\ THE PROCEEDhNGS OF THK LiNNEnn Society OF iNevv South Wales FOR THE YEAR 1911 Vol. XXXVI. WITH THIRTY-ONE PLATES SYDNEY : PKINTKD AND PUBLISHED FOR THE .SOCIETY BV \V. A. PFiPPERDAY Sz CO, 119a PITT STREET A.ND SOLD BV THE SOCIETY 1912 001^0 W. A PEPPKKDAY AND CO , GENERAL PRINTERS, 119a PITT STREET, SYDNEY. CONTENTS OF PROCEEDINGS, 1911. PART I. (No. 141). (/.ssfted August ink, 1911). PAGE Presidential Address delivered at the Thirty-sixth Annual General Meeting, March 29th, 1911, including "A Study of Marginal Drainage" (p. 13), by C. Hedlky, F.L.S. (Plate ii.) 1-39 A new Smut [?7.s<^7agfo ewa?-;S, 1911. Plate I. — Ustilago ewarti, McAlp. Plate II. — Models illustratiug the Transformation of Drainage, from radial to marginal. Plate ui. — Bancrojtiella tenuis, n.sp. Plate IV. — Choanotoinia meliphagidarum, n.sp. Plate V. — Anomottenia ruinochtti, n.sp. Plate VI. — Davainea himantopodis, n.sp. Plate VII. — Illustratini^ the life-hi.stoiy of Petalnra gitjantta Leach. Plate VIII. — Platycilibe brevi.s, n.sp. Plate IX. — Piltosporum undulatum. Plate X. — Rare Australian Cordidiince. Plates XI. -XII. — ('ordidephyamontana and C. pygmcea. Plate.s XIII. -XVI. — Hmmatozoa of Australian Reptilia. Plate XVII. — AiLslralian Coleoptera. Plate XVIII. —The Peali.s, Yerranderie (looking west from the AVoUondilly River). Plates XIX. -XX. — Diphlehia spp. Plates XXI -XXV. — Fibro- vascular System of the Apple(Pome). Plates XXVI. XXIX. — Fibro- vascular System of the Pear(Pome). Plates XXX -XXXI. — Favoxites tripora, n.sp. LIST OF NEW GENERIC NAMES PROPOSED IN THIS V0LUME(1911). PAGK PAGE i47m^/ia7«7ia[Lepidoptera] ... 261 , Lathrocordidia\0(\ox\a,ta.'\ 3/8 .(4ressit/c([tIymenopiera] ... 350 Nedino>ichiza[}iy mano^xeroJ] ... 353 Bancroftitlla{K\\\.ozo-A\ . . ... 56 Pa?a/i«(/(ie/»'a[Hymenoptera] .. 653 BracAya7J/^e[ColeopteraJ . 207 \ /'^a<«/ci^i6e[ColeopLera] ... 205 Cliromeurytoma\\iyn\esno'pt&rdJ\ 648 i Prococo7ii.«[I^epidoptera] 250 Co//ace7-o^^o»'a.r[Coleoptera] £'/>jr>"/ia;c«[Lepiciopteia] //er7«e»u'a.s[ f^epidoptera] //erp.y.s/ijXL'fpidoptera] H eiiperocordulia[(h\on-Atti] 450 ! Ptti uidora [Lepidoptera] ... 285 293 iiW/fico;«[Mallophaga] ... 324 225 244 375 /?ic/to/trt/i!ifeWa[ H^'menopiera] 637 iVs^ - - © s - . -t? 1? IB I 8 . N -® - - © d ) # ® . © i o-^' _ . ? 8 . 3 .' - - © s '. - s ■ ■ © 1 ■^ a ) 9 - '^ , .©/■' - © Ml ■ ? ? ■ I;-"" 1 1 1 ...--■■■' ^ 2 i •* ^^ ©§• © 5 1 1 7 "■■■.. . t-- "1 .n s. ■■•..8 , ■ 1 president's address. 19 Marine Plains of Curtis Island are considered by residents to show a recent elevation.* Thoiigh the Carpenter Deep extends downwards to 2450 fathoms, it is shown by the temperature soundings of the "Challenger" to be an enclosed basin of the Mediterranean type up to the level of 1300 fathoms. A ridge, yet unsur- veyed, evidently runs eastwards from the Great Barrier Reef, parting the Thomson from the Carpenter Deep. It is here proposed to name this the Capricorn Ridge. Eastern Australia is regarded by Mr. E. C. Andrews! as a "geographical unity'' whose salient feature is a simple convexly curved coast. From this he deduced that move- ments would proceed from the land seawards. That unity appears to me to be divisible into halves, one of which is dominated by the Carpenter ; the other by the Thomson Deep ; the former being the younger and more active depres- sion. So I should interpret the convex curve of Andrews as composed of two straight or conravr lines, according to the depth of the submarine contour level selected. One of these is inter-tropical, the other extra-tropical and each again con- sists of series of smaller concavities. The longest rivers of Eastern Australia, the Fitzroy and the Burdekin, occur opposite the broadest expanse of the shelf. I suggest that the bread th of the shelf has presierved the Jenffth of these rivers and presents it as a submarine but- tress maintaining a buttressed area. (Fig. 3.) Probably this part of the shelf continues to exist rather from the avoidance than from the resistance of j^ressure. Festoons of islands and a dissected coast indicate that subsidence has occurred. So that the escape from pressure, even within this broadest shelf has been partial, not complete. The outline of the shelf and the islands that it carries shew that it cannot * AiuJrews, These Proceedings, xxvii. , 1902, p. 153. t Andrews, Proc. Roy. Soc. N. S. Wales, xliv., 1910 (1911), p. 462. ■20 PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. be an amalejaniated delta and thus the consequence rather than the cause of the rivers. Protected by their submarine buttress, the Fitzroy and SUBJMARINE BUTTRESS BUTTRESSED / ^ AREA Fig. 3.— Coast of Queensland. North of Wide Hay, sliowing the relation hetween the old, long riveis and liroad .shelf in the south ; and the new, sliort livets and narrow shelf in the north. the Burdekin more nearly represent primitive radial drain- age than any other Australian stream flowing into the president's address. 21 Pacific. The plain on which they rise is here claimed to be a relic of the old Tertiary peneplain of east Australia. As a geological monument a peneplain might be reasonably ex- pected to outlast a mountain range, since it is safest from denudation. Dr. R. L. Jack writes: "The divide between the waters falling into the Gulf of Carpentaria and others which flow to the south was quite imperceptible." And again, "The ex- treme horizontality of the surface is due to the fact that tlie almost horizontal beds of the 'desert sandstone' formation cover the district without interruption."* Mr. E. C. Andrews, who has paid special consideration to the Tertiary peneplain, has kindly given me the following expression of his views: — "A short time ago, geologically speaking, no mountains existed along the whole eastern side of Australia. At that time a gently rolling plain dotted with moderately sized hills stretched from New Guinea to Tasmania. Then enormous deluges of lava covered much of this great plain of Eastern Australia. Afterwards came a revolution in the appearance of the plain. The earth was slowly forced up until it could no longer bear the strain and finally broke along a hundred lines running in north and south directions. Thus some blocks were forced high up to make mountain masses like Kosciusko, while others fell down alongside them for thousands of feet in terrace form, such as the Snowy Valley under Kosciusko at Jindabyne. Never- theless, so slowly was this uplift carried out that many rivers were not even turned out of their ways by the formation thus of the mountains against their courses, but they actii- ally cut their way down into the mountains as fast as the land rose against them. The Lower Plawkesbury is an example of such action." The whole course of the Fitzroy and Burdekin is excep- tional, showing the characters of age in infancy and the * R. L. Jack, Queensland Parliamentary Papers, Report Transcontinental Railway, 188'2, p. 16 ; and Coal Discoveries on the Flinders, 1888, pi. 22 president's address. features of youthfuhiess iu middle age. The peueplaiu on which they rise is old, the shelf on which they discharge is old, but the coastal ranges through which they cut their gorges are new. An exceptional history is required for these exceptional features and such I have endeavoured to supply. The fate that apparently overtook other streams, during the crumpling of the coast, of being broken in the middle and reversed thi-eatened them also. But the partial protection of the submarine buttress rendered the attack less severe than it was either north or south. So these rivers survived as radials, but not without a hard struggle. The isolated sheets of alluvial deposited by the Fitzroy at Gogango and by the Burdekin above Mount Dalrymple, show where they stag- gered in their course. The gorges through which they pass, not at the commencement of their career like ordinary rivers, but towards their close, show where they were almost over- powered. It is submitted that a perfect correspondence is now shown between the age and the length of the rivers on the one hand and the opposite breadth of the shelf on the other. If move- ments of the land occurred as vertical uplifts or downthrows or as folding from the land seawards, such correspondence should be mere chance. But on the hypothesis of lateral pressure folding from the sea landwards, this correspondence is a natural consequence. It is therefore a strong argument in support of that explanation. In contrast to the radial river running its course behind the shelter of a broad shelf, we will consider a great marginal stream unprotected within its narrow shelf. From Montagu Island east to the hundred fathom line is five miles. West from Montagu Island to the main divide is forty-five miles. Here we have the extreme of marginal drainage opposib3 the narrowest extreme of the continental shelf in New South Wales. A remarkable section is obtained by following the thirty-fifth parallel across the continent. Starting from Jervis Bay, after an ascent of seventy miles the Pacific water- president's address. 23 shed is passed at the hills above Lake George. Then descend- ing along the Murrumbidgee the broad floor of the valley is traversed on which the Murray is twice crossed. Not niilil after six or seven hundred miles of travel is the opposite watershed gained at Mt. Lofty above Adelaide. Perhaps the most interesting tale yet told of the physio- graphy of New South Wales is the vivid story by Dr. Wool- nough and Mr. T. G. Taylor* of how the Upper Shoalhaven River formerly flowed into the Wollondilly, thence into the Nepean and so into the Hawkesbury. Thus it reached the sea after following a course of about a hundred and sixty miles, roughly parallel to the coast and distant from it about forty miles. A crisis in its history occurred. Not only did a pirate stream, the Lower Shoalhaven, behead the former Wollondilly, but a further capture of Wollondilly water is imminent in the near future. In the past the Moruya and the Tuross Rivers have each taken a length from the old river. No marginal stream could have the power to excavate and capture possessed by a radial hence the former must always fall a victim to the latter. These threats and cap- tures are attempts and successes to proceed from marginal to radial drainage, to progress from the abnormal to the normal. In the accompanying sketch (Fig. -t) the long valley of the Shoalhawke (to coin a convenient name by connecting tlif old source with the old mouth) is drawn as desci'ibed in the memoir cited, but extended southward as recently suggested to me by Dr. Woolnough. It is clear that this river could not have pursued this eccentric course during the last pene- plain period. For under peneplain conditions gravity would force a stream to base level by the shortest way. Through almost level country a river must take full advantage of what little slope it has or it would stagnate. A river flowing, for instance, into the Gulf of Carpentaria could not sfford to waste its fall by setting a course parallel to the coast. * These Proceedings, xxxi., 1906, pp. 546-554. PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. muaatnc SYDNEY Fig. 4. — Restoralioii of ilie " Sliualliawke " vallev, bounded by the littonil ridge wliicli fiiiitrolleil the foiiner drainage .system. Young streams cutting aciDSS lluit ridge are now dismembering the old marginal into new subradial valleys. lieyoiid the Pacific watershed, the arrow overlies an area of parallel hills and valleys compressed from east to west. president's address. 25 So in the peneplain epoch, marginal streams being impos- sible, only radial streams existed. If a simple vertical uplift of the ])eneplain occurred tlic rivers would have deepened but not deviated from their former channel. Therefore, the Shoalhawke could not have held its present position in pene- ])lain times, since when the drainage of its area must have radically changed. The long northerly run of that river sug- gests to me that it was banked off from the ocean by the rise i>f jin intervening ridge. This view finds support in the record by Dr. H. I. Jensen* of a monoclinal fold not older than the Pliocene in the Sassafras tableland. I suggest that a fold, rolling before it the bed of a former radial river, commenced at the Kosciusko upland and crept northward till stayed by the resistance of the buttress of the Hvmter. Sul)- sequent deiudation and deformation have altered this littoral ridge, bui the stream it fcu-nied still bears the imprint of its guidance. At present the old Shoalhawke valley is fulfilling its natural destiny of being cut across by subsequent streams into blocks of secondary radial drainage. Since a kiUch 2)ar(ill('l tf) ihc xea o^>^?o.s"^.>.' tlic rffortx of tiuttcr to cxrape to hiixt h'vt'l hji I lie short e>if irai/, it could he hiif a fciii pornri/ jjhuAc ill yhiixioeira'phii . Hence the old Shoalhawke \ alley itself must be of but slight geological antiquity. Mr. E. C. Andrews has already pointed out that the Colo, although the smaller stream, should be regarded as the origi- nal trunk of the Hawkesbury complex. He considered! that its subsequent, a southern tributary, started on a marauding expedition capturing stream after stream until it obtained the Upper Shoalhaven. On the contrary, it is now suggested that the Hawkesbury did not ijrou' out of the Colo, but was driven in to it. If it were so, then the present course of the river would be the ultimate result of abyssal movements. * Jensen, Proc. Roy. Soc. N. S. Wales, xliii., 1908, p..102. t Andrews, " Introduc. Phys. (Geography N. S. Wales," 1909, p. 40. 26 president's address. The lower ur tidal portion of the Hawkesbury Kiver reaches the sea through a magnificent gorge, eight hundred feet deep. If this gorge were artificially filled up, the river thus dammed back could not overflow the obstacle, because before the flood had risen to the necessary height it would escape as a by-wash into Port Jackson by the Parramatta River. These levels sviggest that the lower Hawkesbury is older than the height of the country traversed by it. The great depth, two hundred feet below sea level, of the drowned valley at the Hawkesbury Railway Bridge is accepted as a proof of con- siderable recent subsidence. But surely the height of the land cut through by the river is an equally positive proof of a penultimate movement of slow elevation recognised by Mr. Andrews* during which the river sank its channel through the rising ground. On a smaller scale the Parramatta repeats the same history, cutting through high ground as it passes Sydney. An inner fold is suggested by the Nepean Gorge which "is due to the river gradually eating down its bed as the Blue Mountain scarp was elevated."! The gravel bed at Peurith, descending almost to sea level, might represent the trough between these two folds. If these deductions be allowed we find that ridges parallel to the coast have gradually risen and after being sawn across by the streams they opposed, the outer one subsided. These movements agree with the theory of pressure forcing landwards from the sea. The coastal range along Illawarra and southwards probably rose with the Lower Hawkesbury country. Inland from the Upper Shoalhaven is a succession of parallel rivers and ranges running in a northerly and south- erly direction. This tract appears to have received a push from the direction of the Ulladulla trough (Fig. 4). The * Andrews, These Proceedings xxviii., 190.S (1904), p.812. t Taylor, These Proceedings, xxxii., 1907, p.328. president's address. 27 Murrumbidgee after receiving the drainage of this area en- counters the Black Andrew Range, through which it has carved a great gorge at Burrinjuck.* Following the principle already advanced in the case of the Hawkesbury Gorge at Wiseman's Ferry, the Burrinjuck may be cited as evidence that the hill gradually rose against the river. Troughs would be produced by the elevation of folds parallel to the Black Andrew Kange. The Rev. W. B. Clarkef insisted emphati- cally on the folding which has occurred in this ai'ea. He wrote, "The parallelism of the ranges and rivers, including the Shoalhaven, the Cjueanbeyan, the Murrumbidgee, the Coodradigbee, and the Tumut, all of which have a general trend from S. to N., between the parallels of 35 degrees and 36 degrees S., is not without a significant cause:'' and again, "The Murrumbidgee runs in the straight course it pursues from above Bullanamang to below Michelago in a synclinal depression." Though at first sight these streams might ap- pear to lie in valleys of erosion guided by choice of softer rock, it is suggested that original fold valleys were here deepened by erosion. Apparently unacquainted with the studies of his prede- cessor, Mr. T. G. Taylor, half a century afterwards, came to the same conclusion. He writes, "Indeed the Goodradigbee, Tumut and Adelong Rivers, may all have been determined by folding or faulting in accord with the general north-south trend of the rocks in this area. The sudden bend of the Murrumbidgee to the west, near Yass, probably indicates where the river leaves the uneasy crust of the Monaro High- lands for the comparative solidity of the western plains.'J The capture of the head of the Snowy River by the Mur- rumbidgee, described in such admirable detail by Taylor, * Siissmilch, Joiini. Roy. 8oc. N.S.W., xliii., 1909, PI. x. t ('laike, " Kesearclies in the Soutlieiii (jloldtieKl.s, 1860," pp. 73 and 81. + Taylor, " Pliysiugvaphy of Federal Territory." Bull, vi., Bureau of Meteorology, 1910, p. 11. 28 president's address. appears to be of a different order of events to the capture by the Lower Shoalhaven of the Upper Shoalhaven. In the latter case a high level stream was tapped by a low level stream and then the old river, as far as its lower portion was concerned, just bled to death. But the Murrumbidgee drained the old Snowy upwards and backwards through one of its sources while another source, though eventually inter- cepted, still maintains the original direction. Undercutting at static conditions would not effect this. Can we interpret the Murrumbidgee capture as due to the development of an earth fold that rocked the old river back- wards for some sixty miles 1 Such a movement would empty of its stream the large but untenanted valley south of Cooma, the Great Monaro Valley of Taylor, to which Mr. Slissmilch first called attention. Since the Murrumbidgee above Cooma still keeps to the bed by which it used to join the Snowy T suggest that a movement which screwed up the valleys till the watershed shifted sixty miles south, pressed down the old eastern Snowy source till at Tharwa it ran backwards to the Murrumbidgee and also pressed the old western source near Yarrangobilly up to flow as a rejuvenated river. It is likely that the two sources were originally of about the same altitude. Such a movement seems of more recent date than a fold which guided the Shoalhawke (and that in turn to be older than another fold of which Jervis Bay may be a vestige. Mr. L. F. Harper has described the successive shifting eastwards and lowering of the channel of the Upper Murrum- bidgee.* This account is suggestive of an undulatory move- ment of pliant folds rather than the breaking, faulting and tilting of a series of stiff blocks figured by Taylor. It re-calls the classic instance of the bed at Lapstone Hill, whose river formerly drained the high quartz-felsite range towards Wom- beyan. The bed of this old stream shared in the folding of the Sydney-Blue Mountain area and has thus been tossed • Harper, Reo. Geol. Survey N. S Wales ix., 1909, p.5 PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. 29 from the bottom of its valley high on the shoulder ul the mountain, where it lies athwart and cleft by the i)reseut lines of drainage.* East of the Murrunibidgee area Mr. T. G. Taylor records with emphasis "positive evidence of the Tcrtiarij fohhinj into which the Cullarin or Lake George Fault has passed at its southern extremity."! South of Lake George the Molonglo River has sawn across this elevation as it slowly rose against it. The littoral ridge of southern New South Wales fails on approaching the Hunter valley. In the Hawkesbury Estuary the latest movement was a subsidence of two hundred feet preceded by an elevation of a thousand feet. Further north in the more stable area, Prof. David thus records the latest movements, "The apex of the delta near West Maitland rose slowly to the amount of about fifteen feet, while a downward movement was still in progress in the neighbourhood of the present ocean beach between Stockton and Port Stephens. "J Opposite Newcastle the continental shelf (Fig. 5) reaches its maximum breadth in this State of thirty-four miles, yet is narrow in comparison with that of the tropics and has probably suffered considerable curtailment. Regarding it as a submarine buttress, its shelter affords a radial valley reach- ing further back from the sea, namely a hundred and thirty miles, than any other coastal river in New South Wales. Following the argviment advanced for the Burdekin and the Fitzroy, it is now suggested that the Hunter represents an original radial stream, a survivor of the peneplain epoch. That it has been but partially protected by a lesser buttress, and its head has been withdrawn from the western peneplain in which a larger buttress would have allowed it to rest. Yet it now rises at an elevation lower than the source of any * Came, " Geology of Western Coalfield," 1908, p. 18. t Taylor, These Proceedings, xxxii., 1907, p. 329. X David, " Geology of Hunter River Coal Measures," 1907, p.310. 30 PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. other river of the State. This interesting feature has been described by Mr. T. G. Taylor as the "Cassilis Geocol."* He SUBMARINE BUTTRESS Fig. 5.— Coast of New South Wales between Jervis Bay and Port Macquai'ie, showing the correapondenc-e between the old, long river and the broader shelf, and the young, short liver and narrower shelf. however regarded it as a shifting westwards of the Main Divide. On the hypothesis now put forward it would be con- Taylor, These Proceedings, xxxi., 1906, p.518. president's address. 31 sidered that a general eastward shifting of the Divide here lagged behind. In other words, it is nearer to the condition prevailing at the close of the last geological cycle than any other coastal river of New South Wales. Professor David has shown* that prior to the outpourings of basalt, a former river had a gentler gradient than its pre- sent representative a tributary of the Dumaresq River. The fact would be in agreement with the supposition that at the date of the basalt extrusion the New England Plateau had not attained its present altitude. Dr. W. G. Woolnough has generously given me the follow- ing unpublished observations on the relics he has detected of another great marginal valley. "The Lower Macleay is very nearly north and south and lies hclilnd the high rock mass of Trial Bay and Smoky Cape. Thence southwards the broad valley-like structure is breached on the eastern side and remnants only of the eastern lip remain in the form of head- lands like Point Plomer and Crescent Head, and the high lands behind the latter. The dead water of the Belmore is continuous with that of Maria River and boats have been taken by this route from the Macleay watershed to that of the Hastings. The southward trend of the valley ( ?) is con- tinued throiigh Lake Innes, again cut off by high rock masses from the sea. Though Lake Innes is not continuous with Queen's Lake, there is only a low divide between them, probably formed of recent sediments (information re- ceived). Thus we come to the chain of lakes and creeks forming the Camden Haven system. There is a marshy belt joining the southern end of Watson Taylor Lake waters with Cattai Creek, a branch of the Manning. Hence the trend of the valley is behind the rocky masses of Mitchell and Oxley Islands and through the marshes to Wallis Lake. The divide between this and Smith's Lake is low and narrow, and thus we enter the Smith's Lake-Myall-Port Stephens * David, " Geology of Vegetable Creek," 1887, p.60. 32 president's address. system which brings us down mostly behind rochy hiyhlands to Stockton Beach. A glance at a map of the coast shows that this particular section of it protrudes as a bulge beyond the general line of the shore to the north and south, and it is in this section only that I recognize at all clearly the features of valley formation described above. Certain gravel deposits, ('.S. lat., 155° 36' K. long., and thence to 28° 52'. 8. lat., 156° 11' E. long., showing the Britannia Ridge rising to 220 fathoms, from a depth, on the west of 2,650 fathoms, and, on the east,' of 2,832 fathoms. * Taylor, " Physiography of Federal Territory," 1910, p.ll. president's address. 33 About a hundred and twenty miles east of Cape Byron lies a meridional ridge nearly fifty miles long, which if it has not yet received a name, might be called the "Britannia Ridge." It was discovered by Mr. Peake when the "Britannia" was surveying a track for the Pacific telegraph cable in May, 1901.* Out of a depth of 2500 fathoms it suddenly rises to within 250 fathoms of the surface. In other words it towers up some fourteen thousand feet from the abyss (Fig. 6). Possibly it represents a fold emerging and advancing upon the continent, an ultimate consequence of which might be the formation of a river of the Shoalhaven type.t Of South Queensland Dr. 11. I. Jensen | writes, "A some- what recent elevatory movement in part of this area has effected certain changes in the drainage .... It is evident that the Brisbane River is a fairly young stream as regards its lower courses. . . . The Teviot Valley is mature except for a small part .... where it flows through hilly country, and I consider this region to have been slowly and recently ele- vated, river-erosion having kept pace with elevation." Dr. R. L. Jack considered >< that the Brisbane River first poured its waters to the west and "took the course now fol- lowed by Gowrie Creek and the heads of the Condaniine." Subsequent elevation of the Toowoomba Range tiirned the river into the Pacific ; it probably flowed between Mount Gravatt and Mount Cotton south of its present bed. Finally in late Tertiary times other movements compelled its removal to the present situation. An area of intensel3' marginal drainage occurs in North Queensland. From Townsville to Cooktown new short rivers pour into the ocean from a lofty coastal range. Immediately * List of Ocean Depths, Hydrographic Dept., No. 183, 1902,.pp.26-28. t This ridge is sliown in Prof. Marshall's map Aust. Assoc. Adv. Sci. xii., 1910, opp. p. 450. t Jensen, These Proceeding.s, xxxiv., 1909, p. 75. § Jack, Lecture reported in the " Brisbane Telegraph," 22/5/94. 34 PRESIDENTS ADDRESS. south of Cooktown the western waters approach to within a few miles of the Pacific, while the eastern streams are a series of cataracts, whose falls-line almost touches salt water. The youthfulness of these streams implies a corresponding youth- fulness for the range which bears them. A recent capture of the Mitchell by the Barron was suggested by Mr T. G. Taylor and myself.* Details of this capture have since been published by Mr. W. Poole and are significant of recent movement, f The Great Barrier Reef, whose features show vast and recent subsidence, here faces a range apparently of consider- able and recent elevation. The combination suggests power- ful folding, recent or still in progress, carrying the reef down in the trough and the range up on the crest. Fig. 7. — Diagram of a progressive fold. The abrupt truncation of the meridional coast line at Cape Melville seems as if a whole coast range thence to Cape York might have broken away and slipped into the abyss. In this connection it may be recalled that Dr. Jack has described! and illustrated a great precretaceous dislocation on the head waters of the Kennedy River running north towards Prin- cess Charlotte Bay. In conclusion, it is suggested that the last geological cycle culminated at some post-miocene date with the reduction to * H. and T., Rept. xii., Aust. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1908, p.411. t Poole, Rept. xiii., Aust. Assoc. Adv. Sci., 1910, p. 316. J Jack, Queensland Parliamentary Papers, Report on the Little River Coalfield, 1882. PR KSI dent's address IV) a peneplain of most of Eastern Australia. Since a marginal river would lack the requisite sloj)e to flow 'or carve on a peneplain, those were the days of radial drainage , when such a river as the Hunter might perhaps have risen at Cobar, and a river in the place of the Shoalhaven mighl pos- sibly have run from Forbes. The coast would have extended then for some distance seawards of the present position. The Thomson and the Carpenter Deeps, though already in exis- tence, had not attained their present depth or breadth and had lapsed into a state of inactivity. A new cycle, the present, was inaugurated by the de- velopment of energy in the Thomson and Carpenter Deeps. "The master movements are," say Chamberlin and Salis- bury, 'the sinking of the ocean-basins."* A strip of un- sunken shelf off Cape Capricorn now lies wedged between the peripheries of the two ocean basins. Only at this corner has radial drainage survived. Within its range of action each deep has replaced radial by marginal rivers. Undulations Fig. 8. — Diagram of transition from radial to marginal drainage. In the back ground llie former peneplain is represented as extending further seaward tlian the present land and as continuing in a broad continental shelf. Recent folding is shown as having crumpled and sunk the former shelf and shore, and as having intercepted former streams by a littoral ridge. Former rivers now reversed are supposed to be eroding the inner portion of the peneplain. (Fig 8) pulsating from these abysses are considered to have broken back the coast line and ridged up ranges in the coastal districts of New South Wales and Queensland respec- tively. The drainage systems of the preceding peneplains were thereby broken, their upper waters being reversed and directed to another coast and their lower portions being re- Chamberlin and Salisbury : (ieology i., 1904, p. 520. 36 president's address. formed to constitute the existing coastal rivers. Perhaps some large estuaries of small streams relate to the reception of greater radial rivers cut off recently. By rapid elevation of intervening ridges, some streams were trapped and forced into lengthy and roundabout covirses. These are now gradu- ally escaping from their bondage, and cutting more direct channels to the sea. If in the future there should be a long period without earth movements, it seems reasonable to expect that the cycle will run its course, that the crooked rivers will gain a straighter way to the sea, and that their head waters will reach further back into the interior. But the excavation now being performed by the western rivers would prevent the coastal streams from extending as far back as I assume that they did at the conclusion of the jDrevious cycle. The ultimate cause of these earth-movements is beyond the limits of this address. Contraction of the outer crust by secular cooling has been generally accepted as an explana- tion. Lately Professor Chamberlin has suggestei that periodic compressive movements might be due to a shrink- age of the centrosphere and not the lithosphere. Still more recently Dr. Bailey Willis has advanced the hypothesis that such movements had their origin in the tendency of the heavier sub-oceanic segments of the earth to spread and underthrust the margins of the continents. Summary. Last year's consideration of the deep abyss, described as bordering this part of the continent, concluded witli the hypo- thesis that it i-epresented a pressure-trough. Tn support, it was arcued that its confio-m-ation, and certain features of New Zealand and New Caledonia, whence the pressure was supposed to have come, were in conformit}-. Such conditions should leave signs not only in the dii-ection whence pressure came, but also in the direction upon which pressure leaned, namely, tlie East Coast of Australia Tt is now advanced that the crooked and abnormal rivers, so peculiar a feature of this coast, are a consequence of that cause. president's address. 37 Previous to the present cycle, that of IVIt. Kosciusko, it is beUeved by geologists that a great peneplain extended from New Guinea, in the north, to Tasmania, in the south. Probably this peneplain extended eastwards beyond the limit of the present coast, and was continued seawards by a broad continental shelf. Pi-obablv also the ocean eastwards was then shallower and narrower than to-da3^ The theory is now advanced that the present cycle commenced by the sinking of the ocean-floor, and by pressure upon the border of the continent. In the zone of compression, folding on a large scale ensued, by which the continental shelf was de- pressed, and the coastal range elevattid, simultaneously. In support, it is demonstrated that harmony exisi s between the margin of the continental shelf on the one side, and the line of the Pacific watershed on the other. Where the margin of the shelf approaches the coast, so does the divide AVhere the divide retreats from the shoreline, so does the margin of the shelf. Fi-om this it is inferred that a broad shelf serves as a buttress to that portion of the continent that lies behind it. Sheltered by this buttress, radial rivers persist as relics from the peneplain- epoch. As an example, attention is directed to the Burdekin and Fitzi-oy Rivers, the longest rivers of Eastern Australia, which discharge upon the broadest shelf. In New .South Wales even the broadest shelf is narrow, namely, that off Newcastle. But here our rule holds good, for nari'ow though it be, that shelf 25i"otects the longest river, the best example (»f a radial river, in the State. The Hunter is claimed accordingly as a survivor of the radial rivers that nuist have prevailed in peneplain-times. To show that the continental shelf is still being diminished, a remarkable in.stance is furnished by Captain Sharp, of how the shelf has retreated from 5-10 miles within forty years, near lireak Sea Spit. The coastal ranges and the streams they hear, both in Queensland and in New South Wales, are regarded as very new geologically. A peculiar featui'e of many rivers of our Pacific slope is that, for part of their course, they run in \ alleys parallel to the shore. Then they are apt to break away and run direct to the sea. 38 president's address Of wliei'e and what were the rivers of the preceding cycle, the peneplain-times, we have no record. But it is obvious tliat no peneplain could have carried such crooked rivers as the Clarence or tlie Shoalhaven run to-day. Of neces.sity the peneplain-rivers were longer, slower, and straighter than these. They had no fall to waste in that long journey to the sea. On a peneplain, cir- cuitous cour-ses would mean final stagnation. The problem is : how were those peneplain-rivers succeeded by an entirely diverse scheme of drainage. The explanation now offered is that these crooked rivers lie in a zroken Bay, and as we find it now. There is the old valley, discovered by Dr. Woohiough, running from >Smoky Cape to Port Stephens; and, lastly, the fragment represented by Jervis Bay. It is clear that as these great meridional \alleys, marginal to the coast, are n(jw undergoing rapid disintegration by the ordinary agents of denudation, that thev cannot have endured such attack for long. Consequently these valleys themselves are oeoloyicallv recent. The same conclusion is thus reached as that arrived at through considering;- that these rivers could not have existed under peneplain-conditions, and are, consequently, far younger than the peneplain-period. president's address. 39 In my last words from this Cliuir, let mc hope that energy and enthusiasm may never fail you, but may lead you to new knowledge by paths yet unseen, untrod, so — Floueat Societas Linneana EXPLANATION OF PLATE. Plate i. 'I'raiisfonnalion of drainage from radial to marginal. Above, a scheme of peneplain-rivers, slow in cnrrent, direct in course, reaching the sea S(iuare to the coast. Below, a scheme of marginal drainage, such as is developed on the East Australian coast. Here folds, newly arisen, have interrupted the radials of the previous cycle, aiid forced them to flow along the hollow s. In course of time, the^e folds are destined to be breached by subsequent streams, thus restoring a radial system, though one less perfect than that of the previous cycle. Mr J. H. Campbell, Hon. Treasurer, presented the balance sheet for the year 1910, duly signed by the Auditor, Mr. F. H. Rayment, F.C.P.A., Incorporated Accountant; and he moved that it be received and adopted, which was carried unanimously. The Society's income for the year ended December 31st, 1910, Avas £1,039 Os 7d.; the expenditure £1,019 10s. 6d.; with a debit balance of £35 13s. 4d. from the previous year, leaving a credit balance of £16 3s. 3d. The income of the Bacteriological Department was £544 16s. Sd.; and the expenditure £477 13s. 3d ; with a credit balance of £522 Os. 5d. (less £500 since invested) from the previous year, leaving a credit balance of £89 3s. lOd. Macleay Fellowships' Account: income £1,504 5s. 5d. ; ex- penditure, £1,101 15s.; leaving a credit balance of £569 3s. 9d. to be carried to Capital Account. No nomination of other Candidates having been received, the President declared the following elections for the current Session to have been duly made : — Pkesioent : W. W. Froggatt, F.L 8. Members of Council (to fill six vacancies) : Prof. T. W. E. David, B.A., F.R.S., CMC, Heiuy Deane, M.A., F.L.8., ^kc, W. S. Dun, James 11. Garland, M.A., Prof. W. A. Haswell, D.Sc, F.R.S., J. H. .Maiden, F.L.S., etc. Auditor: F H. Rayment, F.C P.A. On the motion of Mr. Andrews, seconded by Mr. Siissmilch a very cordial vote of thanks was accorded to the retiring President, by acclamation. 40 T3 C ) «C Oi 1 o ♦ 00 O CO (M CO <1 (4 te tn CO oco 1 — t I— I C a Pi -*-* v C3 +3 (D ^ O O O CO CO T-H ffi o CO (D O a 1 Sir lifo- 14,0 Will £300 5,7 I— 1 T— 1 "u o ® -p fe F^ C to on o s eg n d fro ing hi by hi Duty, 0- o o rH rH OS <^ g TS 1—1 s: s^ --si c ? $2 hJ mount re 1 Macleay m bequeal less Prot g A/c ... o <** T3 c^l r-H ^ .5 cog ;:: -p ?» ^ &* apital : Will time urtlier £6,0 ookhinc O ^ FQ 41 o r-t u a « o 9 Q •p 09 <-l 00 o •d a o eS 9 sz; o o o <{ o o Iz; a p crt OOl-H I^OCO --too 1—1 c^ ooec COOT coco so -—I ooo „ iooim cc^oo "^ 05 o I— ( CO s O 00 >- +^0 M 0; = o ■—ITS t« - " JL o --I O.S c c ^ ;_ *-" i/3 ■- >> OS c " s =5 hhCO H - o - -3 -<#^ 6Q CO 03 03 o 05 lOO 03C »oo lOr-H Ct^ COi CO 00 ooc (MOO 03 c-too OC5 00 t— 1 1— I CO ^ t^ ■^ r-H 00 I— I lO ceo O Ol- I— I T# CO lO O I— ( o CI CO ^ o Sh o "re c H 5 ^ "2 = - CO — tn 0; '-' fc.rA C — CO 1. so- ^ : " ^ CO cV^*^ t> t. ~ « • c3 tr 0; 2 ^ 5P -^ C o ai^^ -tf -2 c -• h^ 2*5 Qw w5 6 1^ O ■ r^ O OO oo l-H o 1— H , r^ 00 O O l-H CO O O O OTO CO « CO CO O 00 I- >> r-H I — 1 !» r,' O O o OCi Oi I- - ^Oi CO *^ cj o oo loco ?5 05^ ^ i CiJ .^ c^ ou CD o_^ r-H r-H c6 CO z l-H t. Sir less ... 1 by ital 1 — 1 o t — 1 ^1 t3 o ,— Lt O C: rf CO CO o o ^OOGiOOt- oo '"l-H l-H •^ O 00 &■ - :^ i- : <1 i-HCD-^i— lOr-H 1-hCD -p ~S .SO . o' ^^^ TJo • 0; : =: o 5- l-H BILITIES. bequeathe ay, £12, £600... . rest ord added to t 31st n : : : : : M s : : = o • ■ • . ■ ■ ■'-^^ -^^ : • ■^ • ■ CO : • ^ . o . ^ i- ; l-H tx : ■ : -i. p • : ►-^ ir-l s "^ .£ c LlA 1 : Amount 1 illiam Made •obate Duty ulated Inte »uncil to l)e 5t invested . e Account a lary and Wa ound Rent . tes nirance ... s nrnals and dit Fee (pr ) tty Cash ... cumulated ivested lance to 191 Capita W Accum Cf latere: t o - :: 43 t* z \p o o o o 1-1 ^ CIS < 0 H 0) J ^ O m <1 0 S 2 o3 1— ( <1 !z; z O O500 o coi- >o coco i-^ I— I CO 00 O O M O O Hi g R • (N lO CD ii CO lo a CO ai , tc _ . ^ . -< Q ""^ — ■ X o ■• r^ CO r t: = i = •3 XT ^^ H< »0 CO CO CO I- cc; s -« t^ CO s s o $ CI ? aj — 4) 0) S S .4J O (- ^ 7* ^ -- * — 1> ■ CO .;; lO ^" 0; cs - cc • .• ■_ o 1* ■^ ""^ ^^ ct LO GO CO LO 00 oo' CO "^ lO lO o C/3 Hi lO 1— 1 lO^ I 6 .H 0) i» »H +3 ill 9 0) s Si B > 9 fl O 1—1 o r- ' Q o ■s 09 n Oi •^ u CO -d 1— 1 « -d >-. d . "^ 0) (4 w oooc:i LO . ', Cj 1 o tn CD LOCO >o I k i-H COt-H Oi 'I* I: Hi 00 CD LO § z i-T D , o ^ o % ^ o fc D %' '^ t-> 3 a> cs a> k> H s o w ^ ij k4 Cd ea O' ;g < O ^ . ^^ u S^ • .-< Tj 3 < ^ * "•+J ^ • i>H *%* b l-H ^ o (V X ^ -tj o 4; , J-i l-H ;-( l-H C o I— 1 ,_f ^ r-Ct r- u o T2 44 ORDINARY MONTHLY MEETING. March 29th, 1911. Mr. W. W. Froggatt, F.L.8., President, in the Chair. The Donations and Exchanges received since the previous Monthly Meeting (30th November, 1910), amounting to 31 Vols., 265 Parts or Nos., 56 Bulletins, 12 Reports, and 67 Pamphlets, received from 109 Societies, kc , and 2 Individuals, were laid upon the table. NOTES AND EXHIBITS. Mr. D. G. Stead chronicled as an addition to the fish-fauna of New South Wales, the Sail-Fish, IstiojyhoruH gladius, a specimen of which, 7 feet 6 inches in length, had been captured at Port Stephens during the month. A photograph of the specimen was shown, together with one (jf a much larger specimen recently- caught at Fiji. He also exhibited a living innnature example of the beautiful Butter-Fish, Ephippus nml/ijdsciiUufi. Mr. North exhibited an adult male and female Stone Runner, Ashhyia lov.i (Ashby), being the types of a recently described genus and species, from Leigh's Creek, South Australia. Mr. J. R. B. Love, its discoverer, remarks in writing to Mr. Ashby, " This bird inhabits the bare plains covered with small stones so characteristic of this country. I have not seen it on earthy salt-bush plains." 45 A NEW 8MUT TN A NEW GENUS OF GRASS. h\ D. McAlpink, Corresponding Member. (Plate i.). A grass was sent to me, in November, by Professor Ewart, wliifh lie determined to be a new genus, Saryn; and the ovaries were black and swollen, evidently owing to a smut. They con- tained a black powdery mass wjiich stained the fingers, but without smell; and, on examination, this powder was found to be the spores of a smut. The specimen was from North- West Aus- tralia; and, in a recently published work on 'The Smuts of Australia,' it is remarked " In West Australia only tliose species are known, which attack cultivated crop.s, and tliose occurring on the native flora have 3'et to be discovered." There is no doubt but a rich harvest awaits the smut-collector in West Australia, and the present new species is the first of its kind. USTILAGO EWAHTI McAlp. Sori in spikelets, forming a black ccwnpact mass, mu(;h swollen, at first enveloped by the firm wall of the ovary, ultimately burst- ing and allowing the l)lack powdery spores to escape. Spores black in the mass, dark brown individually, globose, averaging 10-13 /x diam., occasionally ellipsoid (13 x 11 /*), densely covered with pointed spikes Germination as in Ustilayo. Hah. North- West Australia : Napier, Broome Bay; May, 1910 (Ewart). On the one-flowered, hermaphrodite spikelets of ISarya stipoidea Ewart and White. The basal portion of the long and twisted, persistent awn remains attached for some time to the smutted ovary. If a transverse section of a smutted grain is made, the interior is seen to be filled with spores at difterent stages of maturity, intermixed with slender colourless fungus-filaments rounding off 46 A NEW SMUT IN A NEW GENUS OF GRASS. into spores at intervals or close together. The spores are at first small, ellipsoid becoming round, colourless, smooth and thick- walled Then of an olivaceous tint, passing into a golden-hrown, with ecliinulate wall, and finally of a deep rich brown, with wall densely spiked. Germination. This took place in a hanging drop of tap-water, where a large proportion of the spores germinated, and the photographs were taken after five days. The germinal tube or proniycelium varies considerably in length, and is divided into numerous segments, which are sometimes constricted at the septa, and at first densely vacuolated. Numerous fusiform, colourless conidia are given off laterally and terminally, in chains of three or more, and each conidium is 3-6 /x long. The new genus of grass belongs to the group Ayrohtv/ece, and there is a smut on Amphipoynn, from South Australia, named U. tepperi Ludw., which somewhat approaches this one, but the aculeate spores are larger, and the sori are in the stems, as well as in the flowers Altogether it is a distinct species, from the mode of germination, the relative size of the spore, and its dense echinulation. It is named in honour of the Professor of Botany, at Melbourne University, and Government Botanist for Victoria; and this is peculiarly appropriate, since it is the fir.st smut recorded on a native grass belonging to NVest Australia, and which has been determined by Professor Ewart as a new genus. EXPLANATION OF PLATE. Plate i. Ustilago ewarti McAlp. Fig. L —Smutted panicles of Sarga fitipoidea Ewart ami Wliite, with liealthy ^raiii at side; (nat. .size). Fig. 2. — Spores densely covered with spikes; ( x 500). Figs. 3-4. —'^poi'es germinating, and producing more or less slender septate prom^'celia, with lateral and terminal conidia in chains; { x 500). 47 THE ENTOZOA OF MONOTREMATA AND AUSTRALIAN MARSUPIALIA. No. ii.* By T. Harvey Johnston, M.A., D.Sc. (fro/It t/ic Bureau of M irrohioloyy, St/dncy.) (Plate iii.) A number of additional records have been made since the publication of No. i. of this series (Johnston, 1909, a, pp. 514-523) ; and these, together with a few which had been omitted from that paper, are now collected, the parasites being listed under their respective hosts. 1. Macropus giganteus Zimm. 1. Fihirid sp., Bennett (1834, p. 293) refers to his finding long, thin, white filariae encysted in the knee-joint of the kangaroo, J/, major. There is little doubt but that the parasite is Filaria irebsteri Cobbold. 2. Cocculium {Eimeria) sp., Johnston, 1910, a, p. 804. This sporozoon was found in abundance in the intestinal epithe- lium of a specimen belonging to the above-named species, received by Mr. A. S. Le Souef, Director of the Sydney Zoological Gardens, from the Coonamble district, N.S.W. Coccidia, apparently all belonging to the same species, have now been found in several wallabies (Infra). 2. Macropus robustus Gould. EchiiincnroiR f/raiiuJoxus Gmel., more commonly known as E. polj/niorphus Dies., or PJ . veferinoruin Riid. I recorded (1909, h, p. 79: 1910, a, p. 523) my finding the hydatid in 3 wallaroo, caught in the western district of New South Wales. This larval parasite is now known to infest at least * Continued from tliese I'toeeedings, 1909, xx.xiv., p.52;i. 48 ENTOZOA OF MONOTREMATA, ETC., 11., five species of Macropus, viz., M. yiganteus, M. robust us, M. thetidis, M. dorsalis and M. ualahafus. 3. Macropus parryi Bennett. Corcidium. (Eimeria) sp., was found (Johnston, 1910, a, p 433) in the intestinal mucosa of several of these wallabies, sent from South-eastern Queensland to the Sydney Zoological Gardens. The organism appears to be pathogenic to various macropods, and has now been recorded from .1/. giyanteus, M. parryi, and M. thetidis. 4. Macropus thetidis Less. 1. ErJiiiiorocrus (jrdiiuloiius Gmel. Hydatids were found, jjost morff'/N (Johnston 1909, b, p. 79; 1910, a, p. 523) in the lungs of some wallabies of this species which were collected by Mr. H. Burrell, in the New England district, N.S.W., and sent to the Sydney Zoological Gardens. 2. Corcidium {Eiiiicrut) sp., Johnston, 1910, a, p. 523, from the intestinal mucosa (New England, N.S.W.). 5. Macropus ualabatus Less, and Garn. 1. Eclmtococcus yraiiulosus Gmel. Hydatids were recog- nised (Johnston, 1909, r, p. xxix.) in the lungs of a black wallaby, the specimen being collected in the Gosford district, N.S.W., by Mr. L. Gallard. 2. Bancroftielhi tenuis, Johnston. This cestode was taken from the intestine of this host in Victoria, by Mr. A. S. Le Souef ; a description will be found below. 6. Macropus ruficollis Desm. Distotnum (Easriohi) hepaticuni Abildg. The presence of the liver-fluke of sheep and cattle in the bile-ducts of the red- necked wallaby, is now recorded for the first time. The only other marsupial from which it is specifically recorded is J/. giganteus, though Cobb (1904, p. 659) mentioned that he had found the parasite in wallabies, but without designating the species of the host. My specimens were collected, for me, liV r. IIAI!\ KV .KlIINSI'oN. tn by Mr. Herbert Randell, who obtained them in the Yetholme district, near Bathurst, N.S.W. 7. Petrogale penicillata Gray. Sorcoci/stis mucond (Blanchard), from the subintestinal connective tissue, is mentioned by Minchin (1903, p. 351), bnt I have not been able to find Blanchard 's original account. 8. Onychogale frenata Gonld. Fiilarid sp. (Johnston, 1910, h, p. xii.). This nematode occurs in small nodules in the subcutaneous tissues of the bridled wallaby, and was collected in Gippsland, Victoria, by Mr. A. S. Le Souef. 9. Dendrolagus bennettianus. F'lhtr'ia sp. (Johnston, 1910, h, p. xii.). This parasite was collected by Mr. Le Souef, from the subcutaneous tissues of Bennett's tree-kangaroo (Northern Queensland). 10. Trichosurus caninus Ogilby. Filaria sp. (Johnston, 1910, h, p. xviii.). Mr. L. Gallard found this entozoon in the short-eared opossum, in the Gos- ford district. 11. Petaurus sciureus Shaw. TIcrniogregarina jjehmri Welsh and Barling, 1908. The account was republished in 1909 (p. 329). 12. Phascolomys ursinus Shaw. Moiiiezin rha'phaiKi Zschokke (1907, p. 261). This cestode was taken from the liver of a wombat, P. womhdt Pei . If the specific name of the host be correct then the locality would be Tasmania, or the neighbouring islands of Bass Strait, as this species is confined to that -region. The differ- ences between it and P. mltrlieJli Owen, the form found on the Australian mainland, are very slight.* * Lyddeker, Handbook^,to the Marsiipialia and Monotretnata, 1894, p. 126 (Allen's Naturalist's Library). 50 ENTOZOA OF MONOTHK.MATA, ETC., ii., 13. Perameles nasuta Geoffr. 1. Hcemogregarina peramelis Welsh and Dalyell (19C9, p. 112). This hsematozoon was described from material col- lected in New South Wales. 2. Giyantorhynchus sp., Johnston, 1910, h, p. xviii. This specimen was collected near Gosford, N.S.W., by Mr. L. Gallard, and appears to be identical with G. Semnni Linst. 3. Linstoiria seinoni Zsch. Linstow (1903, p. 2872) re- corded the presence of Tceuia (?) semoni Zsch., in a long- nosed bandicoot which had died in the Zoological Gardens, St. Petersburg. 14. Perameles obesula Shaw. Echinonemn cinctns Linstow (1898, a, p. 469). This nematode was described as the type of a new genus, Hoplorfphalus, but as the name was already preoccupied, he substituted (1898, h, p. 627) a new name, EcJilnoDenia, for it. 15. Dasyurus viverrinus Shaw. Hrpmopregar'ina dasi/iiri Welsh, Dalyell and Biirfitt ("!908). The description was republished in 1909 (1909, p. 333). 16. Phascologale penicillata Shaw. Gigantorhynchus sp. (Johnston, 1910, h, p. xviiiV This echinorhynch was taken from the intestine of the "brush- tailed rat." It is possible that the host may be Bettonyia qipniciUatn Gray (New South Wales). Bancroftiella tenuis, A Cestode from the Black Wallaby, Marropus unlnhatux Less. & Garn. I am indebted to Mr. A. S. Le Souef for mounted pre- parations of a tapeworm, taken by him from the intestine of the common wallaby, Marrnjnts iinlahntiis Less. & Garn., in Victoria. The specimens are fragmental, a scolex being pre- sent on one slide. The exact length of the parasite is not n\ T. WAUVKV .lOIINSION. ") I known, but ap])ears to be about seven centimetres, the greatest width (which is at the end) being 1-62 mm. The scolex is very small, its maximum breadth only reach- ing 0-210 mm. The anterior end is a truncate cone, the summit of which bears a retractile rostellum, whose full length is about Oil mm., and its breadth 0-25 mm., the free extremity being expanded into a low cone of 0065 mm. broad, bearing a double series of hooks. In Fig.l, the organ is seen to be partly retracted into its muscular sac. There are about sixteen hooks, their length reaching about 0028 mm. The dorsal root is long and narrow, the ventral root being short, and the claw long, thin, and well curved (Fig. 8). Situated on the broadest part of the scolex are the four suckers, whose diameter is 0080 mm., the openings being laterally and slightly anteriorly. Behind these organs, the head gradually narrows into the unsegmented neck-region, which extends for a distance of 0-56 mm., behind the suckers. The narrowest portion is only 0105 mm., and is just at the point of the commencement of segmentation. The strobila consists of very numerous proglottids, whose size and form vary considerably in different parts of the chain. Just behind the neck, their length is 0032 mm., and the breadth 0130 mm., the ratio being 1:4. The posterior margins scarcely project in this portion (Fig.l). Further back the form becomes considerably altered, the length being 016 mm., the breadth at the anterior end of the segments 008, and at the posterior margin 013 mm., the ratio now being nearly 4:3. The margin of the strobila is here strongly serrate, and the segments scarcely overlap (Fig. 2). More posteriorly the form is again altered, the proglottids now becoming more quadrate and relatively shorter, and the hinder margin less projecting, the ratio of length (0081 mm.) to breadth (0-178 mm.) being under 1:2. The lateral mar- gins are here convex (Fig. 3). Beyond this, the segments become much wider (0-534 mm), and overlap to a very con- siderable degree, more than one-third of each being over- 52 ENTOZO.A OF MONOTKEMATA, ETC., U., lapped by the proglottis immediately anterior to it. The posterior third of each segment (i.e., the overlapping portion) in this region is very thin. The ratio of length (0178 mm.) to breadth is 1 : 3 (Fig. 4). This is followed by a region in which there is an increase in size, and in the degree of development of the segments, all the genitalia being present, though small and not yet functional. The edge presents a serrated appearance, as the margins project considerably. The amount of overlap is small, amounting to about one-fifth of the length. The ratio of length (0-32 mm.) to breadth (0-84 mm.) is about 2:5 (Fig. 5). Segments which have reached sexual maturity, have almost the same form (Fig. 6), except that they are slightly longer, reaching 0-42 mm., and are much less overlapped by the preceding proglottis. Ripe segments have about the same length as the last-mentioned, but are much broader, being 1-62 mm. in width, the ratio thus being 1:4. Similar variations in the entire strobila were seen in fragments of another specimen belonging to the same species. Having only microscopic preparations available, no sections were made, and consequently details regarding the body- wall, muscvilature, etc., cannot be given. Throughout the greater part of the cortex of the strobila, there are numerous large, calcareous bodies of an elliptical form, measuring about 0012 by 0-0075 mm. They are less abundant in the anterior portion of the worm. The nervous system could not be followed with any cer- tainty. There seem to be three nerves on each side, a main strand and two accessory nerves, the former apparently lying dorsally to the genital canals. The excretory vessels lie at some distance inwards from the lateral margins of the segments, their course being fairly straight. The ventral pair are large, the lumen of eacli being about 0043 mm., the dorsal trunks being very much narrower, their diameter reaching only 0010 mm. The BV T MAKVKV ,7UHNST0X. 53 latter lie just above, and very slightly mcdianwards from, the ventral vessels. In the region of the genital ducts, the ves- sels become displaced, the dorsal stem becoming pushed dorsally, and the ventral vessel ventrally, the sex-canals pas- sing between them. At the extreme posterior edge of each segment, the ventral vessels become connected by a narrow transverse vessel. In the scolex and neck-region all four trunks are of the same size. At abovit the level of the middle of the suckers, the pair of vessels on each side form a loop (Fig.l). No connection between the loops on opposite sides could be detected in the specimen. (Jenitdlid. — The genital papilla is located laterally, in an irregularly alternating manner, near the anterior margin of each segment. It is usually not very prominent. The genital pore is a rather large circular opening, which leads into a spacious genital cloaca, whose wall contains a relatively large amount of radiating and circular muscular fibres, the latter evidently acting as a sphincter. This common genital chamber may extend inwards for a distance of 0-10 mm., its greatest width reaching 005 mm. Its usual form may be seen in Fig. 9. At times the whole organ may be much more elongate and distinctly tubiilar, probably as a result of the action of the muscles in its walls (Fig. 10). The length then may reach 0117 mm. but the lumen becomes very narrow, being only 0-007 mm. Opening into the inner end of the cloaca, one may readily recognise the male and female aper- tures, the former lying immediately in front of the latter, both being placed at about the same dorso- ventral level. Occasionally the female pore is slightly more dorsally situated. The male opening faces postero-Iaterally, and the female antero-laterally, the two thus lying very close, and in such a position as would suggest the probability of self-im- pregnation in each segment, an event which was seen fre- quently in the mature parts of the chain (Fig. 10). Both pores not infrequently lie just between the excretory vessels, though their usual position is just laterally to them. 54 ENTOZOA UF MOXOTIJKMAIA, ETC., ii., The testes occupy two fields, an anterior and a posterior, separated by the female glands. The anterior field con- sists of from fourteen to seventeen vesicles lying between the cirrus-sac, vas deferens, female glands, and the dorsal vessel The posterior field consists of about the same number of glands, these occupying the whole of the dorsal portion of the medulla lying between the female glands and the trans- verse excretory vessel, and between the longitudinal excretory vessels in the transverse plane. There are thus about thirty- two vesicles altogether. They are rounded or slightly ellip- tical, having a diameter of from 0-038 to 005 mm. ; and are disposed in two rows in the dorsal region of the medulla. Lying in the angle formed by the vagina and the cirrus-sac, is the vas deferens, a closely coiled structure. From it there passes, forwards and inwards, an uncoiled portion which enters the cirrus-sac in the extreme anterior part of the proglottis. The cirrus-sac is a very long tubular organ, lying in the anterior corner of the segment, and extending from near the middle of the anterior margin to the genital cloaca. It fre- quently exhibits a few loose open coils, thus resembling part of a cork-screw. Its total length is about 0-16 mm., and the breadth 0034 mm. The musculature is well developed. From its inner end, retractor fibres pass off laterally and slightly ventrally. Within the sac, one may see the coiled male duct ending at the male pore. No distinct external vesicula semi- nalis was seen. In most of the segments the cirrus was partly everted, and lying in the genital cloaca. The total length of the eversible portion exceeds 0-10 mm. The organ is rather wider at its base than at its extremity. Its surface appears to be devoid of armature. In no case was the cirrus seen projecting much beyond the genital pore, but as the cirrus-sac still possessed its corkscrew-like form, it is quite likely that the fully everted organ may project some little distance through the j^ore. In one of the segments, self- fertilisation was observed (Fig. 10), the cirrus being bent BY T. HAKVEY JOHNSTON. 00 round to enter directly into the Vtigina, the edge of the male organ reaching a swollen rounded part, which evidently was functional as an outer receptacuhun seminis. As already mentioned, the female pore lies immediately behind, and at about the same dorso-ventral level, as the male aperture. From it there passes inwards, the wide vagina, which almost immediately becomes thrown into a number of irregular coils. In this portion of the duct, one pore is frequently more swollen and rounded than the rest, and, being filled with spermatozoa, evidently acts as an external receptaculum seminis. This latter may be seen per- sisting even in ripe segments. After passing inwards between the excretory vessels, it commences to arch posteriorly, just behind the coiled portion of the vas deferens, which it crosses dorsally, here widening into an elongate, thin-walled recep- taculum seminis. The latter passes into a very short, narrow fertilising duct, which passes through the shell-gland. The female complex lies just behind the middle of the segment. It has already been stated that it separates the male organ into a posterior and an anterior field. The ovary is a transversely elongate organ, 0!24 mm. in breadth, very distinctly bilobed, each lobe being made up of a number of short tubes. The ovarian bridge lies ventrally below the receptaculum. The short oviduct passes backwards to meet the fertilising canal. The vitellarium lies in the bay between, and behind, the ovarian lobes, as a rather solid organ, 0-075 mm. in breadth, whose margins are lobed. From it, there passes forwards a very short yolk-duct, to the shell-gland, which lies just antero-dorsally to it. The uterus at first develops in the region of the ovary, but soon begins to increase in size by the development of processes, the other organs in the segment becoming dis placed. In the ripest proglottids present in the specimens, the uterus may be seen as a large, ventrally situated, trans- verse sac with strongly sacculated walls. The whole of the midregion of the segment, with the exception of the extreme 56 ENTOZOA OF MONTREMATA, ETC., 11., anterior iDortion, becomes filled by it, as it soon conies to extend from the excretory vessels of the one side to those of the other. Some of the processes from the walls penetrate deeply into the cavity, so that the whole organ appears to be made up of a large number of chambers opening into the main, transversely lying portion. In such segments, the male and female ducts still persist, though they are pushed far forwards ; the testes, though present, are partly atrophied : whilst, of the female glands, the vitellariuni, which lies near the middle of the posterior margin of the proglottid, is the only part recognisable. Ripe eggs were not present, but immature eggs measured 0011 mm. in diameter, the embr/o being 0-006 by 0004 mm. Systematic Position. — This parasite of the black wallaby is of considerable interest, as it is the first, armed, adult ces- tode to be described from a marsupial. All the tapeworms so far known from the Aplacentalia of Australia and the East Indies, belong to the Ano-pJocephalinae, a fact already emphasised by Zschokke (1899). The parasite under review approaches very nearly to the genera Cliodiiofceiiia, Moiiop;/- Vidium and Anomotwnia, but possesses characters which seem to me to be of sufficient importance to justify the erection of a new genus, Bancroft wlla, for its reception, the generic name being given in honour of Drs. J. and T. L. Bancroft, of Queensland, who were the pioneers of Australian parasitology. The following may serve as a generic diagnosis : — Dipylidiinas (of .Stiles = Dilepinjt- of Fuhrmann) ; rostellum armed with two rows of hooks ; genital pores irregularly alternating ; genital ducts passing between the excretory canals ; testes numerous, arranged in two fields, an anterior and a posterior, separated by the female complex ; uterus saclike with numerous septa projecting into and dividing up the cavity. Type-species Bancroftiflht teiiin.<, n.sp., from Macro pun itahthatiis, the type-specimen being deposited in the Aus- tralian Mviseum, Sydney. This genus differs from the three BY T. HAUVEY JOHNSTON. 0< reucra niciitioncd above, in the disposition of the testes: and from the last two, in the character of the uterus. Choanoticnla has a single circlet of hooks on the rostellum. LITERATURK. 1834. BENNKTT.--"\Vaiuleiiiigs in New South Wales," etc. Vol. i., IS'U. 1904. Cobb.— Agric. Gazette, N. 8. Wales, xv., 1904. 1909'i. Johnston.— Proc. Linn. See. N. S. Wales, 1910, xxxiv., pp. 514-02;?. />. in Ann. RepL. Bur. Microhiolog}', N. S. Wales, i. , 1909 (1910). c. Journ. Proc. Roy. Soc. N. S. Wales, 1909. 1910«. Proc. Linn. .Soc. N. S. Wales, xxxv. , 1910. /,. Joui-n. Proc. Roy. Soc. N. S. Wales, 1910 1898a. LiNSTOW, in Semon's " Forschungsreisen," 1898. /,. .— Zoolog. Cenlib. Jahrg. v., 1898, No. 20. ]903. AiH). Mus. Zool. Acad. Imp. Sci. St. Peteisbonrg, viii., 1903(1904). 1903. MiNCHiN.^" Spoiozoa " in Lankester's Treatise on Zoology, pt. i. fasc. ii. 1909. Wklsh and Barling. -Trans. Aiistr. Med. Cong., viii. (ii.), 1909 (1910), pp.329-333. 1909. Dalykll. —Journ. Syd. Univ Med. Soc, ii.. 1909, pp. 112-5. 1909. and KrKKiTT.— Trans. Austr. Med. Congr., viii (ii.), 1909 (1910), pp.333-7. 1899. Z.scHOKKE. — Zeitschr. f. wiss. Zool. Ixv., 1899, ]){). 404-445. 1937. Centr. f. Bakt., etc., i., Orig., xliv., 1907, pi).261 4. EXPLANATION OF PLATE III. BancroftieJUi tenuis, n. sp. Fig. 1. — Anterior end of the strobila. Figs. 2 7- — Successive portions of the strobila. Fig 5. — Segments showing immature genitalia. Fig. 6. -Segments showing mature genitalia. Fig. 7 — Segments sliowing uterus. (All the above are drawn to the same scale). Fig. 8. -Hook from scolex. Fig. 9. — Cloaca showing genital apertures, etc. Fig. 10. — Cloaca, etc., showing self-impregnation. Reference letters. c, cirrus— t'..s., cirrus-sac — c.s.r., cirrus-sac retractor — (i.e. v., dorsal excietorv vessel — ;/.c., genital cloaca — y.e.. genital papilla — n., nerve —or., ovary — >•..?., receptaculum seniinis — t., testes — tr.v., transverse excretory vessel — « , uterus — /'. , vagina — v.d., vas deferens — );.f/., vitelline gland — v.e.v,, ventral excretorj- vessel. 58 NEW SPECIES OF AVIAN CESTODES. T. Harvey Johnston, M.A., D.Sc. {From the Btireau of Microhioluyy, Sydney, N.S.W.). (Plates iv.-vi.) CnOANOTiENIA MELIPHAGIDARUM, H.Sp. (Plate iv.) The small intestines of several species of birds belonging to the family Meliphagidce (" lioney-eaters ") more or less frequently harbour a thin, delicate, multi-segmented and relatively long cestode of about 45 mm. in length. This parasite has so far been found in the following species, in the Sydney and Hawkesbury districts, by Dr. J. B. Cleland and myself — Meliornis novce- ho/Jaudi(K Lath., Meliornis serlcea Gould, Ptilotis leucotis Lath., and Ftilutis chrysutis Lath.,(Syn. F. lewini Swainson). Scolex: — The scolex is veiy small, short and rounded in general form. A very slight constriction marks it off from the rest of the budy. Its maximum breadth is at about the level of tlie posterior edge of the suckers, where it measures nearly 0-2 mm., whilst at the neck-constriction the width is 0'166 mm., innne- diately behind which the strobila again widens to about 0'2 mm. The rostellum is small and unarmed. The entire rostellar sac is a . pyriform structure of about 0*097 mm. long, and ha^'ing a maximum breadth of 0"042 mm. In a few of the specimens examined, the rostellum was seen to be protracted, and appeared to be a fairly prominent conical projection, whilst in others it was (juite retracted. In fig.l, it is shown partly withdrawn. The Drgan in question shows a similarity to that in some unarmed species of Hymeiiolejns, e.g., U. dimitiuta from rats and mice. The four suckers are rounded and cuplike, having a diameter of 0"058 to 0*068 mm. Their musculature is moderately deve- loped, and the rather considerable depth of the cavity should tend to increase their efficiency. As will be seen from fig.l, they BY T. HARVEY JOHNSTON. 59 do Tint project to any degree when viewed dorsoventrallj-, but in a specimen seen in end-view, tlie four suckers wei'e seen to occupy the (Hagonals of the scolex, which here appeared in section to resemble a square with tlie corners rounded off. Wlien examined laterally, these organs are seen to project prominently. .S'3 12 mm. from the anterior end, the portion between this point and the head constituting a short unsegmented neck. The transverse septa separating adjacent proglottids are visible just behind this neck, and a short distance further back (0-6 mm. from the anterior end), the divisions may be recognised marginally by the pi-esence of small indentations. In this part of the strobila the segments are about 0-174 nnn. broad, by 0-052 mm. long, the ratio of. breadth to length being about 3:1. The posterior edges are here well rounded. In front of this the ratio is 4:1. The .segments increase gradually in width and considerably in length, the pos- terior edges becoming obtusely serrate. Well-developed genitalia appear in proglottids with a breadth of 0-71 mm., and a length of 0-45 mm., the ratio here l^eing 8:5. The length continues to increase out of proportion to the breadth. In ripe segments the breadth is about 1 mm., the length 2-4 nun., the ratio now being 1 :2-4. The linal proglottids are only slightly connected with each other and readily separate. The anterior end is "broadly rounded, the widest part of the segment now being anterior, just at about the level of the genital pore. Then there is usually a gradual narrowing, followed at the posterior end by slight widening. Some segments .showed a considerable thickening at this end, due to the presence of a mass of muscle which is perhaps functional in accelerating their abstriction. Another fact worth noting is that the final segments are very thin, flat and semi-transparent. 6'ea:o/>em?tgrs .-— These altei-nate irregularly, the sequence in a typical part of the chain being Jj,L, K,R,R,R,L,L,II,R,K,L. The pore may or may not be located on a definite genital ennnence. Its situation is marginal and anterior, being at or near the junc- tion of the first and second fourth of the lateral margin. There is frequently a slight depression of the segment-edge, leading into 60 AVIAN CESTODES, the genitaLf;loaca, which is a relatively deep and narrow passage of 0'025 mm. long by 0007 mm. broad. The male duct opens just below and in front of the female opening. liody-waU, Musculature, etc.: — The cuticle when examined in a transverse section of a segment was seen to be rather thin and almost homogeneous, stratification being scarcely recognisable. It stained deeply. Immediately below it there could be distin- guished a clearer zone representing the narrow basement-mem- brane. This was succeeded by the various subcuticular layers, the outermost of which was thin, and, though some structures could be just seen (using yV immersion lens) in it, their nature could not be made out. Probably, they represented the outer layer of cii'cular muscle fibres mentioned by Blochmann. The subcuticular cells were very well developed, and possessed the typical spindle-shape. They formed two or three indefinite rows. A deeply staining nucleolus was present. In addition to these cells and just internally to them, there were noticed several branching cells, which appear to represent the myoblasts shown in Blochmann 's figures. Between the subcuticular cells one could see the small bundles of the outer longitudinal muscles. The ring longitudinal muscles were located, as usual, in the cortex, and consisted of two con- centric series of bundles near each other. The bundles contained few fibres, and were relatively weak, though those belonging to the series nearest the transverse muscles were much larger than those situated more externally. The transverse fibres enclosed a rather narrow medulla between them, the ovarian bridge border- ing on the ventral layer and the upper series of testes on the dorsal layer. They were seen to pass out laterally beyond the nerve through the subcuticula for insertion. The dorso-ventral muscle-strands were moderately developed, but did not show any peculiarities. Excretory Syi^tem : — Only one pair of longitudinal exci'etory vessels is recognisable, these representing the ventral pair. Each has a very wide lumen, being about 006 mm. in diameter. These trunks are situated deeply in the parenchyma, at about half-way BY T. HARVEY JOHNSTON. 61 between the middle and edge of the segment. Sometimes they approximate to one surface (the ventral) of the segment, here bordering on the transverse muscle-fibres, a iiai-row s])ace l)eing left between it and the dorsal transverse fibres. It is througli this space that the genital ducts penetrate, while the uterus comes to pass on the other side. Tlie excretory trunks lie ventrally to the genital ducts, and arch downwards in passing under them, fn mature proglottids, each vessel becomes very considerably widened, and instead of possessing a sinuous course, such as it has in younger parts of the strobila, forms a wide and low arch. At the posterior entl of each segment these main stems ai-e connected by a wide transvere or eommissural vessel, with a lumen of about the same diameter as tliat of the main tubes. On account of the approximation of the latter at the posterioi' end of the segments, the transverse vessels are rather short, in the riper portions of tlie strobila the constrictions lu'twceii the proglottids become so deep, that the vential trunks approach so closely as to make it (Uttieult to distinguish a distinct connuissuial vessel. Xervons Si/sfem : — The only parts which could Ix- uiade out were the rather large, longitucHnal nerves. Each was seen in section as a strand lying laterally from the excretory vessel of the corresponding side, just at the edge of the medulla. The genital ducts pass dorsally to it. J/«/« (jftui^a/irt .-—The testes occupy a compact, i-ounded zone Iving lietween the main excretory vessel in tlie transvei'se jilanc, and l)etwt'eii the female glands and the transverse excretory vessel longitudinally. Thei-e are about twenty vesicles, of a rounded or elliptical form, with an average size of fi-om O-O.'Ui to 0-0-1:7 mm. They are not all in one plane, but are arranged in two or three rows dorso-ventrally. Tlunigh they are generally bounded by the excretory vessels, sonietimes vesicles occui- late- rally from these. In transverse section of a segment, these glands ai-e seen to occupv the middle and uppei' portions of the medulla. In more mature poitions of the strohila. tlii-y are surrounded by 62 AVIAN CESTODES, the reticulated uterus. They appear very early (as will be men- tioned later), and persist for a considerable time, being found in proglottids with eggs in a faii'ly advanced stage of development; but they are here already degenerating, and, by the time the oncospheres have been produced, no trace of the testes can be seen. In many of the segments one may see the individual testes surrounded by a cavity containing young embryos, this reminding one of what happens in many othei' cestodes, e.g., Afonopylidhim, Dipylidium, etc. The whole arrangement of the testes and of the female glands is very similar to that met with in these two genera, and in Davaiiiea. The vas deferens passes forwards along the midline at first as a more or less straight tube, above the testes, vitelline gland, receptaculum seminis, and the ovary. In front of the latter it becomes thr-own into a series of folds and coils, and, in a trans- vei\se section of this part of the segment, the vas is seen as a rounded mass of coiled tubes occupying the central portion of the section. It extends forwards almost to the anterior end of the proglottid where it luther sharjjly turns laterally and backwardly in tlie direction of the genital pore. ^\.t about the p(jint where the excretory vessel of the corresponding side passes veiitrally to it, the cirrus-sac is entei'ed. The walls of the vas defer-ens con- tain longitudinal muscle-fibres. The cirrus-sac is an elongate tube of approximately equal diameter, extending from about the region of the excretory vessel to the genital pore in a fairly straight course, the length being from 0-12 to 0-13 mm., and the breadth 0*03 mm. .Sometimes the sac is rather more spindle-shaped. In all cases the inner end is iiarrowed to become continuous with the vas deferens. The nuisculatuie of the wall is rather weak, the circular and longitu- dinal fibres being poorly developed. The cirrus, which lies in a considerably coiled fashion within its sac, may be everted to a relatively considerable length, the longest .specimens measured being about 0-13 mm., with a iHame- ter of 0-01 1 mm. It is thus a filiform structure. This organ does not appear to pcjssess any armature. In cases where it was BY T. HARVEY JOHNSTON. 63 everted, a very prominent genital eminence was visible. Eversion was only seen in segments in which egg-formation had already begun, but it is probable that no significance is to be attached to this occurrence. A vesicula seniinalis was not present. The female organs consist of the usual glands and their asso- ciated ducts, the whole complex occupying the centre of the sexually mature segments, and lying just anteriorly to the testes. The ovarv is situated just in front of the middle t)f the pro- glottids lying symmetrically, and may attain a breadth of 0-19 mm., though it is generally rather less than this. It consists of two "wings" connected by a relatively long " bi-idge," above which pass the male and female ducts. Each wing oi- lobe is made up of several short, thick, slightly branched tubes. In a transverse section of the segment, the ovaiy apj^ears as a horse- shoe-shaptfd body with the free ends widened, these being the (jvarian lobes. The bridge is ventrally placed, lying adjacent to the ventral set of transverse nuiscles; while the lobes project upwards, their main mass lying in the middle of the medulla, and their extremities in the dorsal portion of the medulla, at about the same level as the testes. Some of the lattei', however, lie still inoi-e dorsally, being located adjacent to the dorsal layer of transverse muscles. The ovarian cells are large, rounded and finely granular, with a large, round nucleus containing an eccen- trically-placed deeply-staining nucleolus. From the middle of the oviirian bridge there passes off" dorsally, the oviduct. This canal forms a small arch dorsally, and then passes ventrally foi* a very short distance to eniei' the fertilising duct immediately behind the ovarian bridge. The vitelline gland is seen to be a compact organ, with a very coarsely granular appearance. It has an irregularly rounded or transversely elongate form, and is situated in the middle just behind the ovary. Its size is about 0*086 mm. broad, by 00G5 mm. long. When examined in tiansverse section, it is seen to be situated between the ventral limit and the middle of the medulla. It thus stands at about tlie same level as the ovarian bridge, but, on account of being thicker, its dorsal part lies at 64 AVIAN CESTODES, the same level as tlie lower series of testes. The organ is also seen to be made up of relatively large rounded masses of yolk- matter. The duct passes directly dorsally and anteriorly, to enter the fertilising duct at the shell-gland complex. Tins latter complex lies, in the form of a rosette, in the mid- line between the vitellarium and the ovarian briHge, its tliameter being about 0-04 mm. In section the shell-gland is seen to border on the dorsal transverse muscle-fibres. Thus it lies dorsally to the plane of tlie ovarian bridge. The component cells are long and club.shaped, the broad rounded portion containing the nucleus embedded in granular protoplasm. A nucleolus is present. The remainder of the cell is long and narrow, serving as a duct. These cells nre about 0-018 mm. long. They cover the walls of the fertilising duct for a very short distance. This duct penetrates the complex from its dorsal side. The vagina opens externally, just behind and slightly below the cirrus-sac. It then travels inwards and slightly backwards as a narrow well-defined tube. Just after it passes over the excretory vessel of the corresponding side, it commences to widen o-radually to form an elongate spindle-shaped, thin-walled recep- taculum seminis, which narrows again as it approaches tlie ovarian bridge. Occasionally the leceptaculum is more rounded on account of the contained mass of spermatozoa. 8oon after pass- ino- below the ovary (between it and the vas deferens) the vagina or more correctly the fertilising duct, receives the oviduct; and then, after a very short course, passes downwards to enter the shell-gland complex. It is here that the vitelline duct joins in. Nothing of the nature of a swallowing apparatus was detected. Situated on the walls of the vagina, in the neighbourhood of the excretory vessel, just where the receptaculum begins, and extending outwardly for about 0*05 mm., is a mass of unicellular "•lands. Each gland-cell is somewhat flask-shaped, tlie large, rounded end being nearer the middle of the segment; while the narrow end, which serves as a duct, is directed outwardly. Thus each cell is ol)li. ndn uta Cohu* from Trituja totanus (from North Germany), a host-name whicJi Fuhrmann f has not been able to find. D. hinumfopodis and J). tuiiinfa show very close resemblance in regard to the form of the strobila, tlie characters of the scolex, and the geneial disposition of the genitalia as given in Cohn's figure. A comparison oi the two accounts shows that ijhe former diliers fi-om the latter in the following points the smaller scolex, the possession of fewer testes, and the much earlier appearance of both male and female genital organs. Cohn's account is short and incomplete, as he had only inunature specimens. The type-slide of i>. h'uuantopodis will be preseutetl to the Trustees of the Australian Museum, Hydney. EXPLANATION OF PLATES iv.-vi. Plate iv. Choanolomia 7neliphagidarwm. Fig. 1. — Scolex. Eig.2. — Segment sliowing geiiilalia. Fig.3. — Female organs, etc. Fig.4.-P:gg. * Cohn, L., Nova Acta, etc., Ixxxix., 1901, p.414. t Fuhtniaiiii, Zoolog. Jalul). Suppl. B(l..\.,l,1908, p.ll9. 80 AVIAN CESTODES. Plate V. Ajiomotmnia rhinochtti. Fig.l. — Auterior part of strobila, rostellum everted. Fig.2. — Anterior part of strobila, rostellum retracted. Fig.3. — Segments, showing anatomy. Fig. 4. — Hook from rostellum. Plate vi. Davainea himantopodis. Fig.l. — Entire strobila, with some free segments in addition. Fig.2. — Scolex. Fig.3. — Hook from rostellum. Fig. 4. — Mature segment showing genitalia. Fig.5. — Portion of segment, showing everted cirrus bearing the character- istic spines. Reference Utters. c, cirrus — c.h., cirrus-hooks — c.s., cirrus-sac — e., eggs — ^.e., genital eminence — r.h., rostellar hook — n., longitudinal nerve— o.c^., oviduct — ov., ovary — ?-..v., receptaculum seminis — s.g., shell-gland — t., testes — ir. v., transverse excretory vessel — v. vagina — v.c, gland-cells on vaginal wall — r.cl., vas deferens — v.g., vitelline gland — ii.e.t'., ventral excretory vessel — !/.d., yolk-duct. 81 ORDINARY MONTHLY MEETING. April 26th, 1911. Mr. W. W. Froggatt, F.L S , President, in the Chair. Mrs. Isabel A. Salusbury, Sydiiey; Messrs. To>r Irkdale, London; William Rowan Browne, University of Sydney; Ernest Arthur D'Ombrain, M.B., Sydney; William F. N. Greenwogo, Hawkesburv Agricultural Collesje; Ewe\ Mackinnon, B.Sc, Department of Agriculture, Sydney; and Professor Robekt DiCKiK Watt, M.A., B.Sc, University of Sydne\", were elected Ordinary Members of the Society. The President announced that, under the provisions of Rule XXV., the Council had elected Mr. T. Steel, F.L.S., Mr A. H. Lucas, M.A., B.Sc, Mr. J. R. (^larland, M.A., and Mr. C. Hedle}', F L.S., to be Vice-Presidents; and Mr. J. H. Campbell, [Royal Mint, Macquarie Street] to be Hon. Treasurer, foi- the current Session. The Pre.sident also gave notice tliat, during tlie winter months (May-August), the Monthly Meetings would begin at 7.30 p.m , instead of 8 o'clock. The Donations and Exchanges received since the previous Monthly Meeting (29th March, 1911), amounting to 16 Vols, 73 Parts or Nos., 10 Bulletins, 5 Reports, and 6 Pamphlets, received from 4X Societies ifec, were laid upon the table. 6 82 NOTES AND EXHIBITS. Mr. Basset Hull exhibited an egg aiul nestlings of Oestrelata leucoptera Gould (White-winged Petrel), taken at Cabbage Tree Island, near the entrance to Port .Stephens, N.8.W. The egg was taken on the 4th December, 1910, on which date many birds were found sitting on fresh or slightly incubated eggs. The nests were phiced aniongst loose boulders or in crevices under rocks in a gully densely wooded with the Cabbage Palms ( lAviistona australisj to which tlie Island owes its name. Very little material was used to line the hollows iii wliich the eggs were laid, merely a few shreds of fibre or dead fronds form- ing the nests. The eggs are pure white, without gloss, stout, rounded, oval in shape, average dimensions 1-96 x 1-46 inches. The nestlings were taken on 30th Januaiy, 1910 ; tlun' were in down, bluish-grey on the upper surface, ajid greyish- white on the breast. The feet show the characteristic colouration of the adult l)irodtva7-di ; while Steindachner's species was again noted from Sydney, though under Waite's name, in the following year by Mr. Stead. A comparison of specimens, however, shows NOTKS ANM) EXHIBITS. 83 that till' (>;istoni and western forms are distinct, so that the former should be known as ^'. scalaripiniiis, and the hitter as S. woodwardi. \h\ T. H. Joluiston exliil)ited specimens of barnyard-^'rass (Paiiiciim crus-(//dli), showing tlie presence of a smut, Cintractia a-usgalli Tr. and Earle (collected by Mr. W. M. Carne at Rich- mond, N.S.W.); and of Dconinei-a stricta K.Br., iiifected with the iecidial stage of a rust, I')icchi,i(i dnmpierir. Syd. (collected by Dr. Cleland at Middle Harhuur, April, 1911). Mr. A. A. Hamilton showed specimens of six species of plants collected at Douglas Park, on December 31st, 1910, which had not previously been recorded from Lhat locality — Didymotheca thesiodes. Hook, (new for N.S.W.); Anthocercis aJbicmis Cunn. (Fl. Austr. : Bathurst, Cassilis.; Solanum cavipanuJa/imi 11. Br. (Fl. Austr.: Port Jackson to Queensland); Zornia diphylla Pcrs. (E\. Austr.: Port Jackson to Queensland): Heif.ocharis cylivdroslacliys Boeck. (Fl. Austr.: Camden to Queensland): and Schoenv,s Moorei Benth (Fl Austr.: Port Jackson district). Dr Chapman pointed out that at certain seasons of the year it was not uncommim to find .samples of milk which contained less than 85 per cent, solids not fat. It was also known that the milk fnm^ certain cows and from certain races of cows yielded less than 8-5 per cent, solids not fat. It was therefore erroneous to conclude that a milk containing less than 8-5 per cent, soiids not fat had necessarily been adulterated with watei'. In the case of certain Durham cows, it was noted that although the amount of solids not fat was less than 8;"3 per cent, the amount of fat was high, viz , 4 G per cent. 8uch milks have a high caloric value, and are therefore valuable as foods. Mr, Fred Turner exhibited, and t)ftered observations on : (1) CiiSGuta fasmanica Engelm., found on Medicfo/o antiva Liini., in the Bombala distict, N.S.W., and regarded as a great pest. Mr. Turner was the first to record this interesting parasitical plant for New South Wales ("Agricultural Gazette/' Vol. ii., p. 289, i 1 0-1°/ 11 cc. 7-8 cc. 2 3 0 2 28 11 8-0 u 1 1% 4 0 2 1 18 91 5 0 1 2 11 9 0 6 0 2 2 14 9-5 7 0 1 5 15 10-8 8 0 V) 5 14 lOO 9 0 1 7 14 10-4 10 0 2 / 15 9-5 11 0 1 10 14 9-9 12 13 0-2 lU 14 4 lost 5-2 1 14 5 4 7-0 15 i 10 4 7-9 _ BY JAMES M. PETRIE. 101 Nos. 13, 14 and 15 show the relative amounts dissolved by salt alone, of which 10% is the best solvent. Almost the same amount of protein is dissolved by 10% salt as by 01%alkali. The partially neutralised extracts in the whole series, from 1% to 10%, contain more than the salt extracts alone. The maximum protein is obtained in No. 2, by using 0-2% alkali alone. Preparation of Solutions for Analysis. — Since little is to be gained by first extracting, with water, those proteins which are also soluble in salt-solutions, the extracts were always made by adding sodium chloride solution directly to the powdered seeds. By extracting 20 gms. of seeds with 1 litre of 10% sodium chloride solution for 1 day, an extract was obtained in which the protein-content was determined by precipitation with tannic acid, and the estimation of nitrogen in the precipitate. The residue of seeds was again extracted with a second litre of salt-solution, and the amount of protein-nitrogen esti- mated as before. By successive treatments in this way, until no protein was contained in the final solution, the maximum quantity of protein cajoable of being extracted by sodium chloride solution was ascertained. The results were ii3 follows: — Ist Extraction yielded 76 % of the whole extractable protein. 2na 14 3rd 6 4tli 2 Otll 1 6tli 0-6 7tli ()-3 In consequence of the above, the numerous single extracts made for various experiments, give results which are not comparable with one another. In order to study the behaviour of these proteins towards the different reagents, an extract was made from 100 gms. of 102 THE ROLE OF NITROGEN IN PLANT-METABOLISM, 111., seeds in 10% sodivim chloride solution, which contained 3-Oi) gms. of nitrogen. (a) To 50 CO. of the extract, were added 10 drops of a 2% solution of acetic acid, then heated to boiling in the water- bath for some time. The coagulated protein was filtered ; the filtrate was boiled for some time longer, and the small amount of precipitate obtained was added to the first. The coagulum, after washing with hot water, was Kjeldahled for nitrogen. The filtrate from the coagulated protein showed no biuret reaction, indicating absence of peptones. On titrating with alkali till neutral to phenolphthalein, no pre- cipitate was observed. (b) Fifty cc. of the extract were precipitated by a 5% tannic acid solution, and kept cool by standing in water ; after spinning in a centrifuge, and washing with diluted reagent, the nitrogen was estimated. (c) Fifty cc. of the extract were diluted with water lo 250 cc, and a rapid current of carbon dioxide passed through it for some time. The precipitate was separated in the centri- fuge. The fluid, after further diluting with an equal volume of water, was again treated with the gas, when a small pre- cipitate was obtained, which was added to the first, and the nitrogen estimated. The filtrate was further tested by boil- ing, when a coagulum formed, which was removed, and its nitrogen also estimated. The results are stated below : — Table iii. Seeds, 100 gms. contain iSalt-extrauL contains {(i) Coagulum by boiling (b) Tannic acid ppt (c) COo j)recipitate P'iltrate coagulated by heat Filtrate not coagulated N gms. 4-51 3 05 1 064 1 -350 : 0-851 0132 2 041 % of the total N of seeds 100- 67-6 23-6 30 0 18-9 2-9 45-3 BY JAMES M. PETRIE. 103 A second extract was obtained as before, with 10% sodium chloride solution, and further precipitations made for com- parison : (a) Coagulation on boiling, (b) tannic acid ppt., as before, ((•) Trichloracetic acid added to the extract, which was then heated to boiling point, and filtered hot. The filtrate was then allowed to cool, whereupon it became cloudy, and deposited a further precipitate. On boiling once more, this deposit redissolved, and was again obtained on cooling. The nitrogen in each was estimated separately. (d) Saturation with sodium chloride till the protein was salted out ; after remaining some time with excess of salt still visible, it was separated by the centrifuge, and its nitrogen estimated, (e) Phosphotungstic acid was added to the filtrate from the tannic acid precipitation, after acidifying with sulphuric acid. In the protein-free filtrate, phospho- tungstic acid precipitates the basic nitrogen compounds,— cholin, histidin, arginin, &c., if present. The results are given in the following table : — Table iv. N gms. % of total N of seeds. Seeds, 100 gms. contain Salt-extract contains 4-510 1-670 0-448 0-629 0-516 0 075 0-093 0-317 100- 37-0 (a) Protein coagulated by heat (6) ,, pptd. Ijy tannic acid 9-9 140 (c) ,, ,, by trichloracetic hot Deposited on cooling after (c) 11-45 1-65 (d) Protein salted out with saturated NaCl. (e) Pptd. by phosphotungstic acid from tannin filtrate 2-06 71 Taking tannic acid, which yields the maximum protein- precipitate as a standard, it is seen that the protein coagulated by boiling is in both experiments considerably less, in fact only about 75% of the tannic acid precipitate. This shows how imperfectly plant-proteins are coagulated, even on boil- 104 THK HOLE OF NITKOGEN IN PLANT-METABOLISM iii., ing for a considerable time. The acid added no doubt plays a considerable part in the denaturing, for if an extract be previously neutralised to phenolphthalein with alkali, and then boiled, scarcely any coagulation takes place. When a 1% sodium chloride extract is heated very slowly, coagulation begins about 65'' C, and the solution is distinctly acid. The protein has formed a compound with the acids during the exti'action, and the conditions are then assured for heat- coagulation. The precipitate obtained by carbon dioxide in a dilute saline solution is now considered to be composed entirely of globulins. The extent of dilution necessary is of great importance. In this case, 10 vols, of water were re- quired for complete separation. The nitrogen is equivalent tu 63% of the tannic acid nitrogen. Trichloracetic acid is usually stated as a precipitant for globulins, albumins, and proteoses. The latter, however, may be kept dissolved by boiling and filtering the liquid hot. The filtrate, after cooling, deposits these proteoses, which may then be separated from the perfectly cold liquid by filtration. This small deposit easily redissolved on boiling with water, and was as easily recovered by cooling. Jt amounted to 1-6% of the total nitrogen. By saturation of the extract with sodium chloride, a very small amount of protein is salted out. Finally, phosphotungstic acid was used to pre- cipitate the basic constituents of the non-protein part. Jt was not used as a protein-precipitant. A number of attempts were made to dialyse a solution of proteins obtained by salting out with ammonium sulphate, but it was not found an easy task to completely prevent the changes due to fungoid and bacterial contamination from tak- ing place, and they had to be abandoned. The proteins on being salted out by complete saturation with ammonium sulphate, only partially went into solution again, when the precipitate was diluted with water. The figures obtained for albumins and globulins were, therefore, not reliable, and are omitted. BY JAMES M. PETKIE. 105 The following table gives an approximate view of the precipitation-limits with ammonium sulphate, of the proteins present in a 10% salt-extract. Table v. — Fractional Satdration with Ammonium Solphate. No. Salt extract. Saturated Am. Sulp. Water. Result. 1 2 CO. 0 cc. 8 cc. No ppt. , faiut \ ,, opalescence / 2 2 1 7 3 2 2 6 ij >» 4 2 :i 5 >> >» 5 2 4 4 II II 6 2 5 3 It 11 7 2 6 2 Pptn. begins, clear fluid 8 2 7 1 Large ppl. ,, 9 2 8 0 Larger ppt. ,, Each of the nine tubes contained 10 cc. of fluid. Succes- sively increasing amounts of ammonium sulphate were used, and the point observed at which incipient precipitation took place. This occurred in No. 7, with six-tenths saturation. With a lower concentration, no salting out occurred, and above this point the precipitation rapidly increased. Quantitative Precijntation by Alcohol. — Alcohol precipi- tates globulins, albumins, proteoses, and peptones, in the order named. Animal-peptones are stated by Mann to be partly soluble, even in 96% alcohol, thovigh Kiihne and Chittenden observe that the precipitation is much more com- plete in the presence of salts. As plant-proteins vary con- siderably in the strength of alcohol required for their pre- cipitation, the following series of experiments was designed to ascertain if any difference could be detected in the various fractions obtained by gradually increasing strengths .'f alcohol. For this purpose, a protein-extract was prepared with 5% sodium chloride, and filtered clear. (o) Of this solution, 20 cc. were placed in each of eight centrifuge-tubes, and the calculated proportions of alcohol 106 THE ROLE OF NITROGEN IN PLANT-METABOLISM, iii., and water added so that, maiutaiuing the same volume cf liquid throughout, the strength of spirit ranged from 10 to 80%. These tubes were allowed to stand over night to deposit, then spun in the centrifuge. After decantation of the superfluid, the deposits were transferred to small, accur- ately weighed centrifuge-tubes, washed once with alcohol of the same strength, followed by two washings with absolute alcohol, and finally with dry ether. The tubes were next dried carefully at SC" C. in the oven, finally at 110* to con- stant weight, and weighed under exact conditions. The contents of each tube were then shaken out into a weighed platinum crucible, and the tubes reweighed. The dry white powder was incinerated, and the weight of the ash deter- mined. The weight of ash-free protein was thus obtained. {h In a precisely similar series of duplicates precipitated under the same conditions, as nearly as possible, the moist deposits, after washing with alcohol of the same strength, were each transferred to a Kjeldahl flask, and the nitrogen estimated. The details of these experiments are tabulated below: — Table vi. No. Alcohol present. Preparation. Wt. of deposit. Ash. Ash. free protein. Nitrogen. Extract 95% Alcohol Water. % cc. CC. cc. gm. gm. gm. gm. 1 5 20 6-5 100 00916 0-0916 0-0131 2 10 20 13-5 93-5 0-1188 0-0020 0-1168 0-0164 3 20 20 27 0 80-0 0-1600 0-0024 0-1576 0 0241 4 30 20 40-5 66-5 0-2055 0-0024 0-2031 8-0289 5 40 20 54 0 53 0 0-2450 0-0050 0-2400 0-0335 6 50 20 67-5 39-5 0-2600 0-0072 0-2528 0 0347 7 60 20 81-0 26 0 0-2657 0-0088 0-2569 0 0335 S 70 20 94-5 13-5 0-3035 0-0166 0-2869 0-0375 9 80 20 107-0 0 0-3606 0-0296 0-3310 0-0407 These results are plotted in the accompanying curves, of which the ordinates represent — in A, the weights of nitrogen in milligrams; and in B, the weights of precipitate in centi- grams. Abscissae represent the percentages of alcohol present. BY JAMES M. PETRIE. 107 The nitrogen-curve, A, indicates the existence of more than one distinct protein. The first and least soluble protein has begun to precipitate with 5% alcohol, and, at this low concentration, nearly one-third of the total protein in tha 2 BJ > ) r ^ y So / y > > r ■\ c /' Q p ) \ ) 1 1 ao&o / / / / > / A / s -^ S OS / / ^ {. r' 9 ^ / r |3 / r, ^ / y / ISd'SjIS > ^ ^ / ( / / / ^ i /I ^ lU \ 5 * ? / i 1 B 0 5 10 10 30 ^ Alcohol per cent. liO 50 60 70 80% extract is precipitated. From the initiation, iip to 40% alcohol, the amount of this protein precipitated is roughly proportional to the concentration of the alcohol. At the limits of 40 and 60%, distinct changes in the solubility are observed, and practically the same amount of nitrogen is precipitated. At the latter stage, both curves rise suddenly, 108 THE RCLE OF NITROGEN IN PLANT-MKTABOLISM, iii., and run approximately parallel to the end. The latter part of the curve consists of the protein or proteins most difficult to precipitate by alcohol. With a concentration of 55% and upwards, of alcohol, the gums present in the extract are precipitated with the protein, and their influence on the percentage of nitrogen in the latter part of the curve is noticeable. The two curves of precipitate and nitrogen, however, run approximately parallel through- out. As will be seen from the foregoing Tables, in addition to the proteins existing in the saline extracts, there is a con- siderable amount of nitrogenous compounds in a form other than protein. ( N in form of soluble proteins 40 % \N left ill residue of seeds 15 N ill non-protein form 45 % of the total N in the seeds ... 100- The following experimental studies are devoted to the eluci- dation of the nature of this 45% of the nitrogen of the same Acacia seeds. The solutions were prepared in different ways, and the results are all stated in per cent, of the non-protein nitrogen, taken as 100. (1) Fre/paration of the solution — Method («). The powdei-ed seeds were extracted as completely as possible with cold water. After filtering, the liquid was concentrated on ;:, water-bath to about a litre ; the coagulated proteins were removed, and the remaining proteins precipitated by tannic acid. The latter reagent was removed from the solution by lead acetate, the lead by sulphuric acid and hydrogen sul- phide, and the excess of the latter by a current of air. Method (h). The seeds were extracted as completely as possible by hot water, and the solutions filtered. The com- bined fluids were concentrated, and poured into alcohol, making a solution of 80% in strength. After standing over night, the proteins were filtered off. The clear alcoholic fluid BY JAMES M. PETRIE. 109 was distilled, and the remaining aqueous solution diluted with water to a definite volume. (2) The solution tested hy protein-reagents: — Millon's reagent, — -very faint positive reaction after boiling. Heller's nitric acid test, — nil. Xanthoproteic, boiling nitric, then ammonia, — ex- ceedingly faint yellow. Ehrlich's diazo-reaction, — doubtful, perhaps slightly positive reaction. Biuret test, — negative. Salicyl sulphonic acid — negative. Salicyl sulphonic acid — in filtrate after saturation with ammonium sulphate,— no ppt. Lead acetate — no ppt. Phosphotungstic acid, — large white ppt. Mercuric nitrate — bulky white ppt. The solution is, therefore, practically protein-free, and the reactions of Millon's and Ehrlich's solutions show that only a trace, if any, of tyrosin or histidin can be present. A large amount of basic substances is indicated by the precipitate with the alkaloidal reagent phosphotungstic acid ; and this may, of course, include certain lesser polypeptides which do not contain a biuret reacting group. (3) The distribution of the nitrogen. — A solution of the non-protein nitrogen compounds was prepared by method (a), and examined in the following manner : — (i.) The total amount of nitrogen was ascertained. (ii.) A portion was set aside under a bell-jar with milk of lime, for the Schlbsing estimation of ammonia ; while another portion was distilled with magnesia in a current of steam, and the ammonia collected in decinormal acid. The Schlbs- ing method gave small and variable results, and was dis- carded. When the solution is boiled with magnesia, a very 110 THE ROLE OF NITROGEN IN PLANT-METABOLISM, iii., slow evolution of ammonia begins ; it continues slowly, hour after hour, and does not seem to come to a definite end in a reasonable time. After twenty minutes boiling, about 1 cc. of decinormal ammonia had collected ; and, after four hours, 5 cc. ; it was then distilling at the rate of 04 cc. per hour. (In a control, it was found that the whole of the ammonia from 0-6 gm. of ammonium chloride was distilled in less than twenty minutes, at the same rate of boiling ; and required over 100 cc. decinormal acid.) One must conclude from this, that the ammonia does not all exist preformed in the solu- tion, but is evolved from a substance which slowly decom- poses by the action of magnesia, when boiled. (iii.) The original solution was next treated with phos- photungstic acid, and the precipitate of basic compounds assayed for nitrogen. A phosphotungstic precipitation was also done on the solution, previously boiled with magnesia for four hours. (iv.) The phosphotungstic filtrate from the former was dis- tilled with magnesia, while a part was hydrolysed by boiling, for two hours, in 107 HCl, then neutralised, and distilled with magnesia. (v.) The phosphotungstic filtrate from No. i., was examined for amino-groups by the sodium hypobromite method. The phosphotungstic acid was removed as barium salt, and excess of barium precipitated by carbon dioxide. The nitrogen evolved by the hypobromite was measured in a eudiometer. The order of the experiments is indicated thus : — Magnesia distillation (ii.) — ^phosphotung.(iii.) — ^aod. hypobromite (v.) Phosphotungstic (iii.) -> |5''i'"f*'?" <':^ ^. ,.„ ,. '^ 6 V / ^ y^hydrolyais and distillation. The percentage of nitrogen obtained in each of the above determinations, is set out in the following table: — BY JAMES M. PETRIE. Ill Table vii. N. (i.) Total nitrogen in the protein-free solution 100 '0 (ii.) Ammonia evolred in the cold by lime water 2'8 ,, distilled with magnesia 99 (iii.) Pptd. by phosphotung.stic acid after distilln 182 (v.) Sod. hypobrom. in phosphotung. -filtrate after distilln.... 19'3 Undetermined ... 52 6 (iii) Phoaphotungstic ppt. in orig. solution 20'2 (iv.) ,, filtrate distilled with magnesia 1'13 ,, ,, hydrolyaed and ,, 4*23 (4) The next series was carried out on a solution obtained by method (b), protein precipitated by alcohol. The following diagram will serve to show the order of the experiments. ^^^nitrous acid. Hydrolysis and distn. — ^ — hydrolysis and distu. — ^nitrous acid. ~~~~^phosphotung. (i.) The solution was hydrolysed by boiling in 8% hydro- chloric acid, for two hours, neutralised, and distilled with magnesia, and titrated every hour. Table viii. After 1st hour 8-07% 2nd „ 0-66 3rd „ 0-46 4th ,, 0-41 4 hours. 9-6% of the N. (ii.) The same solution was then hydrolysed a second time in 8% hydrochloric acid, for two hours, and the distillation with the magnesia repeated. Table ix. Distilled i hour 5-2% i ,, longer 1-2 b. M „ 0-8 * „ „ 0-8 8-0 % of the N. 112 THE ROLE OF NITROGEN IN PLANT-METABOLISM, iii., (iii.) The above hydrolysis, with 8% HCl, was accom- panied by a considerable blackening of the solution, due to the formation of melanoidin. After the first hydrolysis, the residue in the retort from the distillation was dissolved in sulphuric acid, and allowed to stand. The black precipitate was filtered oflf. It contained 4-8% of the nitrogen. (iv.) The solution, after these two distillations, was now used for the estimation of amino-groups ; and, first, the sodium hypobromite method was tried, with entirely negative results. That is, after acid hydrolysis and distillation of the ammonia formed, those substances are destroyed, which had previously liberated nitrogen gas with this reagent. The nitrous acid method of Sachsse and Kormann was then applied. The apparatus gave the theoretical yield of nitrogen from a sample of pure asparagin. Portion of the solution, after the first hydrolysis and distillation, was treated by the above nitrous acid process, and gave, after all the necessary cor- rections were made, 65-7% of the nitrogen. The solution, after the second hydrolysis and distillation, yielded, in the same way, 38-8% of the nitrogen. (v.) After the first hydrolysis and distillation, the solution was treated with phosphotungstic acid for basic substances, and the precipitate contained 141% of the nitrogen. The results obtained from this series of experiments may now be tabulated as under : — Table x. Total nitrogen in the protein-free solution 100 (i.) Hydrolysed and distilled with magnesia 96 (iii.) Melanoidin formed by above hj'drolysis 4'8 (ii) Second hydrolysis, distilled with magnesia 8'0 (iv.) Nitrogen evolved b}' sodium hypobromite nil Half nitrogen evolved by nitrous acid 38'8 Undetermined N ... 388 (i.) First hydrolysis and distillation with magnesia 96 (v.) Precipitated by phosphotung. after hydrolysis and distilln. 14'1 (i.) First hydrolysis and distilln. with magnesia 9'6 (iv.) Half N evolved by nitrous acid after hydrol. and distilln. 65 '7 HY JAMES M. PETRIE. 113 (5) Seeing the effects of two successive hydrolyses, in de- composing certain of the constituents, to be so marked, the following series was designed to show the effect of varying the conditions of hydrolysis. For this purpose, a solution was obtained by the method described in paragraph 1 (b), and was further treated in the following manner. The liquid was made to contain 5% (by weight) of sulphuric acid, and a solution of phosphotungstic acid was added till no further precipitate formed on standing. The clear fluid was decanted, and the rest separated by the centrifuge, the precipitate being washed with the dilute reagents. From the fluid, the reagents were removed by baryta in slight excess, and the latter by carefully titrating with sulphuric acid, till the colour with phenolphthalein was just removed. After filtra- tion, the clear pale yellow fluid was divided into five equal portions for hydrolysis, as follows: — a. Boiled for i hour with 8% (by wt. ) hydrochloiic acid. h. ,, 2 hours ,, 8 ,, ,, r 4 S ">• 11 8 ,, ,,8 ,, ,, c. ,, 15 ,, ,, 25 ,, sulphuric acifl. The hydrolysed fluids were then each neutralised, and distilled with magnesia by a current of steam into standard acid. The distillate was titrated after every hour, for four consecutive hours, and gave the following figures : — Table XI. a. h. c. d. e. After l8t hour ., • 9-41% 10-38% 1 1 -86 % 13-73% 24-6% ,, 2nd „ 1-00 0-86 0-72 1-29 3-2 ,. 3rd ,, 0-72 0-43 100 100 2-3 „ I'll ,, 07-2 0-43 0-28 0-43 0 9 11-85 12-10 13-86 16-45 310% per cent, of the non-protein N in the extract. Results. — In the above extract, after phosphotungstic acid precipitation, the process of hydrolysing decomposes some of the constituents, with the liberation of ammonia. The quantity of ammonia set free increases with the length of time the solution is boiled, and also with the strength of the 114 THE ROLK OF NITROGEN IN PLANT-METABOLISM, iii., acid used. Secondly, the titrations, after distilling for four hours, are still yielding nuich ammonia, and, no doubt, would have continued for many hours longer, so that even the last result of 31% is not at all the maximum figure obtainable. Thirdly, the ammonia which distils is not all preformed in the solution ; after the first hour, all preformed ammonia must have been evolved, and the solution, by the continued boiling with magnesia, still liberates ammonia slowly, and in gradually lessening quantity. This is not characteristic either of amides or amino-acids. However, the residual fluids in the distillation flasks were now examined for compounds possessing the amino-group. The apparatus for the nitrous acid method of Sachsse was used as in a former operation. In the majority of these determinations, no nitrogen was evolved. In a few, a small amount only was obtained, which would account for less than 0-5% of the non-protein nitrogen. The same residual fluids, after distillation with magnesia, were next submitted to the Sorensen* titration. In this, the solution is titrated with one-fifth normal sodium hydroxide, before and after treatment with neutral formaldehyde. In the first stage, free acid and also those carboxyl groups which are distant from an amino-group are neutralised ; and, in the second stage, the formaldehyde removes the amino-group, and with it disappears the pro- tective influence of the latter on the a carboxyl-group, there- by making the carboxyl-group available in the second titration. Results. — Solutions a, h, c, d , e, when titrated, were found to be neutral. After addition of the formaldehyde solution, they still remained neutral. From these results we should conclude that compounds containing the amino- group were absent. »Biochem. Zeitsch. 7, 1907, s.45. BY JAMES M. PETRIE. 110 The solid cotifenf of the inotein-free extract. — A portion of No. 4 extract, after precipitation of the proteins with alcohol, was taken, to ascertain the amount of total solids present in it. Fifty cc. were evaporated in vacuo over sul- phuric acid at ordinary temperature, and dried, over CaCly,, in a vacuum desiccator, to constant weight. The residue was equivalent to 20%, by weight, of the seeds. A larger volume also was evaporated at a gentle heat to a syrup, then put aside for some time to crystallise. After the lapse of a few weeks, it was still a clear yellow syrup showing no signs of crystal-formation. However, on examining it some months later, with a lens, it was observed to contain numerous tyrosin-like clusters or groups of radiating needles. These minute crystals did not possess the opaque white appearance so characteristic of tyrosin, and gave a negative Millon reaction. The residue was then a tough and horny mass. Another portion of the same solution, No. 4, was precipi- tated by mercuric nitrate. From the precipitate, the mercury was removed by hydrogen sulphide, and the liquid evaporated, at a very gentle heat, to a syrup, then set aside. After standing many weeks, no crystallisation had taken place, the substance remaining as a clear dark syrup. A part of the same solution. No. 4, was then examined for lipoids, by shaking out with pure ether, a number of times. The ethereal liquid was dried with calcium chloride, then evaporated to dryness, and the residue weighed. It amounted to 0-546%, by weight, of the seeds. By assuming the whole of this ether extract to be lecithin (which contains 1-78% of N), the nitrogen required would be 00097, a quantity which amounts to just 0-48% of the non-protein nitrogen. It may, therefore, safely be concluded that the possible lecithin- nitrogen does not exceed 0-5% of the whole non-protein nitrogen present. 116 the role of nitrogen in plant-metabolism, iii., Discussion of Results. i. The Proteins. Soluhdit [/. — The seeds of Acacia i^ijcnantha contain 4-5% of nitrogen, partly in the form of protein, and partly as other nitrogenous compounds. Table i. shows that, of the total nitrogen, over 70% can be extracted from the seeds by water, and 13% by sodium chloride. By extracting as com- pletely as possible with 10% salt solution, and treating with a 5% tannic acid solution, the proteins precipitated corres- pond to 40% of the nitrogen, and the filtrate contains 45% nitrogen as non-protein compounds. The solubility of the proteins in salt-solution is greatly increased by nearly neu- tralising to phenolphthalein. In Table ii., are given the relative amounts of protein extracted by sodium chloride from 1 to 10%, alone, and with alkali added till nearly neutral. Alone. Witli 01 % alkali. Sodium chloride 1% 5 8 10% 8 10 Sodium hydroxide 01% 8 The same amount is extracted by 01% alkali as by 10% salt. An extract of the seeds in 10% salt-solution filtered clear, slowly becomes acid to litmus, and deposits protein on stand- ing. According to Osborne, an insoluble salt is formed of the basic proteins with the free acid of the extract. Action of various ]}reci'pifaiifs. — From a 10% salt-extract, the following reagents precipitate the proteins in decreasing amounts, in the order given, and in the following relative proportions : — Tannic acid 14" % of the total N 'rrichloracetic acid 1 1 "5 Heat coagulation 10" Carbon dioxide 9" Sodium chloride saturation 2" A 5% tannic acid solution was added to the 10% salt-extract till no further precipitation took place, avoiding excess. The BY JAMES M. PETRIE. 117 solutions were kept cool by standing in water. This reagent precipitates the largest amount of protein, and the filtrates were biuret-fi'ee. With regard to the nature of this protein, the following authorities are quoted: — Sebelit'M,* ISSiJ, jn't'parcd proteins by salting out egg-all )uiii in, casein, etc., and found that these were completely precipitated from solution liy tannic acid, giving nitrogen-free filtrates. He used a solution of tannic-acetic acids and alcohol. Effront, t 1<^99, showed that the end-products of peptic diges- tion of fibrin escape precipitation with tannic acid, and that, besides peptones, some albumoses remain in solution. Neumeister:J: states that this reagent precipitates all proteins, including proteoses and peptones. Simon,§ separated the total i)roteins of milk completely by a solution of tannic-acetit" acids and alcohol, but found that, with tainiic acid alone, ([uantitative results could not be obtained; also that good results ensued oidy when sufficient inorganic salts were present. Hedin, II 1901, b}' using a tannin-salt-acetic acid solution, showed that the amount precipitated varied with the concenti-a- tion of the protein-solution; and further, that the tannin-filtrate contained peptones and low-er products of digestion. Mack,^ 1904, after preparing pure peptones by Siegfried's method, showed that they were precipitated from strong solutions by tannic acid, the precipitates being soluble in acetic acid. Winterstein and Bissegger**, 1906, used the tannic-acetic acidx alcohol-mixture to pre<;ipitate the total protein of clieese-extracts, and found that the results were influenced by the amount of * Skbelien— Zeit. physiol. Cliein. 13, 1889, 135. t Effront— Chein. Ztg., 24, 1899, 770, 783. J Nkumkistkr— Lehrl). H. ph3'sioI. Chem. ii., 234. § SiMo.N— Zeit. pliysiol. Cheni. 33, 1901, 470. II Hkdin— Journ. Plij'siol. 30, 1904, 156, 195. U Mack— Zeit. physiol. Chem. 42, 1904, 259. ** WiNTERSTKIN 11. BiSSEGGER. — r6id. 47, 1906, 38. 118 THE KOLK OF NITROGEN IN PLANT-METABOLISM, ill., tannic acid used, and that the presence of sodium chloride makes separation more complete. Mey *, 1906, found, in the tannin filtrate from peptic digests, numei'ous peptone-like substances giving the biuret reaction. Jiigelow and Cook f, 1906, by numerous experiments, deter- mined the conditions of maximum precipitation for Witte's peptone to be concentration of tannic acid 5%, sodium chloride 15%, in the final solution in which precipitation is made. This gave the maximum pi'ecipitation of proteins, and separated 94% of the nitrogen of Witte's peptone. This reagent precipitated proteoses and peptones at 12°C. ►Suzuki I, 1907, employed a tannin-salt solution in his experi- ments on germinating seeds, to separate total proteins, including peptones. Bialosuknia §, 1908, and numerous other workers in plant- proteins, measure the activity of proteolytic enzymes by the increase of nitrogen in the tannin filtrates. These references suffice to show the uncertainty which existed with regard to the completeness of the precipitation by tannic acid. There is no doubt concerning the true pro- teins, as Sebelien showed, their precipitability being complete when the correct conditions, as to the amount of reagent and concentration of protein, are found for each case, condi- tions which vary with the nature of the protein. But, in dealing with protein-derivatives, there is" now sufficient evidence to show, that many of the polypeptides are redis- solved by excess of the reagent, so that the filtrates may give a positive biuret reaction. Since the polypeptides may exist in decreasing molecular magnitude, from the very complex to the simple dipeptides, it would appear useless to fix any limits as to which are, and which are not precipitated. But it is quite certain that the smaller members are soluble. * MRY—ihid. 48. 1906, 81. t BiGELOW k Cook — Journ. Amer. ("hem. Soc. 28, 1906, 1485. X SuzDKi— Joiun. Biol. Chein. iii., 1907, 268. § Bialosuknia— Zeit. physiol. Cheni. 58, 1908, 487. BY JAMES M. PETRIE. 119 The trichloracetic acid figure is less than that for tannic acid. Most proteoses and peptones are soluble in this reagent. Distinct evidence of proteoses is given in Table iv., by the deposit formed on cooling the hot filtrate ; this deposit redis- solves on heating. Proteoses are only partially precipitated by excess, dissolve on boiling, and re-appear on cooling, while peptones are not precipitated.* The protein coagulated by boiling the salt extract, slightly acidulated with acetic acid, is , considerably less than the tannin-precipitate. The results of Osborne, Chittenden and Mendel t, show that coagulation of reserve-proteins -.'f seeds is always incomplete, and that their behaviour is wholly diffei-ent from that of animal-proteins. On thi.^ account we cannot designate the uncoagulable protein, which is precipitated by tannic acid, as proteose and peptones, which is so often done in the separation of animal-proteins. Carbon dioxide precipitates a little over one-half (63%) the amount obtained by tannic acid. This probably represents the actual globulins present. A very small quantity only is obtained by complete satura- tion with sodium chloride. By fractional salting out with ammonium sulphate, pre- cipitation begins with six-tenth's saturation. The globulins, which are most readily salted out, appear first ; and since we have seen that carbon dioxide shows the presence of at least 63% of globulins, they must constitute the whole of the seven-tenth's fraction, and part of the eight-tenth's. All the work done on the globulins, up to within a few years ago, was based on the fact that globulins were defined as those proteins which could be salted out by half-saturation with ammonium sulphate — a definition very far removed from the trvith, and according to which the extract would contain no globulins at all. Martin, C. J., Journ. Physiol. 15, 1894, 375. t Jourii. Physiol. 17, lS9t, 48. 120 THE ROLE OF NITROGEN IN PLANT-METABOLISM, iii., By quantitative precipitation with alcohol, in increasing successive concentrations, a differentiation occurs into at least two distinct proteins. The precipitation of the first runs approximately proportional to the concentration of alcohol, from the commencement to 40/^. From 40 to 60% the nitrogen is nearly constant, and a second jirotein is indicated at 60% concentration, by the sudden change in the solubility of the precipitate, and the increase in amount of nitrogen. ii. The n o n - p r o t e i n Nitrogen Compounds The experimental work may be grouped under the follow- ing headings : — A. — Preparation of a protein-free solution containing other nitrogen compounds, and proof of absence of protein. B. — Distillation of free ammonia in the solution. C. — Hydrolysis by dilute acids under a reflux condenser, and subsequent distillation with magnesia, by Sachsse's method for amides. D. — Continued and drastic hydrolysis, involving decompo- sition of substances which yield more ammonia than C. E. — Precipitation of basic constituents with phospho- tungstic acid. F. — Examination for compounds containing the amino- group. A. — The non-protein nitrogen solutions are obtained by two methods, (a) Cold saline extracts are precipitated by tannic acid, lead acetate, and hydrogen sulphide, (b) Hot distilled water extracts are precipitated in 80% alcohol. The alcohol containing the non-protein constituents is distilled e under reduced pressure, the aqueous residue diluted with water, and filtered. Evidence is shown that these solutions are practically protein-free. The solutions contain no nitrates and no alkaloids, and when distilled no nitrogen is found in the distillate. U\ JAMES M. PETRIE. 121 B. — Amniuiiia is obtained fioui all the extracts by distil- ling with magnesia in a current of steam. Zymolysis during the extraction of the seeds, with its consequent liberation of ammonia, is entirely excluded in method (b) by boiling. That this ammonia is actually free in the extracts, is doubt- ful, since the desaniidising enzymes of seeds do not become active till germination begins. There remains then the probability that compounds are present, which decompose with great ease by distilling with magnesia. In support of this, we have (in Table vii., iv.) the result of a distillation, following the removal of all pre-existing ammonia, and other basic compounds, with phosphotungstic acid : ammonia is formed as before. Again, when distilled directly (Table vii., ii.), and after hydrolysis with dilute acid (Table x., i.) practically equal quantities are obtained in the same time. C. — By hydrolysing with dilute acids, amides split off ammonia with great readiness, which distils off rapidly with magnesia. In Tables viii. and xi.a, the minimum figures are obtained under conditions well known to yield the whole of amide-ammonia. These are about 8-10% of the non-protein nitrogen, and would represent about 2% of asparagin in the seeds. On the other hand, when the attempt is made to isolate amides by Schulze's method with mercuric nitrate, only a syrupy residue is left, which shows no crystallisation on long standing. Again, the magnesia distillations, instead of coming to a sharp finish, apparently go on for some con- siderable time, evolving ammonia (Table xi.), as if it were gradually formed by the slow decomposition of substances other than amides. In consequence, the invariable pro- cedure of ascribing to amides, this ammonia obtained by Sachsse's process, can certainly not be applied here. D. — By increasing the duration of hydrolysis, and strength of acid, the decomposition is accelerated, with an increased liberation of ammonia. Boiling with 25% sulphuric acid, for 15 hours, results in the formation of 31°/ of ammonia- 12- THE UOLE OF NITROGEN IN PLANT-METABOLISM, iii., nitrogen. Even after this powerful treatment, the ammonia distillation is drawn out for some hours, as is seen ni Table xi., e. E. — The phosphotungstic precipitates, when dissolved, and the reagent removed with barium hydroxide, begin rapidly to decompose ; and, within a few days, considerable volumes of trimethylamine are liberated. This strong evidence of the presence of cholin is partly confirmed by subsequently obtaining the characteristic haemin-like crystals of cholin per-iodide, which are recognised under the microscope in abundance. That this free cholin has not its origin in lecithin or other lipoids occurring in the extract, is seen from the small amount of lecithin, 05%, obtained by ether-extrac- tion. Both cholin and betain have been identified by Schulze in leguminous seeds. The same solution gives, with silver sulphate, a consider- able precipitate containing xanthin-bases, and, after satura- tion with baryta, a precipitate which probably contains arginin. The total nitrogen- value of these basic compounds is 20% of the non-protein nitrogen, but when the phospho- tungstic precipitation follows hydrolysis, only 14% is ob- tained. The difference is mostly accounted for by the forma- tion of a large amount of melanoidin, which is explained by Samuely* as probably due to the association of the nitro- genous compounds with carbohydrates j^resent in the solution, and their oxidation during the hydrolysis with acid. Schmiedebergt noticed also that xanthin bases and carbohy- drates gave rise to melanoidin, when boiled with acids. F. — In the examination of the solution for compounds containing the amino-group, the following results wei'e obtained : — - * Hofmeistei's Beittar;e, 1902. s.35.5. t Arch. f. exp. Path. u. Phannak., 43, 1899, n.r,; UV JAMKS M. I'KTKIK. 123 I Sodium I liypobrom. N. Nitrous Acid N. After :— 1. Magnesia dist. + phospiiotung. acid 2. Hydrolysis and distillation 3. Hydrolysis + liydrolysis and distilln... 4. Phospholuiig. -1- hj'drolysis and distilln. Of the compounds known to evolve nitrogen gas with sodium liypobromite, ammonia and basic compounds are excluded in 1, and only certain amides are left to represent the 19-3% of nitrogen. In 2, amides also are excluded and no nitrogen was obtained. Although the two plant-amides, asparagin and glutamin, do not evolve ammonia with hypo- bromite till hydrolysed with dilute acids, yet this does not exclude the existence of other compounds in which the amino-group is in a less stable position, and which would evolve ammonia, like urea, allantoin, etc., with this reagent. It is significant that the nitrogen in 1, and that obtained by Sachsse's method after prolonged hydrolysis (Table xi. d), and which has been already discussed as a possible amide- figure, are approximately the same. This reagent does not liberate nitrogen from amino-acids. Nitrous acid, on the other hand, decomposes almost all amino-groups with evolution of nitrogen. After hydrolysis, such compounds must be present, representing the high figure in 2. After a double hydrolysis, the nitrogen evolved by nitrous acid is reduced to about one-half, and, following phosphotungstic acid and hydrolysis, no nitrogen is obtained. Amino-acids. — Van Slyke* found that no nitrogen was evolved from prolin or glycin anhydride which contain the imino-group : also that guanidin, creatin, and the amide- group of asparagin, do not react. Slyke and Hartf have shown that amino-acids, boiled with magnesia, do not evolve * Jouin. Biol. Chem. 7, 1910, p. xxxiv, 1 Amer. chem. Jouin. 29, 1903, 168. 124 THE HOLE UF NITROGEN IN PLANT-METABOLISM, 111., ammonia. Krviger and Schmid* heated amino-acids with concentrated sulphuric acid at 160° C, and showed that no ammonia was given off on distillation with alkali. Now 2 and 3 show that the nitrogen is obtained from compounds which are rapidly decomposed by hydrolysis, and 4 that, after removal of basic compounds, the hydrolysis and distil- lation remove these readily decomposable compounds almost entirely. We can, then, only conclude from the above that amino-acids are not present, or exist in very small amounts (See 4) in the non-protein nitrogen solution. This conclu- sion is confirmed also by the formaldehyde titration. This slow decomposition, with formation of ammonia, is characteristic of certain groups of organic compounds. Erdmann f has shown that compounds containing the nitril grouping, when heated with sulphuric acid, form amines, and finally ammonia. Embdeni found that cystin gives off ammonia, when boiled for a long time with magnesia ; and Mathews and Walker§ that it oxidised spontaneously in alkaline solutions, setting free ammonia. Neuberg and Mayer|| crystallised cystin in radiating bunches of needles like ty rosin. Jollest by slow oxidation of plant-protein, at ordinary temperature, obtained urea 50%, nitrogen in phosphotungstic acid precipitate 20%, and in filtrate 30% of the total nitrogen. The urea originates in the — CONH — and — CONH^ groups of the protein molecule, and is analogous with the breaking down and oxidation of proteins in the organism. Plimmer**, by oxidising albumins, obtained hydrocyanic acid, and he states that it arises from the glycin and aspartic » Zeit. physiol. Chem 30, 1900, 556. t Ekdmann— Journ. Biol. Chem. 8, 1910, 41. X Embukn— Zeit. physiol. Chem. 32, 1900, 95. § Mathkws & WALKKR-Journ. Biol. Chem. 6, 1909, 289 II Nkuberg k Maykr — Zeit. physiol. Chem. 44, 1905, 472. H Joi,LEs-!7)u/. 32, 1900, 361. "* PLIMMER-Jouni. Physiol. 32, 19U4, 51. BY JAMES M. PETRIE. 12") acid. Maly* and others also obtained oxidation-products of proteins, which were not precipitated by tannic or phospho- tungstic acids, gave no Millon or xanthoproteic test, but a positive biuret. These products, heated with alkali, evolved large amounts of ammonia : after hydrolyses, they yielded amino-acids and ammonia, and gave off nitrogen when acted on by nitrous acid. Plants and seeds contain protease and oxidase ferments, and, therefore, it is not improbable that the above oxidation- products are present in the non-protein solution. Polype/ptides. — Swirlowskif submitted protein to hydro- lysis with 0-5/ hydrochloric acid, at 37" C for six months. The phosphotungstic filtrate then contained 27% of the nitro- gen, and no amino-acids could be obtained, until hydrolysed by strong acids. These polypeptides gave only the biuret reaction. We have now seen that both tannic and phosphotungstic acids may not precipitate the smaller polypeptides. If we assume the presence of these in the Acacia solutions, then (1) we know, from the negative Millon test, that the tyrosin nucleus is not a constituent. (2) It is more difficult to ex- plain the absence of the biuret reaction ; though it is just possible that the biuret-yielding group is absent, it is more likely that, with these particular polypeptides, the reaction is not reliable. (3) By ordinary hydrolysis, only small amounts of ammonia would be set free, certainly not suffi- cient to account for the large amount obtained. On the other hand, if oxidation has also taken place, then, as has already been shown, oxidation-products could be slowly formed, which would provide large amounts of ammonia on distilla- tion. (4) By the severing of imino-linkings in the poly- peptide hydrolysis, amino-groups would certainly appear. * Maly— Sitzber. Wien. Akad. 1889; Monatshr. 1889. t Zeit. physiol. Chem. 48, 1906, 252. 126 THE r6le of nitrogen in plant-metabolism, iii., which ought to be detected by the nitrous acid method. The latter, however, gives no nitrogen after the phosphotungstic precipitation and hydrolysis, and this result may be inter- preted, either as proof of the absence of polypeptides, or that, by steric hindrance, the reaction is made exceedingly slow. 1-27 THE HOLE OF NITROGEN IN PLANT-METABOLISM. Part iv. — The Nitrogen of Ripening Seeds. P.v James M. Petrie, D.Sc, F.I.C., Linnean-Macleay Fellow op the Society in Bio-Chemistry. (From (hf Physiological Laboratory of thp University oj Sydney.) The investigations of Emmerling, Wassilieff, and Schulze have led to the assumption that, during the ripening of seeds, organic nitrogen compounds- are transferred from other parts of the plant, principally the gi-een leaves, to the seeds. As the protein-content of the seeds rapidly increases during the progress of ripening, it is, therefore, assumed that, in the process, the synthesis of proteins has taken place, that the protein is formed where the carbon-assimila- tion is most active, and that it does not accumulate there, but is transferred to the growing parts of the plant. It is obvious, since the proteins occurring in the sap of plants possess entirely different properties, both physical and chemical, from the proteins which are stored as reserve-food in the seeds, that a change must take place in the constitution of the former. Now we can conceive of this change only as one of cleavage along the same path as in artificial hydrolyses, and having as end-products the amino-acids. But there are also formed numerous intermediate products, the polypep- tides, diminishing in complexity, from the very slightly altered metaprotein downwards, and including the albumoscs 128 THE ROLK OF NITROGKN IN PLANT-MKTABOLISM, iv., and peptones. Then ammonia is always set free as the result of the cleavage of protein. There is invariably formed in the leaves of plants, by a secondary action, a group of substances not found in artificial hydrolysis, viz. — the amides, glutamin and asparagin. They are formed from ammonia and carbohydrates, and hence the ammonia never accumulates in the plant under normal con- ditions. This cleavage of protein is the work of the protease ferments, which have been shown to have a wide distribu- tion in plants. The soluble cleavage-products are carried to the growiag seed, where the protein is regenerated, probably by the reverse action of ferments, since both protease and erepsin have been found in unripe seeds* ; and it has been shown that t>he same ferments are able both to hydrolyse and synthesise proteins under suitable conditions.! Emmerling]: and others were led, by their results, to the view that the amides were the principal material for the synthesis. Now the only amides yet discovered in plants are those of aspartic acid and glutaminic acid, and these are only two out of about twenty known hydrolytic products of plant- proteins. It is, therefore, incomprehensible how the entire molecule of the protein can be synthesised chemically from amides. We must rather look for an interpretation based on our present knowledge of the protein-chemistry ; and, first, when we consider the manner in which the hydrolysis of proteins is brought about by enzymes /// vitro, we find a large proportion of those fii'st cleavage-products, meta- proteins, albumoses, peptones, and the larger polypeptides, with only small amounts of amino-acids. Then we should expect to find these substances in the translocating material of the living plant. * Zalkski— Ber. Bot. Ge.s. 23. t Taylor— Jourii. Biol. Chem. 3, 1907, p. 87. Brailsford Robkrtson— i7«d. p.95. X Landw. Versuchs-Stat. B.34, 1; B.54, 215. I5Y JAMIvS M. I'KTUIK. 129 Albumoses and peptones were identified in plants by Schulze* and Neunieisterf in 1894, and in the unripe seeds by Frankfurtt, Nedokutschajeff^, and Zaleski^l. It seems most probable, then, that the highly complex globulins and albumins of the seed-reserves are formed, iu great part, from these proximate cleavage-products which are still to be recognised as simpler proteins. There is no doubt, however, that amino-acids also exist in the ripening seeds, for Wassilieff** has identified, in unripe seeds of Lupinus, arginin, histidin, phenylalanin, valin ; and Schulzeft found, in addition to the above, tyrosin and lysih in unripe seeds of Pisiim sativum, but these amino- acids were found only in very small amounts. It is most probable that they are the result of very slow hydrolysis of the proteins in the seeds, by the ferments present. Accompanying those essential cleavage-products in the plant-sap, there occur the cleavage-products of other sub- stances set free in the metabolism, such as cholin, betain, trigonellin, vernin, allantoin, purins, nucleins, etc. These are also conveyed to the ripening seed, and are deposited there, with the protein. They are estimated in the analyses with the nonprotein-nitrogen compounds ; and, as far as we know, are unsuitable material for the protein-synthesis. As the seeds ripen and the total nitrogen-content increases, there occurs a relative change in the distribution of the nitrogen, as designated by the terms protein- and nonprotein- nitrogen respectively. In order to interpret this change, the following are selected from a series of experiments carried out at the be- ginning of 1909, on the ripening of seeds. ♦ Journ. prak. Chem. B. 27, 358; 32, 449. t Zeit. f. Hiol. B. xii. X Landw. Versuchs. B.4', 453. § Versuchs-Stat. 1902, 1903. IT Ber. d. Bot. Ges. 23. ** Journ. exp. Landwirtsehaft. (riiss. ) 1904, S.34. +t Zeit. pliysiol. Chem. 65, 1910, S.431. 130 THK i{6le of nitrogen in plant-metabolism, iv., A. — Experiments with Vic la sativa. The pods of the Wild Tare, Vicia sativa, growing in the open fields, were collected in March, and in widely different stages of their development. Stage 1. — Very immature seeds, small, soft and green; 100 of these seeds in the fresh, moist state, with skins, weighed 0-9 gm. Stage 2. — Older seeds, larger, soft and green; 100 of these weighed 31 gms. Stage 3. — Very ripe seeds, dry, hard and black; 100 of these seeds weighed 1-7 gms. Method of experiment. — The material collected was imme- diately brought into the laboratory, and the seeds separated from the pods. The weight of one hundred moist seeds was found ; and amounts of the entire seeds, with skins left on and in their original fresh moist condition, were weighed out for the experiment, within ten minutes of their separation from the plants in the field. About 0-5 gm. was taken for the estimation of the total nitrogen, by Kjeldahl's method; the seeds were dropped into a flask, with HoSO^, and heated, with addition of potassium bisulphate, and with copper sul- phate as an accelerator. The heating was continued for six hours, and the ammonia distilled in the usual way. A weighed quantity was next crushed in a moi'tar, and quickly transferred to a flask, with about 500 cc. of distilled water; heated on a water-bath at 80° C, for two hours; and the fluid decanted through muslin. After adding another half litre of water to the flask, the extraction was continued for one hour; after which, the fluid was poured off, and the operation repeated twice, in all four extractions. The residue of insoluble material in the flask, was then pressed in the fllter-cloth, and discarded. The combined fluids were then measured, and filtered clear through filter-paper, and a definite amount evaporated, on the water-bath, to a small volume; this was poured into alcohol, making the liquid uj) BY JAMES M. PKTRIE. 131 to a strength of 85% spirit. After heating to 70", then allowing to stand till cold, the precipitated proteins were filtered off. From an aliquot portion of the filtrate, the alcohol was distilled off, and the nitrogen of the residue estimated by Kjeldahl's process. This is designated the non-protein nitrogen. It is not assumed that this separation of proteins is com- plete, indeed it is almost certain that the simpler polypeptides remain unprecipitated, and are included in the nonprotein nitrogen solution. The complete separation of proteins from such mixtures, is a matter of very great difficulty. The results of the determinations are here tabulated : — Tablk i. 100 gms. of fresh seeds of Vicia saliva contain : — Stage Protein-N. Nonprot.-N. Total N. 1 1-088 gms. 0-702 gni. 1-790 gms. 2 1-129 0-541 1-670 3 4-345 1085 5 430 The results here show that, in 100 gms. of the very young seeds, containing 1-79 gms. of total nitrogen, the protein- nitrogen is 1-088 gms., and the nonprotein-nitrogen 0-702 gm. In the second stage of their development, the protein - nitrogen has increased to 1129 gms. ; the nonprotein-nitrogen is 0-541 gm. ; and the total nitrogen is slightly less than in Stage 1. In the perfectly ripe seeds, the total nitrogen has increased to 5-43 gms., and consists of 4-345 gms. of pro- tein- and 1-085 gms. of nonprotein-nitrogen. By comparing the same number of seeds in each case, the absolute amount of nitrogen, in the two different forms, be- comes at once apparent. Table ii. shows the contents of 100 seeds in the same three stages of development. 'I'ABr.K ii. 100 seeds of Vicia saliva contain : — Stage Weight Protein-N. Nonprot.-N. Total N. 1 0-9 gms. 0010 gm. OOOKgm. 0016 gm. 2 31 0036 0-017 0-053 3 1-7 0 076 0-019 0 095 132 THE ROLE OF NITKOCJEX IN PLANT-METABOLISM, iv., During the ripening of the seeds, the total nitrogen has increased about six times. In the first stage, the seeds con- tain 10 mgs. of protein-nitrogen. In the second stage, there have been added, from external sources, 26 mgs. and 11 mgs., respectively ; and, in the final stage of development, the perfectly ripe seeds have received a further increment of 40 mgs. and 2 mgs. of each, respectively. In Table iii., are given the relative amounts of the protein- and nonprotein-nitrogen in per cent, of the total nitrogen, where it is seen that the protein-ratio increases, while the nonprotein simultaneously diminishes, throughout the same stages of development. Table iii. Table ii. expressed in per cent, of total N : — Stage Protein-N. Nonprot.-N. 1 62-5% 37-5% 2 68 0 32 0 3 80-0 20 0 Conclusions. — From these results we may draw the con- clusion that, with the entrance of nitrogenous substances into the seeds, there is a simultaneous increase in the amounts of both protein and nonprotein nitrogen-compovmds, the mature seeds containing the largest amount of each. There is, thus, no evidence that nonprotein-nitrogen has been transformed into protein-nitrogen, but rather that the nonprotein-nitro- gen, at least in part, is represented by a residue of unsuitable material left in each case*. If the latter consisted of plastic material available for the protein-synthesis, we should expect it, in the perfectly ripe seed, to be almost entirely consumed. On the contrary, in all ripe seeds that have hitherto been examined, there still remains a considerable residue of non- protein-nitrogen, and this condition remains practically un- altered throughout the dormant state. In a previous paper (Part ii.)t a number of such deter- minations are given, showing the amounts of protein- and nonprotein-nitrogen in various seeds. • Aidm p. 129 + Petrie — These Proceedings, 1908, xxxiii., p.842. BY .lAMKb jM. I'KTKIE. 133 As to the function of the pods in the Leguminosae, there is some evidence that they act as stores for reserve-material. Schulze and Winterstein* have shown that, during the ripen- ing of risum sativum, protein-decomposition takes place in the pods, and the soluble material is transported to the seeds, as the latter ripen, till, in the end, only 30% of the original protein- and 8% of the original nonprotein-nitrogen are left. Not only does this transference take place while the pods are growing on the plant, but also after their removal from the stem they continue to supply material for the formation of protein to the enclosed seeds. The results of an experi- ment to prove this point are given below. B. Experiments with V i c i a f ah a. Broad beans, V ic'ui faba, were grown in an experimental plot. The pods were collected at about the middle period of their growth, and examined, with the object of determining whether any change in the distribution of the nitrogen in their seeds took place, when these were left for a definite time, enclosed in the isolated pods. Three stages were arranged as follows : — Stage 1. Beans collected, and immediately examined for protein- and nonprotein-nitrogen : 100 beans weighed 22-6 gms. Stage 2. Beans left two days in the pods, then examined: 100 beans weighed 65-7 gms. Stage 3. Beans left five days in the pods, then examined: 100 beans weighed 63-5 gms. The unopened pods wei-e left in a moist atmosphere, under a bell-jar, for a given time : the seeds were then removed from the pods, and, with their skins on and in the moist condition, the weight of one hundred was ascertained. The methods of extraction and nitrogen-estimation were the same as those given in A. * Zeit. I'hysiol. Cliim. 65, 1910, s.43l. ioi THE ROLE OF NITHOCIEN IN PLANT-METABULISM, iv., The following are the tabulated results of the experiment : Table iv. 100 gnis. of fresh Vicia/aba seeds contain : — (Stage. Protein-N. Nonprot.-N. Total N. 1 0-950 gm. 0 340gm. 1-290 •2 1-124 0 186 llilO 3 1-476 0-174 1-650 The seeds, when examined at once, contained 1-29% of nitrogen, composed of 0-95 in form of protein- and 0-34 in form of nonprotein-compounds. After two days, Stage 2, the total nitrogen was 1-31%, distributed in the form of pro- tein 1-124, and other forms 01 86. In Stage 3, after 5 days in the isolated pods, the total nitrogen had increased to 1-65%, and included 1-476 of protein- and 0174 of nonpro- tein-nitrogen, respectively. The amounts, calculated for 100 seeds, are given below. Table v. 100 seeds of Vicia Julia contain : — ytage. Weight. Protein-N. 1 22-6 gms. 0-172 gm. 2 65-7 0-846 3 63-5 0-960 Tablk vi. Table v. expressed in per cent, of total nitrogen : — Stage. Protein-N. Nonprot.-N. 1 58-0 32-0 2 87-5 12-5 3 91-4 8-6 From Table v., we ascertain that the seeds, by lying in the isolated pods for five days, gain in total nitrogen, and the absolute amount of protein has increased. Since, between the first and third stages, the nonprotein-nitrogen has but slightly increased, it seems that the protein in the seeds could only have been augmented by the addition of protein or protein-derivatives, which are precipitated by alcohol. The only source possible for this additional protein, then, lies in the pods, which, therefore, appear to act as reserve- holders for the nitrogenous supply to the seeds, under special conditions. Nonprot.-N. Total N. 0'080 gm. 0-120 0-090 0-252 gm 0-966 1 050 135 THE HOLE OF NTTllOGEN IN PLANT-METABOLlSlVl. Part V. — The Occurrence of Potassium Nitrate in Plants. By J. M. Petrie, D.Sc, F.I.C, Linnean Macleay Fellow OF the Society in Biochemistry. (From the Physiological Laboratorij of thf UnivP-vsitij nj Sydney.) Potassium nitrate is one of the principal forms in which plants receive their nitrogen from the soil. Although this salt has been detected in small quantities in very many plants, it accumulates and is stored, as a reserve, in only a few. It is, therefore, of interest to record the occurrence of a comparatively large amount of this salt in the evergreen shrub, Solandra ymndifloni, N.O. Solanacese. This plant was collected at Grafton, N.S.W., by Dr. H. G. Chapman, in May of 1909, when the autumn leaves were beginning to fall; and for. the special purpose of investigat- ing the alkaloid contained in it. E ape rime n fed. — Leaves weighing 20 kilogms., were air- dried, disintegrated, and extracted with hot water acidvilated with tartaric acid. This water-extract was evaporated to a thin syrup, treated with alcohol, and filtered. From the clear solution, the spirit was removed by distillation under diminished pressure ; the residue left in the still was dissolved in water, filtered clear, and the solution concentrated on the water-bath. There now separated, on cooling the solution, 136 THE ROLE OF NITROGEN IN PLANT MIOTABOLISM, V., 130 gms. of crystals which, on dissolving in water and re- crystallising, formed two layers. The surface-layer con- sisted of lath-shaped crystals of potassium nitrate, about 1 inch long ; and the second, a considerable quantity of small cubical crystals of potassium chloride. These potassium salts were obtained as a by-product only ; and the superfluid pos- sessed the odour of strong tobacco, but only a very small amount of alkaloid was obtained from it. Result .— In the solution of crystals, the nitrate was deter- mined by the nitrometer, and gave 58 gms. of potassium nitrate. The volume of the combined mother-liquors, from which the crystals had been obtained, was 1300 cc, and, taking this as a saturated solution, it contained 292 gms. The total amount is, therefore, 350 gms. potassium nitrate, equivalent to 2-01% of the plant dried at 110° C. A sample of the plant dried at 110", contained 16/ of inorganic matter. The experiments of Andre* show that the amount of nitrate in plants generally varies with the period of life. It in- creases to a maximum with the formation of flower-buds, and rapidly diminishes again to a small amount. From this we see that the SoJandra leaves were collected at a time when their nitrate-content would be a minimum. Historical. — As long ago as 1747, Stahlf noticed the exis- tence of nitre in the tobacco plant ; and Braconnoti, in 1827, records the abundance of this salt in certain plants ; its wide distribution in the phanei'ogams was also shown by De Candolle§. In the following plants, nitrates occur as reserve-material stored in exceptionally large amounts, which are expressed as potassium nitrate of the whole plant or part, dried at 100° C. * f-.R. 142, 1900, 106. t Stahl. — FuiiHamenta Chymirp, 1747, p. 105. :J: Braconnot. — Annal. chim. physiq. (2), 35, 1827, p.260. § De Candolle. — Physiologie, i., 383. \i\ JAMKH M. PKTRIE. \:v, NiTKATK Plants. Nicotianiim tabacciim* Heliaiithiis annuus ... Ricinus communis AiiiarHntlni.s alropiirpureiist Amaraiithus niberf ... Portulaca olei'acea+ ... J^eta vulgaris§ Aniarantlms pyramidalisj .. Kiichyljena (Clietiopod):^ Iwrago officinalis:!: Papaver rheas:J: 'J'riticuin .sativumH Solanum tuberosumll Urlica dioicaU A vena aativall Potassium nitrate, large amounts, large amounts, large amounts, large amounts, large amdunts. stems, 12-4 %. stems, 8 "4. plant, 64. leaves, 6 '2. plant, 4-2. stems, 3"1. stems, 2 8. stems, I '5. stems, 1 3. stems, 09. .A if rates in Metaholism . — By cultivation and aeration of the soil, nitriTication is greatly increased, with the result that nitrates are most available for absorption by plants. On the other hand, the soil of moors and forests is found to contain hardly any nitrate ; and Baumann, in testing un- worked soils, found only minute traces, too small to estimate. This is probably a reason for the small amounts found by Berthelot and Andre*: — In Moss, 0005% in dry material: Equisctum, 0036%: Pteris aquilina, 0-30%; Pinus sylvestris, 0-020%. In their numerous experiments, these authors found that nitrate occurred in only small amounts in the roots, reached a maximum in the stems, and rapidly decreased to the leaves, where it is apparently utilised in the synthesis of organic compounds. Leaves and flowers contained least, and the seeds none. These experiments also showed that plants grown in nitrate-free soil gained nitrate ; and led the authors * Stahi,. — Fuiidumenta Chymiae, 174, p.lOo. t Boutin.— C.R., 78, 1874, p.261. X Ukkthei.ot et Am)RK.— Annal. chim. phy8iq.(6), 8, 1886, 28. g Pkixkt.— Bied. Cent., 1880, 8.235. T Hkkthelot.— C.R., 98. 1884, 1506. _ t Boutin's figures (22-7%, 16%) are copied into the standard text-lwoks. They are really the water-soluble ash taken as wholly potassium carbonate, and calculated into potassium nitrate. * Landw. Versuclis-Stat. 33, 1887, 247. 10 138 THE KOLE OF NITRCXJEN IN PLANT-METABOLISM, v., to state that nitrification takes place in the plant-cells, and especially in the stems — at least in those plants that are rich in nitrate ; and that this process is similar to that of nitrifi- cation in the soil, and is due to the same general function of cells which gives rise to the oxidised acids, oxalic, malic, and tartaric* These views were also held by Kreuslerf, BelzungI, and others; and to understand them, it is neces- sary to recollect that their experiments belong to the period immediately preceding Winogradsky's classic work. However, their results have not been conclusively con- firmed since, and they are entirely opposed to those of Molisch and Frank§ and Schulze^, who hold that all the nitrate in plants has been absorbed entirely through the roots. For the higher plants, potassium nitrate has been shown to be the more suitable nitrogen source, although some grow just as well with ammonium salts. Pitsch**, however, has shown that the presence of nitrate in the plant enables it to take up more nitrogen in other forms, such as ammonia : and in every case, except wheat, nitrate-plants utilised much more of the other forms of nitrogen than the ammonia-plants did. Ammonia does not accumulate in the plant, but, when de- prived of light, acid-amides are formed, from which the ammonia is readily recovered when required. On the other hand, nitrates can be stored in the tissues as reserve-material. Demoussytt has shown that the living protoplasm possesses the power of firm retention of nitrates ; so that, although exceedingly soluble outside, the nitrates cannot be extracted from the plant-cells by cold water. When, however, the * Berthklot et Andre. — Loc. cit., pp. 126, 128. t Laiidw. .Tail lb., 1886, 309. JJonrn. de Bot., 1893, 87. § Ber. hot. Ges., 5, 1887, 472. ^ Zeit. physiol. Chem. 22, 1896, 82. ••'* Laudw. Versuchs-Stat., 42, 1892. ++ C.R. 118, 1894, 79; 127, 1898, 771. BY JAMKS M. i'KTKIE. 139 plant is killed by boiling water, ether, etc., cold water removes the salts. Similarly dead leaves and roots are quickly deprived of their nitrates by rain. Nedokiitschaeff*, by growing various seedlings in Knop's nutritive solution showed that when he increased the concen- tration of nitrate, more accumulated in the plant ; and when a certain amount was stored, no more was taken up. This limit varied with different plants, and varied with the kind of base, being greatest when combined with potassium. Towards the elucidation of the manner in which the nitrogen-group enters the carbon-chain, the discovery of Abelous and Aloyf is important. An enzyme has been isolated from green plants, capable of reducing nitrates to nitrites and ammonia, even evolving gaseous nitrogen |. It was shown, also, that the reduction takes place only in the presence of carbohydrates. This co-relation between nitrates and sugars is again brought out in the experiments of Pellet^. A long beetroot was sliced and analysed. It contained much sugar at the tip, the amount rapidly dimin- ishing towards the crown ; and, conversely, the potassium nitrates was small at the tip, and increased upwards. De Plata's^! experiments show that a large production of sugar in plants is associated with abundance of potassium : and Kritger** found that, whereas many plants feel the lack of potassium very quickly, those which contain the large reserves of potassium nitrate, such as the beet, continue to flourish normally tfll these reserves are consumed. After Zaleskift and Suzukil;, there seems no doubt that, in • Ber. hot. Ges., 21, 1903, 421. t C.R., 55, 1903, 1080. X Irving and Hankinson. — Biochem. Journ., 3, 1908, 87. § Bied. Cent., 1880, 235. Abst.-J.C.S. •^Chem. Cent., 1910, 1623. ** Z. Ver. Zuckeiind., 58, 1908, 739. ft Hot. Cent., 87. Bui. Coll. Agrie. Tokyo, 2 and 3. ++ 140 THK r6le of nitrogen in plant-metabolism, v., green plants, nitrates can contribute to the formation of protein, without light, provided only that carbohydrates be supplied ; and that this change always begins by a reduction of the nitrates, through nitrites to ammonia. Now one of the easiest methods of lengthening the carbon-chain (in vit?-o) is through the formation of nitrils by hydrocyanic acid ; and Treub* believes that, in the presence of glucose, nitrates are directly transformed into nitrils as the first assimilation- product. This sudden step is difficult to comprehend from the chemical point of view ; it is, however, supported by *:he recent experiments of Ravenna and Pelif, where the produc- tion of hydrocyanic acid in Sorghum vulgare was traced to the simultaneous action of nitrates and carbohydrates, favoured by light. These authors state that hydrocyanic acid appears to be the simplest substance which can be detected as taking part in the synthesis of protein. Instead of the above sudden transformation of the nitrate, it seems more probable that the enzymic reduction of nitrate to ammonia is the natural one. It is then easy to follow the subsequent stages along certain possible directions well known in organic chemistry, and which can easily be demonstrated. (1) The formation of ammonia as stated above. (2) The pro- duction of hydrocyanic acid from formaldehyde through formic acid, ammonivim formate, and formamide ; and, in the same way, we have the passage of aldehydes in general through their acid-amides to nitrils, which is the view held by Laurent and Marclial. (3) From the interaction of ammonia, hydrocyanic acid or the nitrils, and the various aldehydes can be produced all the known amino-acids, and hence the synthesis of proteins. I wish, in conclusion, to express my indebtedness to Pro- fessor Anderson Stuart for affording every convenience in the laboratory to the carrying out of this work. * Annal. Jard. Roh Buit. 1895. t Gazzetti, 37, 1907, 586. 141 THE AMYCTERID.E OF THE ^'VOYAGE DE U ASTRO- LABE;' 1835. By Eustace W. Ferguson, M.B., Ch.M. In 1835, there appeared, in the "Voyage de 1" Astrolabe ' " (Vol. ii.), the descriptions, by Boi.sduval, of sevei'al new Austra- lian weevils referred to the genera Ami/ctertis and AcaiUholophus. In this work," Boisduval appears not only to liave described the specimens actually brought back by the ' Astrolabe,' but to have listed previously described species; and, all too briefly, to have diagnosed, and named those which were iri other Parisian collec- tions. Through the kindness of the authorities of the Brussels Museum, and of Mr. A. M. Lea, of Tasmania, I have recently had the opportunity of examining such types as belonged to the Coll. Dejean. As the descriptions of these are all quite inadequate and worthless, being composed mostly of a couple of lines in Latin, with a French translation beneath; and as the species are mainly unknown or misidentified here in Australia, I have endeavoured to redescribe them more clearly, and to relegate them to their proper genera. Following is a list of the species described or mentioned, with the name of the Collection from which the specimen was described. Genus ill Masters' Species. Catalogue. Collection. Psalidura mirabUis Kirby ... Psalidura ... Dejean * ,, reticulata (Macl.) Boisd. ,, * ,, ci'enata (d'Urv.) Boisd. ,, ,, impressa Boisd. ... ,, ,, mirahunda Gyll. ... ,, * Talaarinus scaber 'Boiad. .. ... ,, ... Dejean ' „ tuberculatus (d'Urv.) Boisd. ,, • Indicates species of which type has been examined. 11 142 THE amyc:tekid.e of the " voy. de l astrolabe, >5 5) * I'alauriiititt verrucosus ^oisd. ... Talaurinus tomentosus Boisd. ... ,, rugifer Boisd. ... ,, morbillosus (d'Urv.) Boisd. „ costatus (d'Urv.) Boisd. ,, Intcephaln s 0\i\ . ... ,, * Sclerorhinus cariuadcs (d' Urv.) Boisd. Fsalidura ... * „ morosus {d'JJry.)lioisd. Cuhicorrhynchus „ huhalus Oliv. ... Sclerorhinus „ tristis Boisd. .. ... ,, „ c7(>/i?«s Boisd ... „ „ Kirbyi Guer ... — Acantholojihus Marshami Kiiby ... Acantholophtis * ,, echinatus Boisd. ... ,, A'mycte7'us BoisduvaJi (Dup.) Boisd. Amycterus Euomus scorjno Jioifid. ... ... Euomux „ Stephensi (Hope) Gyll. ... ,, Mythites hasalis ( Dej ean ) Boisd .... , , Qeiwx&l posticus Boisd. ... ... Psalidura ,, granosus Guev ... ... ,, Dupont Dejean I Dejean (^ Dupont Dupont Mus. Nat. f Dejean 1^ Dupont f Mus. Nat. 1^ Dej ean Dupont j Dejean (^ Dupont Dupont Mus. Nat. Xotes ou flie above list, ivith synonyviy. The species oi' Psalidxira having been recently fully commented on, I shall pass them over. T. scaber Boisd., = 7\ aberrans Macl. — I have compared the types of these species, and can find no difference. T. verrucosus Boisd., = T. tuberculatus Boisd. ^ — These names apply to the species previously described as T. ver7'ucosus Guerin. T, tomentosus Boisd. — A species close to, if not belonging to, Psalidura; easily identified from the description and figure. T. rugifer Boisd. — I have not seen the type of this species, but Boisduval has given a fairly length}^ description. T. excavatus Bohem., may prove synonymous. Indicates species of which type has been examined. BY EUSTACE W. FEUGUSON. 1-1-3 T. tnorbiUosus Boisd. — iVIacleay was mistaken in his identifica- tion of this insect, the one redescribed by him having no affinity to the true 2\ morbillotiiis Boisd. T. costatus lioisd.— Previously described by W. 8. Macleay as F. Kirbyi. The species must, therefore, bear the name of Talau- rinus Kirbyi W. S. Macleay. T. Mastersi Macl., is also synony- mous. T. bucpphalns Oliv. — A common New South Wales species, with somewhat extensive synonym3^ Scl. carinatns Boisd. — Probably synonymous with Hipporrhi- nus tiigro-tipiiiosKs Donov., to judge from the figure in Donovan's Epitom. Ins. N. Holl.1805. Scl. bubalus Oliv., = Scl. morosus Boisd. — The identity of these two species is evident from a comparison of Olivier's figure with Boisduval's type. The name ??io/'o.sv/.s- Boisd., has long been in use for a species of Cnbicorrhynchus, not only among Australian entomologists, but by Bohemann, Germar, Pascoe and others. Scl. biibahis has priority. Scl. fi'istis Boisd. — A common Tasmanian a7id Australian species, with extensive synonymy. Scl. dolens Boisd. — Unknown to me. Ac. echinatus Boisd. — The type, while agreeing with the description of Ac. echinatus Guer., differs in the dimensions. Guerin's species was described from Port Jackson, where a species commonlv identified as ^c. echinatus Guer., but differing from .4c. echinatus Boisd , is found. Pending investigation of Guerin's species, I have not described Boisduval's type, particularly as Ac. mucronatus Macl., is founded on the same species. Amycterus Boisduvali Boisd. — I have not seen the type of this species, nor of those of the " Euomides " described by Boisduval, but they are all well known species. Of the two species, — granosxis Guer., and — posticus Boisd., which are unknown to me, the former is probably a species of Talaurinus, and perhaps T. bucephalus Oliv.; it is from Port Jackson; posticus is placed in Masters' Catalogue in Psalidura, but from description it should not belong to that geims, and lam (juite unable to place it. 144 THK AMYCTERID.E OF THE " VOY. DE l'aSTKOLABE," All the types examined bore six labels which I have numbered cor respoi id ingly — (1) Locality-label, except when quoted, Nouv. Hollande. (2) Collection-label : Coll. Dejean; Coll. Roelofs — both names on one label. (3) Name of species, with entomologist's name, e.g„ morbillosus d'Urville. (4) Type. (5) Principal label, quoted in full, written on pale, faded pink paper. (6) E.g. type, T. morbillosus. Talaurinus morbillosus Boisd., I.e. p. 386. (J. Briefly oblong, subparallel, convex. Prothorax granulate, elytra seriate-granulate. Black, opaque; nigro-setose. Head convex, forehead feebly concave between the ends of the external rostral ridges, a faint longitudinal impression present in front; sparingly, almost obsoletely, setigero-punctate. Rostrum short, thick, as broad at apex as head; external ridges subparallel, separated from head by a slight constriction; internal ridges extending almost to apex, convergent basally, but separated by median notch; lateral basal impressions long, rather deep poste- riorly, together with transverse basal sulcus forming a horseshoe- shaped impression; intermediate area depressed, almost linear, leading into depression behind marginal plate. Scrobes deep, not continued back to eye. Eyes moderately large, ovate. Antennae long, fii'st joint of funicle longer than second, third to sixth subequal, club elongate. Prothorax (5 x 5-5 mm.) subrotun- date, apex slightly produced, ocular lobes feeble, base truncate, no median linear impression; finely and densely granulate, gra- nules rounded, rather towards sides, each with a minute seta; sides granulate, obsoletely so near coxae. Elytra (10x7 mm.) gently rounded on sides, almost subparallel; apex widely rounded, feebly flanged, and slightly muci'onate; base arcuate, humeral angles marked with a tuberculiform granule. Disc convex, shal- lowly striate, striae irregulai', crossed by transverse rugae, but not definitely foveate; interstices with small, round, feebly flattened BY EUSTACE W. FERGUSON. 145 granules in single series, on sutural interstice finer and more numerous, becoming larger towards base; second and fourth each with from five to eight granules ; third and fifth with from twelve to fourteen rather smaller, more closely placed, granules ; on all the interstices the granules become more distantly spaced on the declivity. Sides irregularly, some- what rugosely, granulate. Metasternum flat. Third and fourth ventral segments short, together less than fifth ; fifth shallowly excavate with a deep, subquadrate, median fossa, having a small distinct tubercle on either side, posterior edge straight. Obtuse ends of forceps appearing at sides. Legs long ; tibiae with stout setae or spines on undersurf ace : pos- terior tarsi elongate. Dhneiixinint : (J 15 x 7 mm. IJdh. — New South Wales: Port Jackson (Boisduval) : Queanbeyan (A. M. Lea). Labels: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Phalidura [struck out] morbillosa d'Urville, h. in Nova Hollandia, D. d'Urville ; 6, — The elytral granules vary somewhat in number on the two sides of the elytra, and in different specimens. Most closely allied to T. M-elevatus Lea, but abundantly distinct in having all the elytral interstices granulate. There is some doubt as to whether these two and allied species would not be better included in PsaUdtira ; both have the intermediate ventral segments short, the ends of the forceps projecting externally ; and in T. M-elevatus, dissection shews the presence of a median vertical plate. The name T. morbillosus Boisd., has been used by Mac- leay for a very different insect, from Victoria. T. orthodonrus Lea, is also closely related, but differs in the elytral graniiles being subconfluent, slightly in the ros- trum, and in the position of the tubercules on the fifth abdominal segment. Talaurinus scaber Boisd., l.r. p. 382. T. aherrans Macl., Trans. Ent. Soc. N. S. Wales, I., 1865, p.233. 12 146 THE AMYCTERIDiE OF THE " VOY. I)E L'ASTROLABE," (J Small, oblong, somewhat flattened above. Black ; thickly clothed above with dense grey and ochraceous scales ; below with a light median vitta of greyish scales ; setae long, light coloured. Head convex, continvied into rostrum in the same direc- tion as internal ridges. Rostrum short, nearly as wide at apex as head, space between external ridges narrow ; external ridges parallel, not continued on to forehead, convex in profile ; internal long, oblique, more prominent at base than external ; basal sulci long, each ending posteriorly in a deep fossa, median area canaliculate. Head and rostrum both densely clothed. Scrobe consisting of a main deep anterior portion and a short shallow fossa open posteriorly. Eyes moderately large, oval. Antennae long, first funicular joint nearly twice the length of second : ckib briefly pedunculated. Prothorax (3-5 x 4 mm.) mai'kedly angulate on sides, widest anteriorly to middle : postocular sinuosity strong, giving rise to a definite short median lobe. Disc feebly convex, with a faint irregular collar, and median impressions : finely and irregularly granulate, granules fewer and sparser on sides. Elytra (8x5 mm.) gradually widened from base to behind apex, then abruptly contracted, and the apex obtusely rounded and feebly mucronate ; base arcuate, hvimeral angles tuberculiform. Disc with small tubercles longitudinally and transversely arranged ; sutural row with small granules obscured by clothing ; second with eight tubercles not reach- ing to base, the fifth tubercle on the edge of the declivity, very prominent, followed by three small ones on the de- clivity ; third with four or five tubercles, the basal one con- stituted of three smaller ones, none present on declivity : fourth with four tubercles not extending to base ; fifth or humeral consisting of eight closely placed tubercles diminish- ing in size from the large humeral one, also three small ones more posteriorly ; sixth with six tubercles not reaching to base, becoming more prominent posteriorly and ending abruptly just below the level of the fifth tubercle of the BY EUSTACE W . FERGUSON. 147 second row ; seventh obsolete. Sides seriate-punctate, inter- stices obsoletely granulate. Intermediate ventral segments together longer than apical ; fifth segment with a transverse impression at apex. Legs moderately long, tibiae setigerous and spinose ; tarsi linear. Dimensions : J" 13 x 5 mm. Hah. — New Holland (Boisduval) — Victoria (Macleay Mu- seum— New South Wales: Grenfell (E. W. Ferguson). Labels: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Phalidura [struck out] scabra d'Urville, h. in Nova Hollandia, D. Lesson; 6, Type /'. scabra. Talaurinus Kirbyi W. S. Macleay. W. S. Macleay, King's Survey ii., 1827, p.444 ; W. Macl., I.e., p. 238; T. costatus Boisd., I.e. p.384 ; T. Mastersi Macl., I.e. p. 239. Type, T. i-osfat us Boisd, ^ — Elongate-elliptical, convex. Black, clothing confined to a few muddy scales in the de- pressions; setae minute. Head not sharply marked off from rostrum, forehead con- cave between rostral ridges. Rostrum narrower than head, external ridges prominent, slightly convergent posteriorly, straight in profile, continued on to head above eyes ; internal ridges long, oblique ; basal sulci long, deep, running into excavation of forehead ; median area strongly depressed. Scrobes open behind, secondary fossa present posteriorly. Eyes small, subrotundate. Prothorax (4-5 x 5-5 mm.) evenly rounded on sides, postocular sinuosity slight ; granules small, closely set, somewhat flattened ; granules obsolete on sides near coxae. Elytra (13 x 8 mm.) ovate, apex feebly mucro- nate; base slightly emarginate, shoulders obtusely prominent. Each elytron with two broad double striae and two single lateral ones on disc : the double striae feebly transversely rugate, each with two rows of fine punctures between the rugae, each puncture with a seta on the ridge above it ; lateral striae each with a single row of punctures : sutural interstice costate, well defined ; second very prominent, costate ; third 148 THE AMYCTERIO.E OF THK " VOY. DE l'aSTROLABE," humeral subcostate, less prominent ; fourth and fifth lateral, close together, almost obsoletely granulate. Sides with interstices obsoletely granulate. Beneath convex ; interme- diate ventral segments large, fifth with a small rectangular impression at apex. JJit/iensioits : 20 x 8 mm. Labels: 1, 2, 3, costatus d'Urville; 4, 5, Phalidura [struck out] costata, d'Urville, h. in Nova Hollandia, D. Lesson; 6, Type T. costatus. I have compared the three types together, and can find no reason for separating them. The Amycterus Kirhyi of Guerin and Boisduval is not this species, but belongs to the genus Sclerorhinus and probably to *S'. sub costatus, Macl. Talaurinus verrucosus Guerin. Guerin, Voy. Coquille, ii. (2), p. 121 ; .4. verrucosus Boisd., I.e., p.372 ; .4. tuberculatus Boisd., I.e. p. 372. Type, Tahiuriiius verrucosu.<; Boisd., 9 — Elongate-elliptical, robust. Black, without clothing above, a few light-coloured scales in the centre below. Head convex, forehead concave between the external ros- tral ridges. Rostrum short, at apex as wide as head, deeply excavate ; external ridges convex in profile, continued on to forehead, constricted at point of junction ; internal ridges obsolete ; lateral basal sulci small, deep : median area de- pressed throughout. Scrobes curved, with posterior sinu- osity. Eyes small, rounded. First and second funicular joints subequal ; club short. Prothorax (6x7 mm.) widest in front of middle, obtusely angulate ; apical margin with a slight postocular sinuosity ; collar-constriction present, me- dian line traceable at base ; rather coarsely granulate, granules irregular in size and arrangement, more bunched together at angles ; sides sparingly granulate below angles. Elytra (16 x 10 mm.) regularly rounded on sides : apex obtusely rounded, mucronate ; base truncate, humeral angles prominent, tuberculiform ; disc convex, with seven irregular rows of projections, granular towards base, becoming conical BY EUSTACE W. FERGUSON. 149 and tubercular posteriorly and laterally, intervals between rows not definitely striate nor foveate ; sides obsoletely seriate- granulate. Beneath rather strongly convex ; apical ventral segment with a short transverse linear impression subtended posteriorly by a small obtuse tubercle. Dimensions : 24 x 10 mm. Labels: 1, 2, 3, Latreille ; 4, 5, Phalidura [struck out] verrucosa d'Urville, h. in Nova Hollandia, D. d'Urville; 6. Type, (J T. tuberculatus Boisd. Black, opaque, granules shining ; a few scales in intervals between granules above, a median vitta of light scales branching into two along the internal rostral ridges. Head and rostrum as in 2- Prothorax (6x7 mm.) with more definite collar-constriction ; more irregularly and coarsely granulate, roughly in four groups, one lateral and one along median line on each side, leaving three intervals (interstitiis tribus levibus). Elytra (15 x 9 mm.) rather narrower than in ^ , apex mucronate, base feebly emarginate, humeral angles tuberculiform ; disc convex, feebly depressed along suture, granules and tubercles rather coarser and fewer in number than in q • Beneath concave ; third and fourth ventral segments together equal to apical, fifth shallowly excavate, a deep transverse fossa present in posterior half, two small tubercles situated one on each side of the exca- vation. Dimensions: 23 x 9 mm. Labels: 1, Nouv. Hollande ; 2, Coll. Dejean, Coll. Roelofs ; 3, tuberculatus d'Urville. Both of these species should, I think, be referred to Talaurinus verrucosus Guerin. I have described both in some detail, as they vary rather considerably in the pro- thoracic and elytral granulation ; this variation is, however, not sexual ; the apical ventral segment does, on the other hand, shew sexual variation. The following table shows the variation in the number of the granules in each elytral row: — lOU TllK AMVCTEKID.K oF THE " VOY. DE LASTKULABE," T. verrucosus. T. tuberculatus. ISutural row 20 (very small) 20 iSecond ,, 8,9 (larger granules and tubercles) 5 Third „ 15, 13 „ 9, 10 Fourth ,, 4, 6 (granules) 1 Fifth ,, 13, 12 (granules and tubercles) 9 Sixtli ,, 9, 10 (conical tubercles) 8 iSeveiith ,, 13 (small granules) 7 Guerin's type appears to be a male; the dimensions are: long. 23, 1. 8 mm. T. scabrosus Macl. is closely allied, but is a much more densely clothed species ; the granulation also appears to be coarser. Although not labelled type, I regard the specimen of T. tuberculatus as such, and think that the type-label has been attached in error to a Fsalidura {F. mirabunda, Gyll.) sent for examination, and bearing a type-label: "Phalidura [struck out] tuberculata d'Urville, h. in Nova Hollanda, D. Lesson." The Psalidura in no way corresponded to the short concise description of Boisduval, which moreover agreed per- fectly with the specimen here described. Talaurinus Bucephalus Oliv., Masters' Cat. No. 4687. Among the species sent for examination, was a specimen bearing the following labels: — 1, Nouv. Hollande ; 2, Coll. Dejean, Coll. Roelofs ; 3, Bucephalus Olivier; 4, Type; 5, Phalidura [struck out] bucephala d'Urville, h. in Nov. Holland. D. Latreille ; 6, Type T. bucephalus. This specimen must be regarded as the true T. bucephalus, Oliv., and while evidently the specimen Boisduval had before him (Collection de M. Dejean), I do not think it can be regarded as Olivier's type, which was from the Museum d' Histoire Naturelle. The species is extremely common in the neighbourhood of Sydney, the Blue Mountains, and Moss Vale districts ; and shews a range of variation which probably accounts for its extensive synonymy. The synonymy of Macleay's species has already been given by Lea under T. Camdenensis, Macl., and I have only to record their identity with T. hurep/ialus. BY EUSTACE AV . FERGUSON. 1 •"> 1 SCLERORHINUS CARINATUS Boisd., l.C. p. 385. ? Scl. (// ippon/iiiius) ni;/rospi)iosus, Don., Ins. New Holl. 1805; Boisd., I.e. p. 335. 5 Elliptical, convex. Black, opaque, densely clothed above with yellowish and ochraceous scales, granules not clothed ; head with two longitudinal stripes on rostrum meet- ing behind on vertex, also a lateral supraorbital stripe on either side; prothorax trivittate. Head convex, not constricted from rostrum, forehead flat- tened, median rostral linea prolonged on forehead. Rostrum short and thick, flattened above, not excavate ; lateral sulci broad, moderately deep ; median linea well defined, with a punctiform depression at junction with forehead. Eyes moderately large, oval. Club briefly obovate. Prothorax (4 X 5-5 mm.) transverse, rounded evenly on sides, apical mar- gin feebly trisinuate, no median lobe, ocular lobes present ; disc convex, finely granulate, granules irregularly arranged tending to leave three clear areas along vittae ; sides finely granulate. Elytra (11x7 mm.) ovate, evenly rounded on sides ; apex gradually rounded, sharply mucronate ; base truncate, humeral angles rectangular. Each elytron with three broad strise densely clothed with whitish or yellowish scales, the lateral one subdivided by subhumeral interstice ; interstices granulate, subcostate, granules semispinose, separate on declivity and laterally, setigerovis ; sutural inter- stice more or less prominent throughout, out-turned at base ; second and third prominent, subcostiform in basal half, con- tinued to base and apex ; subhumeral with nine to eleven granules not reaching to base : lateral granulate, traceable only in basal half. Sides striate, interstices obsoletely granu- late. The two central strias of disc with two longitudinal rows of fine punctures, two lateral striae each with a single row. Under surface gently convex. Apical ventral segment not excavate, finely pustulo-setose, with a faint median linear impression. Tibia strongly spinose beneath, outer ends bent not quite at right angles to shaft. Dimenslcms : 16 x 7 mm. 152 THE AMYCTERIDiE OF THE " VOY. DE l'aSTROLABE," Hah. — New South Wales: Port Jackson (Boisduval). Labels: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Phalidura [struck out] Amycterus carinata d'Urville, h. in Nova Hollandia, D. Lesson; 6, Type P. carinata. Agrees very closely with description and figure of Hi-p- porrhinus nigrospinosus, Don., but as I only know this species from the figure, I hesitate to sink Boisduval's name. H. nigi'o-spinosus is certainly a Sclerorhinus. ScLERORHiNUs BUBALus Oliv., Ent.v.83,p.399,t.25,f .354. Scl. (Atnycterus) morosus Boisd., I.e. p.386 ; Masters' Cat., No. 4877. Type, Scl. morosus, Boisd., 9 — Small, narrow, elliptical, convex. Black, rather densely clothed above with brown scales, granules not clothed, below with a spare median vitta of yellow hair ; head with dense brown scales, a central vitta of more golden scales dividing into two on rostrum, and a supraorbital stripe on each side. Head convex, separated from rostrum. Rostrum very short, at apex as wide as head ; not excavate ; external ridges parallel, not extending on to forehead ; lateral sulci shallow ; median linea prominent, not continued on to forehead. Scrobes deep, open posteriorly. Eyes relatively large, subro- tund. Antennae long, first and second funicular joints sub- equal, club elongate. Prothorax (4x5 mm.) rounded on sides, widest across middle, subangulate ; apical margin with a feeble postocular sinuosity ; disc convex, granules small, scattered, median and two lateral longitudinal impressions faintly traceable; sides granulate. Elytra (9x6 mm.) gently rounded on sides ; apex gradually rounded, mucronate ; base truncate, humeral angles marked by small granules. Disc with six irregular longitudinal rows of punctures, in- terstices flat, for the most part not raised ; sutural interstice slightly raised at base ; second with two small granules near middle of elytra ; third with four near base, and two or three more posteriorly ; fourth without granules ; fifth with BY EUSTACE W . FERGUSON. 1 03 thirteen closely placed granules ; sixth with about fourteen ; seventh lateral, not so distinct, with about as many granules as the sixth. Sides rugosely, irregularly, somewhat obsoletely granulate. Feebly convex below ; fifth ventral segment with a faint transverse impression behind apex. Legs moderately long, light. Di/neiisiniifi : 14 x 6 mm. Hab. — Tasmania. Labels: 1, Terra Van Dieman ; 2, Coll. Dejean, Coll Roelofs ; 3, morosus Dej. ; 4, Phalidura [struck out] morosa, h. in Terra Van Diemen, D. d'Urville ; 5, Type; 6, Type C. morosus. A common Tasmanian species, also found in Victoria. The male differs in being narrower, and in having the ventral segments flatter, with a narrow median vitta of dense black hair. 13 154 J^ESCRIPTION OF A NEW LAC-COCCID (GENUS TACHARDIA) FROM NEW SOUTH WALES. By Walter W. Froggatt, F.L.S., Government Entomologist. Tachardia angulata, n.sp. Adult 9- Height, 4 mm.; diameter at base, 4 mm. General colour bright red, apex shining, anal appendages and lac- or air-tubes tipped with black. Cephalic portion flattened, rest- ing against the bark of the stem of the food-plant, irregularly wrinkled, with the mouth in the centre, lobed on either side. Anal tube projecting, fringed with a tuft of fine bristle-like hairs, with a fine spine standing out above the anal tube. Lac- or air- tubes longer and more slender than the anal tube, situated on either side, and projecting well beyond the lobed margin. General form cone-shaped, rounded at the apex. Wax-test enclosing 9 dark red to black in colour, broad and rounded at the base, coming to a blunt point at the apex, when viewed from above it is seen to be fluted, with four distinct ridges meeting at the summit. Outer surface smooth, with fine white filaments curling out through tiny apertures in the walls of the test. In general appearance resembling a large blunt rose- thorn; sometimes solitary, at other times in groups of three or four, in contact at the base. Height of test ^ of an inch; diame- ter at base 4 of an inch. Z^a6.— Eden, N. S. Wales, Reah River (Mr. G. J. Darke); on quince trees : Milton, N. S. Wales, also on quince trees. 155 OllDINARY MONTH r.Y MEETING. May 31st, 1911. Mr. W. \V. Froggatt, F.L.S., President, in the Chair. Miss H. Beaumont, Mosman; Miss H. A. Dumolo, Roslyn Gar- dens; Mr. Sydney Dodd, F.R.C.V.S., D.V.Sc, University of Sydney; anil Mr. Henry Hacker, Queensland Museum, Brisbane, were elected Oidinaiy Members. The President announced : — ( 1 ) That a Citizens' Meeting, to further the interests of the Mawson xintarctic Expedition, would be held in the Vestibule of the Town Kail, on Tuesday, 13th June, at 4 p.m., the Lord Mayor in the Chair. (2) That Professor David, M.A., F.R.S., C.M.G., would deliver a lecture on Antarctica, in aid of the Mawson Expedition Fund, in the Town Hall, on Friday evening, June 30th. (3) That a communication had been received from the Fauna and Flora Protection Committee of South Australia, forwarded through the Royal Society of South Australia, asking for co-ope- ration and support in an effort to have a portion of Kangaroo Island, comprising an area of 300 square miles, to be known as Flinders Chase, permanently I'eserved and vested in Trustees. The letter was read to the Meeting: and, on the motion of Mr. W. S. Dun, it was resolved unanimously, that a reply expressive of the Society's sympathy and support should be sent; and, on the motion of Dr. H. G. Chapman, it was resolved further, that Dr. R. Pulleine, of Adelaide, should be asked to represent the Society on the deputation which is to wait upon the Treasurer and Commissioner of Crown Lands, on 13th June. 156 NOTES AND EXHIBITS. The Donations and Exchanges received since the previous Monthly Meeting (26th April, 1911), amounting to 17 Vols., 96 Parts or Nos., 22 Bulletins, 8 Pamphlets, and 2 Maps received from 66 Societies, &c., and 2 Individuals, were laid upon the table. NOTES AND EXHIBITS. Mr. D. G. Stead exhibited examples of the Blue-Eye, Pseudo- mugil signifer Kner, from Wamberal Lagoon, N. S. Wales, living in both sea-water, and pure, fresh water. These were part of a number ol)tained, during April, from the lagoon, at a spot where the water was "sweet" or brackish. These were brought away in that water, and, on April 19th, one was placed in an aquarium of sea-water (of about three years' standing), and the others were put into a freshwater aquarium. All had done well up to the present; the one in salt water, equally with those in fi'esh. This is an interesting experiment, inasmuch as it demonstrates the power of this little species to withstand sudden changes in its surrounding element. The coastal lagoons are very rich in this species, and these lagoons become pi-actially fresh, and very salt alternately; it is, therefore, greatly to the advantage of this (and other species of aquatic life present) if they can adaj^t themselves to the varying conditions. Miss Hynes exhibited some excellent diagi'ams of characteristic native plants, reproduced from drawings by Mrs. Ellis Rowan, portion of a series now in course of publication for the Depart- ment of Public Instruction, for u.se in the public schools Also a badge representing the Waratah, for field botanists, reproduced from a drawing by the same artist Mr. H. L. White sent, for exhibition, a skull of the Native Bear, showing an extensive osseous growth commencing near the base of the skull and extending into the eye-cavity. From about 1875 to 1890, Native ^ Bears ( Phascolarctus cinereus) became exceedingly numerous in the neighbourhood of Belltrees, Scone. They- eventually killed nearly all the Redgum-trees growing along the rivei'-l)anks. From 1890 onwards, a marked decrea.se was NOTES AND EXHIBITS. 157 noted, and now a Native Bear is a great rarity, in fact not a dozen had been seen during the last ten years. However, during the last few months several had been reported, and it may be that they were again on the increase. Mr. White adds : — "1 am absolutely certain that, in this locality, a patch of well-timbered country, 30 by 15 miles in extent, these marsupials were not ilestroyed by any human agency, the number shut being very small indeed. I am quite satisfied that a disease of some sort practically exterminated the Native Bear in the Upper Hunter district. About 1895, the animals were dying oif in hundreds, the poor brutes being noted on the ground, with their heads greatly swollen, and too weak to climb the trees. Their e3'es were protruding ; and numbers of skulls picked up later on, showed similar bony growths to that on the specimen exhibited. In 1896, I frequently visited a station in South-east Queensland; Native Bears were exceedingly plentiful in the locality, but disappeared in the course of a few years, and certainly not by .shooting. During 1881-3, I was surveying on the South Coast, from Bega to the Victorian border, and noted the bears in hundreds, I understand that they disappeared in a mysterious manner, and not by shooting. In my opinion, it is not a fact that Native Bears were shot out, but that this fatal disease broke out amongst them when they became so numerous. The disease did not appear to affect the other marsupials. About 1896, the Opossums {Trichosur^is vulpecula) commenced to die in large numbers, but there was no sign of swelled head, and the intes- tines were full of worms; the mortality did not last long, nor was it general, as in the case of the Native Bear. No disease of any sort has been noticed amongst the Kangaroos or Wallabies, but the Native Cat {Dasyurus viverrinus) has, like the Native Bear, practically disappeared, and during the same period of time." Dr. T. Harvey Johnston exhibited a small series of Entozoa from New South Wales, comprising (1) Cysticercvs tenuicollis Rud., from the mesentery of a goat (Illawarra district); {1) Oxyuris amhigua Rud., from the intesthie of a rabbit (Braidwood, Cowra); (3) Linguatula serrata Frol., from the nasal cavities of dogs, 158 NOTKS AND EXHIBITS. obtained experimentally by introducing the larvse (specimens of which were exliibited) of the parasite, found in the mesenteric glands of cattle from various parts of New South Wales. The three above-mentioned species, excepting No. 1 (from West Australia), had not pi'eviously been recorded from these hosts in Australia. Mr. Cheel showed plants of, (1) Acacia jntgioni/orinis Wendl., from Kensington, which produces new plants onl}^ from sucl. Br., which, under cultivation in the Botanic Gardens, sent out several suckers from which new plants were established, 2-3 feet from the parent-plants. (3) Flowering specimens of other plants of the same species were exhibited, showing twin styles in several of the fiowei's; this peculiar freak was first noticed by Mr. W. F. Blakeh^ in August, 1906, and again by the exhibitor, in September, 1910. (4) Vitis clematidea F.v.M., with enlarged yam-like rootstocks, from Wamberal and Peak- hurst; the exhibitor's attention was first drawn to the tuberous growth of this plant, by Mr. L. Gallard, of Narara; it is also mentioned by Woolls, in Mueller's Fragm. v. 210. Mr. Cheel also stated that during the past three months, the potato-blight {Phytophthora infestans I )e Barg) had caused great havoc among the potato-crops grown at Penshurst. The disease had been suspected of infecting other members of the order. Nevertheless, plants referable to six species - SoJaniivi jasminoides Paxt., S. nigrum Linn., S. armatutn R. Br., .— Solomon Islands, July- August, 1909, 2 9 's(W. W Froggatt, No. C 12). An Indo-Malayan type, of the group of N. eUiotii Smith. It is really known from X . puJrhri- halteata Cameron, by the different postscutellar armature, that, in Cameron's species, consisting of more widely sepa- rated, spine-like structures. In X . pulchrihalteata, the trun- cation of the metathorax is shiny, with distinct punctures, largely in rows ; in X . frofjgatti it is dullish, minutely granular and finely tomentose, with small, scattered punc- tures. Friese records X . eUiotii from Key Island, biit, as he says the female is without a green band on the first abdominal segment, it is evident that he has a distinct species. 166 THE BEES OF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS, Crocisa gemmata n.sp. Q Length about 13^ mm. ; black, with exceedingly brilliant, shining blue markings ; scutellum -—-— -shaped (hind margin) ; clypeus with dense small punctures ; keel between antennae very strong ; upper half of clypeus, supraclypeal area, sides of face almost up to ocelli, and naiTow posterior orbits, all covered with blue hair ; third antennal joint about as long as fourth ; thorax marked with blue as follows, a large round patch on pleura, two elongate marks on upper part of pro- thorax, and two almost contiguous with them on mesothorax, median spearhead-shaped mark on mesothorax in front, and four large mesothoracic spots (the antei"ior discal, the pos- terior marginal) : scutellum with small inconspicuous punc- tures, wholly without spots, and without any pale tuft from beneath margin ; hair of occiput all black : tegulae black ; wings very dark fuscous, shining purple ; anterior tibiae blue on outer side, but on middle and hind tibiae only the basal part is blue ; abdomen rather elongate, all the blue bands very broadly interrupted : first segment with large blue quadrate patches, slightly emarginate on inner side ; blue of fifth segment much reduced : venter black. ^ Length about 11 A mm. ; quadrate marks on sides of first abdominal segment strongly incised medially : hind femora with a large sharp thorn-like tooth beneath. Hab.~So\omon Islands, July-August, 1909(W. W. Frog- gatt. No. C 1). This is extremely close to ('. eiiuirfilndftt Lep., from New Ireland. It differs from Lepeletier's description of C . emarginata in the larger size, and the total absence of any line of blue hair on each side of the mesothorax next to the wings. It also differs in the absence of any blue mark- ings on the tarsi. According to Friese, the male of C. emar- ginata has no tooth on the hind femur, and Lepeletier men- tions no tooth. As, however, Friese says the blue markings are dull, not shining, it is evident that his "etfinrghuita" is wrongly identified. In Friese's table, ('. gcinwata runs to BY T. D. A. COCKERELL. 167 C. quartince, which is readily separated by the abdominal markings. Anthophora sapiens n.sp. 9 Length about 15 mm., robust, though not quite so robust as .1 . einendata yilhcrtl, to which it runs in my table (in Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., Oct., 1905, p. 394) : hair of head and thorax about as in .4. gilbert i, except that the hair of clypeus is all very dark fuscous ; that of thorax above is rust-red mixed with black ; clypeus densely punctured, black, except for three very obscure yellowish spots near the lower margin : supraclypeal mark almost entirely obsolete ; lateral face- marks consisting of short whitish bands running close to clypeal margin : labruni with a very broad dull yellowish- white band, occupying nearly half its svirface : mandibles with a large pale yellow patch : scape wholly dark : flagellum red at extreme apex ; tegulge ferruginous ; wings strongly brownish, shorter than in .1. (/iJberfl: venation normal; hair on outer side of hind tibiae light red, without any dark streak, on inner side black : abdominal bands brilliant pale greenish-golden, flushed with pink at sides, that on first seg- ment narrow ; ventral hair-bands black or dark fuscous in middle, pale yellowish at sides ; apical hair of fifth segment dark rufous (in A . f/ilberti black, with white at sides) : apical plate broader at end than in .4 . f/ilherti. Q Var. a. Clypeus with a light reversed T : abdominal bands coloured as in A. (jilherti, though somewhat narrower; hair of clypeus dark as in type ; hair of labrum dark fuscous (white in .4. gilherfi) : fifth abdominal segment with hair coloured nearly as in .4. gilherfi: apical plate narrow, about as in .4. gilherti. //„&. —Solomon Islands, July-August, 1909(W. W. Frog- gatt. No. C 2 ; var. a. No. C 3). A member of the A . zonafn group, related to the Australian .4 . gilherti, and to .4 . fer- natensis from Ternate. The variety, represented by a single 168 THE BEES OF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS, specimen, rather badly worn, approaches A. gilherti quite closely. It is, however, certainly conspecific with A. sajnens. CCELIOXYS DISPERSA n.Sp. ^ Length about 11 mm. ; black, shining, the pubescence creamy-white, more decidedly ochreous-tinted on face ; eyes dark reddish ; clypeus not keeled, although there is a fine shining line on its upper part ; front coarsely rugoso-punctate ; vertex with a line of punctures along orbital margin, a curved depression next to each outer ocellus, and some very large irregularly placed punctures between : cheeks not wholly covered with hair ; a narrow hair-lined sulcus along lower part of posterior orbits ; mesothorax with strong scattered punctures on a shining ground ; scutellum well-punctured at sides, little punctured in middle, the hind margin elevated, with a small shallow median notch, the lateral teeth sharp, only moderately long ; area of metathorax dullish and granular, plicatulate basally ; scutellum with two oblique basal pencils of light hair ; tegulas shining black : wings dark fuscous, except the basal region, which is broadly paler ; legs with short white hair, tarsi dark rufous, with pale orange hair on inner side ; abdomen with strong scattered punctures, much shorter than those of thorax ; hair-bands white, lateral only, very narrow ; apical segment rather short, six-toothed, lateral teeth long and spine-like, lower apical longer than upper. Z^rti.— Solomon Islands, July-August, 1909(W. W. Frog- gatt. No. C 11). Belongs to a little group with C. alholineata Ckll., from Queensland and G. hiroi Friese, from New Guinea. C. disjjersa differs from C . hiroi by the colour of its pubescence, larger size, and apparently other details ; it is very distinct from C. alholineata by the darker wings, re- duced abdominal markings, larger punctures of mesothorax, etc. The New Guinea C . ireinlandi Schlz., (aJhireps Friese) is not related. BY T. D. A. COCKEKELL. 169 CCELIOXYS PEREGRINATA n.Sp. Q Length about 12 mm. ; black, head and thorax densely punctured, pubescence dull pale rust-red ; clypeus and siip- raclypeal area coarsely roughened, convex, not at all keeled : antennae black ; eyes reddish : cheeks narrow, with no distinct groove : mesothorax and scutellum extremely densely punc- tured, the latter slightly angled in the middle behind, not at all emarginate, the lateral teeth rather short ; sides of mesothorax and two spots at base of scutellum conspicuously covered with red hair : tegulse shining black ; wings strongly fuscous, the basal part hyaline ; legs black, with reddish hair ; abdomen long, shining, with strong irregular well-separated punctures, and entire ferruginous hair-bands ; last dorsal segment pointed, with a median keel, becoming a mere smooth line on the basal half ; last ventral extending beyond dorsal, pointed, not notched at the sides ; fifth ventral seg- ment with very small punctures, the segments before with large punctures. The last ventral is formed as in C. brevis Eversm., though rather broader; the last dorsal is more elongate than in C. brevis. Hob.— Solomon Islands, July- August, 1909(W. W. Frog- gatt, No. C 10). The following table shows the relationship of this species to those of Australia and New Guinea. Face with a prominent longitudinal ridge, which extends from the anterior ocellus'to the apical margin of the clypeus (New Guinea) ... sDiiithii Dalla Torre. Face without such a ridge 1. 1. Apical margin of scutellum emarginate in the middle aZ/>o/t?ie(i