THE

(ttaH1nanhm

THE JOeRNAL OF THE
Tasmanian Field Naturalists' Club
VOL. II. OCTOBER, 1909.
No. 2.
Hnnual Report.
1
'.';'1' is with much pleasure that your Committee present the following
_; Annual Report upon the proceedings of the Club during its fifth
,.... year. The growth of the Club during the past year has been
phenomenal, no less than fifty-eight new members having joined; and
the revised roll shows the total membership to be 153. The number of
young members who have joined points to this position being of a
permanent nature.
meetings.
It was decided to cont1l1ue the monthly meetings throughout the
winter, and accordingly twelve meetings were held during the past year.
They have been most successful; the subjects for discussion being of
usefulness and interest, and covering the most important branches of
nature study, and were at all times dealt with most ably by the lecturers.
The attendance at the meetings shows an increase over previous years,
on two occasions there were nearly 100 present. A concise resume of
the meetings is given as follows :-
September Iotit, I90B. Annual Meeting. Total membership, 110
Balance sheet showed deficit of 3 cs. 3d. Mr. L. Rodway gave a
Presidential Address on 'Tasmanian Heaths,' which has been published
in the Jllaturalist, pages 2-5 of the present volume.
October Isth. Mr. A. L. Butler described a trip to Moulting:
Lagoon, East Coast, dealing with the water birds met with.
November I2tlt. Mr. Robert Hall spoke on 'Birds and Fishes in
Comparison,' and drew attention to the many features in common
between birds and fish, and their habits, &c.
December Iotlt. Mr. Robert Hall gave an interesting discourse on
Bird-life in Australia, speaking largely upon its distribution.
22
THE TAS!'IIANIAN NATURALIST
February 4th. Dr. F. Noetling gave an able lecture on the subject
of Earthquakes. He described the different kinds of earthquakes, their
movements and centres of most frequent occurrence, mention was
particularly made of the disastrous one at in Sicily.
February I8tll. Messrs. C. E. Lord and E. A Elliott spoke on
some Tasmanian Birds, illustrating their remarks with a number of
lantern slides from photos of their own taking.
lI;Jarch I8th. :\h. J. H. Gould gave an exhaustive description of
the Flower, clearly setting forth its evolution and mentioning the detail
of several typical flowers.
April Isth. L. Rodway reported on the plants met with during
the Easter Camp-out at Freycinet Peninsula, and NIr. Robert Hall upon
the birds noted then. Specimens collected at the camp were exhibited.
lIIay 6th. An enthusiastic meeting was held re Camp. Lantern
slides of camp-scenes were shown by the Secretary, and others of
East Coast scenery, taken by :\Ir. J. W. Beattie, were explained by the
Chairman.
JU1Ie Jrd. T. Thompson Flynn gave an interesting lecture on
the invertebrate life of Freycinet Peninsula, illustrated with numerous
sketches on the black-board.
July 7th. Conversazione, Dr. Noetling, :VIessrs. R. Hall, A. D.
Mackay and L. Rodway spoke on specimens exhibited.
August I2th. 1\[r. A. L. Butler described a number of excellent
lantern slides from photos taken by Mr. A. H. E. l\Iattingley, of
Melbourne.
The exhibitions of specimens have been good, but these might be
better and thereby add to the interest of the meetings. It is also desired
that more members assist in this part of the Club's work. The list given
below of members who have exhibited, and specimens shown, is as
complete as possible, but members are again requested to supply the
Secretary with notes of their exhibits for record.
ANTHOl\ Y, E. S.-Photo of Mrs. Fanny Smith (last of Tasmanian
aborigines) and basket and bag made by her in native fashion. ATKINS,
W. N.-Collection of eggs of English birds. BRE:'oIT, A. E.-Black
Duck, Brown Hawks, 111. and f. BUTLER, A. L.-Photos of Dusky
Robin's nest and of Native hen's nest. D'EMDE:'oI, T.-African water
snakes. ELLIOTT, E. A.-Eggs of black swan, shining fly-catcher with
nest and eggs, pen-rack made from feet of wedge-tailed eagle,- sparrow-
hawk, green parrakeet and kestrel. FLYNN, T. THOMPSON-Young
megapode. GIBLIN, H.-Spirifer fossil. GODLD, H. J.-Tulip leaf
growing through cork. HALL, ROBERT-Trumpet fish, polyzoa, tunicates,
and numerous birds and birds' nests. KEIUIODE, MISS D.-Collection
of New Zealand ferns. LEA, A. M.-Collections of stigmodera beetles,
e1aterida: or 'click' beetles, Tasmanian butterflies, also tiger beetles,
carbolic acid beetle, whip snake, &c. LORD, C. E.-Nest of strong-billed
THE NATURALlST
ground thrush, young goshawk. :'IACKAY, A. D.-Varieties of granite
from Wineglass Bay, general geological specimens. N OETLI:\C, Dr. F.-
Specimen of lava. OLmIEADOW, J.-Butterfly mimicking dead leaf.
ROBERTS, MRS. H L.-Photos of Tasmanian tigers and devils. RO])EY,
MISS E. J.-Collection of shells from Wineglass Bay. Ro])\v.w, L.-
Photos of 'native bread' fungus in flower and fruit, caterpillar fungus,
flower spike of olearia stellulata, fern hymenophyllum marginatum, King
William pines, sponges, &c. SWINDELLS, A. W.-Crocodile eggs.
W ALCH, :'1rss .1. C.-Eggs of nurse shark. W ALCH, .1 As.-Elephant t1sh.
excursions.
As a Society for furthering the study of Geld observatIOns, the
Committee regret that the excursions lnve not been as frequent nor
as largely attended as desired, but hope to do more in this respect
during the coming year, when arrangements will be made to include at
least two dredging trips in the syllabus. Illness of the leaders or their
unavoidable absence from town prevented two excursions from being held
but the following is a record of those which took place ;-
September I2tlt. Botanical to Cascades with :'IIr. L. Rodway as
leader; fair collecting done but heavy rain came 0.1 during afternoon.
October 24th. Botanical and Ornithological to :'Iount Nelson.
Leaders, Messrs. L. Rodway and C. E. Lord. A well attended and
successful outing.
JVovember I4th. Botanical Gardens. Leaders, Messrs. Robt. Hall
and L. Rodway. A profitable afternoon was spent by many who
attended.
February 20th. Shore-life to Bellerive. Leader,}Ir. Robt. Hall.
Much interesting material was obtained.
A:larch 6th; General collecting to Risdon. A fternoon spoiled by
heavy rain.
April 24th. Held in :''luseum. Leader, 11r. Robt. Hall.
valuable information was given by the leader on general matters.
Camp-out.
A noteworthy part of the Club's work during the past year was
the Easter Camp-out. No less than 85 persons (including 25 ladies)
were present at this camp, which was held on Freycinet Peninsula
and was a complete success, but as a separate illustrated report has been
issued on this camp no further mention need be made here. We, how-
ever, wish to record our appreciation of the treatment given us by :'Iessrs.
Holyman & Sons, from whom the steamer' Koonookarra ' was chartered
for the trip.
24
THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST.
Journal.
In of this year your Committee recommenced issuing the
Tasma7lt"all liT aturalist, when an excellent number was brought out,
and with which members were well pleased. The present number
contains more valuable articles, and there appears to be every probability
of the nature of the journal being maintained. This is also in part due
to a change of printers and our present arrangements are most
satisfactory.
1inanct.
The present year began with a debit balance of 3 os. 3d., but
not only has this been cleared off but there is at present a credit
balance of 1 17s. I Id., with no outstanding liabilities. Therefore, in
every respect, the past year has been highly successful.
STATEMENT of Receipts and Expenditure
For the Year ending 30th September. 1909.
RECEIPTS. EXPENDlTCRE.
Balance brought forward ... 1 19 9 Stationery, Postage, and
Subscriptions paid in advance
Stamps ... 3 17 10
for ensu ing 19119-lU .. .
Subscriptions year 1905-9 .. .
Ditto Arrears
Donations Printing Fund ...
Sale of Publications ...
Advertising in Journal
Contribution towards cost of
Hiring Motor Launch
Surplu, re Easter Camp-ollt
0 7
26 5
2 17
o 17
2 19
(I
2
011
4 4
6
0
6
6
(I
6
6
3
40 4 6
Rent of Room 4 17 6
15 3 3
Ach-ertising ... 7 16 6
Hire of Motor Launch 1 5
()
Refund of I,oan 5
(I
0
Cartage
(I
6 6
----
3S 6 7
Credit Balance 1 17 11
-----
40 4 6
Audited and found correct,
R. A. BLACK,
Hon. Treasurer.
T. C. .
F. L. BROWN ELL ) Auditors.
THE TASl\L\NIAN NATURALI:-iT.
TREASURER'S REPORT to STATEMENT.
I have the honour to furnish l1l)4 Report Cor the year 1908-9 :--The
transactions as compared with those of the previolls year have been
greater by IS 4S. 6d. ])uring that year, owing to the Calling off of
the revenue, appeals had to be made to mem Iler, for donations to
the Printing Fund, but e\'en then the respollses which amounted to
4 J Ss. 6d., ,rere insufficient to meet all liabilities. This year I am
pleased to say we bave not only overtaken the liabilities of the Club,
including the return of a loan of 5 which was n;ry generously advanced
by our Chairman-Mr. Rodway--during the early part of the year 1907-0,
to meet pressing demands, but \\'e have a small credit balance of
r 17s. 1 Id. i\ !though wc may congratulate ourselves upon this state
of affairs ,re must ne\'ertheless bear in mind that our expenses are
with the years, and, therefore, members are asked to assist
the Treasurer in every \ray, especially by fOl'lrarding their subscriptlOns
in early because on ,vhich much of the Club's prosperity depends. It
is trusted that mcmbers will not think that \\'e are 110\\- independent of
receiving donations, far from it, in fact it appears that to enable the Club
to incur similar expenditure and bring out a Journal, donations will be
absolutely necessary. Eyery effort has been made to collect all subscrip-
tions, but there are still some arrears which amollnt for the year just
closed to 2 16s. 3d, amI for back years to 3 75. Gd., making a
total of 6 3s. 9d outstanding. It will be noticed in the Statement
on opposite page that the cost of printing the Club's Jourllal is not
included for the reason that it was not ready at the time of balancing.
Several items of expenditure haye of necessity been increased as
compared with those of the previous year. For instance, item' :-ltationer)
and Stamps' was increased by , r 12S. 4d.; item 'Ad\'ertising' hy
4 6s. 3d ; item '1<.ent of Room' by 2 12S. 6cl.; hut as against
these illcreases of expenditure I am pleased to state that clIrrent receipts
ha\'e incJ'(.'ased hom 19 IS. ill 1907-8 to ,26 Ss.
R. A. BLACK,
H on. Treasurer,
23/9,09