species of recent animals. The numbers are as follows:

Reintensification. "What can be done to reintensify a negative which has been intensified with mercury and ammonia and is not dense enough? Bleach the negative in the mercury solution, and then, after washing, apply Schlippe's salts 24 grains, ammonia 5 minims, water 2 oz., and wash well and dry. Photographic News.

Makeshift Weights. A new sovereign weighs 123 274 grains, a shilling 87.273 grains, forty eight pennies 1 lb. avoir., a halfpenny and a threepenny piece oz., a florin and a sixpence oz., three pennies 1 oz., four half-crowns and a shilling 2 oz., four florins, one half-crown, and two pennies 4 oz.

Photographic News.