. S Loans fobetin
bo 70: &
Be S726
GONTENTS
THE MUSK
DUCK.

LAND SHELLS
FROM THE
NORTHERN
FLINDERS.

WATER
PLANTS.

MURRAY
NATIVES.

OUR
NATIONAL
PARK,

THE MUSK DUCK.

VOLUME 20, No. 1. The South Australian

nomen WATURALIST

the G.P.O.,
Pape pr the JOURNAL OF THE FIELD NATURALISTS’ SECTION OF THE

Adelaide, fonitransmission ROYAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
through the post as a

periodical. Price: One Shilling.

The Field Naturalists’

Section

of The Royal Society of South Australia

OFFICERS, 1939-40.

Chairman: H. GRIEAVES, Esq.

Vice-Chairmen: Mr. H. WOMERSLEY and Dr. M. SCHNEIDER.

Hon. Secretary: Mr.

W. M. NIELSEN.

Hon. Treasurer: Mr. E. H. ISING.

Hon, Librarian: Miss D. M. MATTHEWS.

Hon. Magazine Secretary: Mr. A. K. BEASLEY.

Committee:
The PRESIDENT and VICE-PRESIDENTS of The Royal Society of South Australia

(ex officio), Professor J. B. CLELAND, Dr.

M. T. WINKLER, Messrs. A. J. WILEY,

A. K. NEWBERY, A. J. MORISON, Mrs. A. R. ALTMANN, Misses F. WALLIS,
A. ADCOCK.

Hon, Auditors: Messrs. W. D. READE, F.C.P.A., and B. B. BECK.

Editor “South Australian Naturalist”: Mr.

No special knowledge necessary to become a member,
only a keen interest in Nature.

THIS Section was founded in 18838 for the purpose of
aifording observers and lovers of Natural History regular
and frequent opportunities for discussing those special sub-
jects in which they are naturally interested; for the Ex.
hibition of Specimens; and for promoting Observations in
the Field by means of Excursions to various collecting
grounds around the Metropolis,

THE MONTHLY MEETINGS of the Section for Lectures,
the Reading of Papers, and Exhibition of Specimens are held
on the third Tuesday, at 8 p.m., at the Royal Society’s Rooms,
Institute Buildin: North Terrace, Adelaide.

(

MEMBERS are requested to invite their friends to these
Monthly Meetings.

VISITORS CORDIALLY INVITED.

THE ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION (7/6) dates from August
1, and can be sent to Mr. E. H. Ising, Railway Station,
Adelaide.

B. C. COTTON, The Museum, Adelaide.

MEMBERS are urged to take Receptacles for the carrying
of Specimens. At each outing every member is expected to
collect Specimens wherever possible, and to hand them to the
Leader for identification, ete.

EXCURSIONS. For meeting places, see particulars inside
back cover. Members desirous of attending motor excur-
sions should advise the Hon. Secretary at least three days
before the outing, to enable sufficient accommodation to be
provided,

THE HON. SECRETARY. All letters to be addressed c/o
Royal Society’s Rooms, Institute Buildings, North Terrace,
Adelaide, Letters will be collected regularly.

F.N.S. HERBARIUM. The Herbarium is kept in the Botany
Department of the University, and is open to members. Mr.
E. WW. Ising (Hon. Secretary).

“THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST.” The Journal
of the Section published quarterly. Editor: Mr. B. C, Cotton.
Free to members. Exchanges may be arranged. Extra copies,
1/- each,

The Quaint Musk Duck

(BIZIURA LOBATA)

By

H. T. CONDON.

Assistant Zoologist, South Australian Museum.

Animals can often be recognised by certain
odours which they possess, and birds are no
exception. Many species have characteristic
odours which cling to’ the feathers long after
the death of the bird. Skins of sea birds,
notably those of Petrels, Prions and Alba-
trosses, relain the powerful odours of these
birds for many decades, as do also those of
most Cockatoos and Parrots. So intense
are these odours that they quickly permeate
their surroundings and contaminate every-
thing with which they come into contact.
Although we generally think of ducks as
being of somewhat unclean habits, it is a
strange fact that the feathers of most of our
Australian wild species exhibit no kind of
odour when preserved as skins. The excep-
tion the Musk Duck (Biziura lobata)
which in the adult possesses an arresting
odour generaly described as “musky.” From
the evidence available it seems that this odour
is produced in the breeding season, but by
some authors it is stated to occur only in
males, while by others it is said to be
characteristic of the brooding female. The
origin of the scent is unknown, and although
it is probably secreted by certain glands,
these have never been deseribed or located.

is

An old male, recently taken at Tailem Bend,
River Murray, South Australia. on 18th
October, 1939, possessed the strong musky
smell, which in all probability occurs in both
Sexes,

From its retiring habits, its love of secluded
backwaters, and its reluctance to fly when
approached, the Musk Duck is little known to
most people, who fail to recognise it when
captured. It is not a “sporting” duck, be-
cause it is rarely seen on the wing, and being
an expert swimmer and diver, it generally
resorts to this practice to escape. This habit.
together with the smallness of the wings, has
given rise to the popular but erroneous belief

that the birds cannot fly. There are many
records to the contrary. On one occasion’,
in Western Australia, a Musk Duck was shot
in mistake for a Black Duck by one of a
party of duck-shooters; “the bird was flying
high . .. and was going very fast... . This
occurred just at dusk.”

Most ducks move about mainly at night, this
habit perhaps being due to an induced wari-
ness and cunning produced after many years
of persecution by man. The Musk Duck is
no exeption, and there are many records of
it disappearing from dams, lagoons and other
small sheets of water over night.

The cover illustration shows the distine-
tive wattle or lobe by which the species

wee ||

Distribution of the Musk Duck,
with silhouette on left.

may usually be recognised. This bird was a

male, captured at Tailem Bend on 24th
August, 1938; it weighed 6% Ib. Another
male taken since that time (see above),

Ol
Oo

weighed Ib. Old males grow to a huge
size, and thus do not easily fall prey to
predatory hawks which will attack other

species of ducks and water fowl,

Occasionally, large individuals are seen with
a very small lobe, or it may even be entirely
absent. Forbes? (1882) believed the lobe
was analogous to the wattle of the male of
other birds, and was in'some way connected
with display during sexual excitement. Since
then, however, adult females have also been
obtained with large wattles, although this is
rather unusual. In life, the wattle is black in
color and quite soft and fleshy, so that it
dangles from side to side as the bird moves
its head. Certain accounts erroneously refer
to it as being “leathery” in nature. The
function of the structure is unknown, and it
has been described as being simply formed by
a fold of the inteeuments so that there is no
cavity within. The structure becomes en-
larged in the breeding season, and certain
writers have referred to the distended “pouch”
of these birds when displaying. Inside the
mouth, beneath the tongue, is a small circu-
lar aperture, which leads into a kind of
groove which extends backwards to the base
of the tongue and forwards close to the base
of the wattle, although there is no apparent
connection between the two. The inside of
the mouth is flesh pink in color. Generally
speaking, it may be said that the wattle is
larger in males than in females, but varies
in shape and size with the individual, and
may even be entirely absent, while in the
breeding season it is larger than at other
times.

The nearest relatives of the Musk Duck are
the stiff-tailed Ruddy Ducks (Oxyurinae) of
which the Australian Blue-billed Duck
(Oxyura australis) is an example. The female
of the Blue-billed Duck bears a strong re-
semblance to a light-colored Musk Duck, and
in the field is only distinguished therefrom
by the absence of a wattle, and the somewhat
smaller size, and hy the fact that the body
is usually not as submerged when swimming
as in the Musk Duck, i-e., the bird may sit
“higher” on the water. The Blue-billed Duck
also rarely flies, but is an expert diver and
swimmer.

Owing to its diving habits the hind limbs and
pelvic girdle of the Musk Duck are somewhat
different from those of many ducks, and
resemble the condition seen in the specialised
aquatic grebes, which are also expert swim-

mers and divers. Some accounts mention a
minute claw on the pollex (or thumb) of the
wing, but while this occurs in juveniles (at
least up to 12 inches long) it is apparently
absent in most adults.

The Musk Duck is a solitary species, usually
occurring in pairs, although the bays of Lake
Albert and elsewhere may be literaly dotted
with them! at certain times of the year, e.g.,
early in June (1986). The birds are very
wary, and usually keep some distance from
a boat. Except on certain occasions, they
seem to avoid the company of other water
birds, although they have been seen diving
among other water fowl, apparently in play-
ful mood and much to the alarm of those
birds. Often while swimming they will go
through a number of strange antics, to the
accompaniment of much loud splashing and
kicking of the legs. Often they will swim
around rapidly in a circle, occasionally
uttering a low one-note whistle. These birds
are apparently males. | When kicking and
displaying, the beak is held upwards and the
head is thrown back, and at such times the
pendant wattle can be clearly seen dangling
from side to side. Another sound made by
the Musk Duck while swimming is a loud
“plongk,” but it is difficult to decide whether
this is vocal, or produced by a kicking and
splashing of the water.

The Musk Duck feeds on water plants and
animal life, in fresh and salt water. B. C.
Cotton has taken the large freshwater snail.
Limnoea lessoni, also Hyridella australis and
Corbiculina angasi from the gullet of a bird
taken at Mannum in January, 1938. Much
more is still required to be known about the
food and economy of these birds however. The
nest is usually made near water among reeds,
at the foot of a tree, or in polygonum swamps,
and is a bulky structure, often with a hood,
and an entrance at one side, or with two
entrances at opposite ends. It is usually
bowl-shaped and lined with down. Well-
known breeding places in South Australia
occur on the polygonum swamps of the River
Murray, on many of the islands of the Murray
mouth (e.g.. Hindmarsh Island), and in the
south-east of the State at such places as St.
Helena Swamp and Bool Lagoon.

lambdoidal crest

sphenotic process

lacrimal 7
: , anterior nares

H.T. CONDON

' t ‘
; nasal
- parietal ' frontal
6
temporal fossa ’
‘groove

The Skull of the Musk Duck, showing its main features from above, natural size.

The nearest breeding place to Adelaide at In South Australia it has been reported in
present is probably Buckland Park, near Port the far north at Lake Goyder, at Lyndhurst,
Gawler, although many years ago they com- and at other places, while it also occurs all
monly occurred at the Reedbeds and on the along the River Murray, on the lakes at the
lower reaches of River Torrens. They also Murray mouth, on the Coorong, in the south-
breed in the far north of the State in favorable east on most of the larger stretches of water,
seasons. The Musk Duck lays three to six on Eyre Peninsula and the West Coast, and
pale green, slightly glossy eggs, each about on Kangaroo Island.

33 inches long, and the breeding season ex- Details of the specimen figured are: loc.,
tends from August to December. Tailem Bend, S$. Aust.; 24th August, 1938;

a3 f ; total length 73 cm.; wing spread 96 cm.;
The Musk Duck is confined to the southern al ‘S lakaycg tier
: : : : weight 6 lb. 12 0z.; iris almost black; inside
half of the Australian continent, including 4 j
: mouth flesh pink. Now mounted in the South
Tasmania, and there has only been one j
: ; : i Australian Museum.
sporadic record of it north of the tropic of mee, " dT TaM Ss. =, tonal
7 x 3 (1) See ‘‘Emu,” vol. I, p. 147 (C, G. Hamilton, Perth,
Capricorn, viz., at the Herbert River, North W.A.).

Queensland, in 1910*.

(2) P.Z.S., Lond., 1882, p. 455.
(3) Broadbent, K., “Emu,” 10, 1910, p. 233-245.

Land Shells from the Northern Flinders Range
Cer! COTTON

Conchologist, South Australian Museum.
In October, 1938, H. M. Cooper collected encountered in finding even half a dozen
some 3,000 dead land shells from the living specimens; bleached shells, however.
Northern Flinders Ranges, at fifty-one dif- were there in numbers about Blinman, even
ferent sites. Although a search was made on the very tops of the ranges. E. Roberts,
immediately after a fall of 24 inches of rain of Moolooloo South Station, reports that about
during this same month, great difficulty was twenty-five years ago, when there was still an

ee

abundance of natural bush around Blinman,
live native snails were so abundant after
good seasons as to provide, on occasions,
food for domestic fowls. I. W. Roberts, of
Blinman, while obtaining slates for building
purposes, noted about the same time large
quantities of Meracomelon sheltering in
crevices of rock in the Parachilna Pass.

Kk. Pumpa, of Hawker, recalls ploughing up
many native snails on his father’s farm. near
that township some 40 years ago. A station
hand now employed by Mr. French of Bucka-
ringa, north of Quorn, states that years ago
after a heavy rain on Yadlamalka Station,
50 miles north of Port. Augusta, he saw nume-
rous live snails moving about.

Old residents of the Blinman district state
that in the past the bulk of rain fell in the

was in 1937, when 12.82 inches fell, but only
4.63 during April-September.

The extremely uncertain climatic conditions
in this arid area and the consequent control
effected on the ebb and flow of life generally
is remarkable, yet understandable when one
knows that, for example, a maximum of 21.53
inches fell in 1920, and only 4.47 inches in
1935, during the great drought. ‘April-
September figures varied between 10.46
inches in 1909 and only 1.84 inches in 1929.
It appears that the land snails peculiar to
this locality have suffered a severe setback
from the drought years 1933-36 from which
they have not yet recovered.

Since the above was written a further trip
to this area was made under very different
conditions during June, 1939.

A New Land Shell: Pleuroxta coopert,

winter months, when almost every gully had
running water, and soaks appeared on many
hill sides. Rains and mists often occurred
for several days in succession and conditions
were therefore favorable to snail life.

On checking the rainfall statistics for this
area we find that the average rainfall over
seventy years is 11.65 inches, but varies
greatly from year to year, It reached a maxi-
mum sixty-six years ago. in 1872, of 23.46
inches, and a minimum in 1935 of 4.47
inches. During the last fifteen years there
has been a decidedly dry winter period. For
instance, the total April-September rainfall
for the three years 1934-1936 was two inches
less than the amount for the corresponding
period of 1909 alone. Furthermore. the
average annual rainfall has only once been
reached during the last sixteen years; thal

sp. nov., from the Northern Flinders Ranges,

Twelve inches of rain had fallen by June for
1939, which is more than fell during two
whole years of the drought. Living speci-
mens of all four species of land snails
common to this area were taken in numbers.
although prior to the rains they were almost
impossible to locate alive.

The large number of living juvenile Mera-
comelon meridionale suspectum taken is
significant. Prism Hill, a small outlier of the
Northern Flinders Ranges, is located a few
miles eastward of the ranges and five miles
io the southward of Wertaloona Head Station
The hill, about 250 feet in height, is a razo1
back ridge, composed of loose outcrops of
rocks with some scanty vegetation on the
slopes and summit. At its foot runs the
Moro Creek, a gum creek typical of these
regions. This in turn enters Weetowie Creek.

Lid

and then into Lake Frome. A very small and
isolated colony of Pleuroxia cooperi, sp. nov.
exists (or existed) on the summit of Prism
Hill. A prolonged examination produced
only a dozen dead shells.

A third collecting trip to this area has now
brought the total number of shells collected
to 3,000 and the sites number 77, ranging
from Port Augusta to Lyndhurst,
Lake Torrens to Lake Frome. As many
localities (some type localities) given for
South Australian land snails are vague or
inaccurate, a few of the more interesting
species and localities for this area are given
here. Heights above sea level are also given
in some instances.

and from

PLEUROXIA COOPERI

Sp. nov.
Shell small, spire slightly elevated, de-

pressedly subdiscoidal, umbilicus very wide,
not hidden by reflected columella; radially
coarsely, slightly irregularly ribbed, almost
smooth except for a subordinate grained
sculpture, axial ribs number forty on the
body whorl.

Holotype. Summit of Prism Hill (250 feet
above sea level), South Australia. Reg. No.
D. 13765, S.A.M. Height 10 m., width 16
mm.

‘The species is nearest to Pleuroxia arcigerens,
Tate, from Central Australia, but it is
smoother, smaller, higher and more regularly
axially sculptured.

The colony appears to have died out recently
on the hill, which is an outlier of the North
Flinders Ranges.

FAMILY VERTIGINIDAE.
Australbinula margaretae Cox.
Narrina Head Station, 1,500 feet.
juvenile). Four miles south
Themapupa beltiana Tate.
of Beltana.

Themapupa ischna Tate.
of Beltana.

Themapupa adelaidae ‘Angas.

Four miles south of Beltana, numerous speci-
mens. Oratunga Creek. One mile south-
east of Quorn. Eleven miles north of Quorn.
Omegapilla australis Angas. Four miles
south of Beltana,

(One

of Beltana.
Four miles south

Four miles south

FAMILY SUCCINEIDAE.

Austrosuccinea australis Ferussac.

Ten Mile Creek, Wirrealpa. Parachilna
Creek. Mount Chambers Gorge. Wirreanda
Creek. Thirteen Mile Creek, 8 miles west

of Blinman. It is reported by Mr. Bell, of
Stokes Bay, Kangaroo Island, that this species

is eaten there by domestic fowls,

FAMILY MICROCYSTIDAE.
Echonitor albumenoideus Cox.
Slope of Mount Arden, 2,000 feet. ~~ Living
shells are horn colored, not milky-white.

FAMILY HADRIDAE.

Meracomelon subloriolanum Pilsbry.
Warrens Gorge, 1,000 feet. Mount Arden.
Meracometon loriolanum Pilsbry.

Port Augusta West. Specimens are very
large, being up to 36 mm. in major diameter.
Meracomelon meridtonale Gude.

Four miles south of Blinman, 1,200 feet.
Mount Mary, eleven miles west of Blinman.
Nildottie Springs, 6 miles north-east of Blin-
man. Junction of Oratunga and Parachilna
Creeks. about 9 miles east of Parachilna,
1,600 feet. Wonoka Creek, 5 miles north
of Hawker. Eight miles south of Blinman.
1,700 feet. This species lives in colonies on
ihe plains.

Meracomelon meridionale suspectum Iredale.
Parachilna Creek Cliffs, 6 miles south-west
of Blinman. Thirteen Mile Creek, 8 miles
west of Blinman. Werta Creek, 12 miles
west of Blinman, 1,300 feet. Between cliff
ledges above creeks, never on the plains.
Meracomelon (Findomelon) —luteofuscum
Cox.

Mount Chambers Gorge, numerous specimens.
Meracomelon (Contramelon) howard: Angas.
Mount Chambers Gorge, numerous specimens,

FAMILY XANTHOMELONTIDAE
Sinumelon remissum Iredale.
Motpena, 9 miles east of Lake Torrens. Castle
Creek, 7 miles north-west of Willochra, 800
feet. Brechina, 450 feet.
of Parachilna, '400 feet.
Lyndhurst, 450 feet.
lochra.
Sinumelon godfreyi Iredale.
Woodendinna Springs, 8 miles north-east of
Blinman. Limestone Springs, west of Lake

Seven miles west
Edeowie, 400 feet.
Puttapa Creek. Wil-

Frome. Wildowildina, 1,500 feet.
Head Station, 1,500 feet. Emu Springs, west
of Lake Frome. Wirrealpa.
Notobadistes flindersi ‘Angas.
Ten miles south-east of Hesso.
south-west of Port Augusta.
west of Port Augusta.
Notobadistes aversum Iredale.
Two miles south-east of Blinman.
Creek, Wirrealpa.

Narrina

Two miles
Six miles north-

Ten Mile
Nildottie Springs, 6 miles

north-east of Blinman. Glass Springs, 4
miles north-west of Blinman. Third Waters,
Oratunga Creek, 8 miles north-west of Blin-
man. Emu Springs. Rocky Water Hole, 3
miles south-east of Blinman.
Pleuroxia phillipsitana Angas.
Mount Painter (T. Harvey
numerous specimens.

Pleuroxia cooperi Cotton.
Prism Hill, 250 feet.

Johnston),

Some South Australian Water Plants

By

C. M. FARDLEY.

There is considerable variety in aquatic
vegetation, it includes many true flowering
plants, others related to ferns, besides a
large group called algae; the majority of the
seaweeds are algae, so are the filamentous,
green pond slimes and scums and also a great
many microscopic plants, composed only of a
few cells, which inhabit fresh water.

It'is the purpose of this article to concentrate
attention on the aquatic flowering plants, so

only a very few of the less advanced
water plants will be mentioned. The
first of these is Chara and the closely
related genus Nitella, called stoneworts
because their remains take part in the
formation of freshwater limestone; the

plants are able to do this by reason of the
quantity of lime encrusting their cells. The
calcareous, brittle’ character of Chara is very
evident in the dried and bleached remains
sometimes found at the edge of a drying pool
in summer. Members of the Characeae are
to be found in fresh and brackish waters all
over the world, they are usually crisp-looking
plants of a glassy green, having their stems
with whorls of short branches at regular in-
tervals. They appear to be related to the
algae, but have a very unusual and compli-
cated type of reproductive body, these may be
seen as orange dots on the smaller branches.
Chara or Nitella can be found in most ponds
and creeks near Adelaide.

The ferns are a step higher in the plant world,
and at least two genera of that group are
quite common and familiar water plants,

6

though from their appearance, one would
hardly suspect them of being related to the
ferns. One of these is the Nardoo (Marsilia).
whose leaves look rather like a large, four-
leaved clover. Nardoo grows in claypans
and lagoons in the drier regions of Australia,
one of its chief characteristics is that of be-
ing able to grow to maturity very rapidly
after a fall of rain; spores are produced in
a small, brown sporocarp which has very
hard walls and looks like a seed, these sporo-
carps are to be found in quantity in a dried-
up claypan, and they are collected and ground
by Aboriginals to produce a kind of flour.
When the sporocarps are slightly cracked and
soaked in water, a jelly-like slime string is
forced out of the hard coat, this is the begin-
ning of the rapid life cycle.

The other fern ally so well known as a water
plant is the Murray Duckweed (Azolla). It
is a small floating plant made very con-
spicuous by its habit of occurring in large
masses on the surface of quiet and sheltered
waters; the individual plant is no bigger than
a small coin and has a neat dense, branching
structure with short roots hanging down
below. The leaves overlap each other like
scales, concealing the stem. The Murray
Duckweed is either green or a beautiful red
in color and, as one might expect from its
common name, grows freely in the River
Murray.

We now come logically to a consideration of
some of the true aquatic flowering plants or
aquatic angiosperms. The terrestrial habit is,

ohe

af
|
oe

SPARE IOO fp OPre OTA DT AD BGS

1 —Ruppia maritima, L. Showing spring-like
peduncles up to 12 in, long.
2—-Potamogeton crispus, L. Curly Pondweed.
3-——-Cymodocea antarectica (Labill), Endl.
Seedling with grapple of four comb-
like lobes and young roots.
4—Halophila ovalis (R. Br.) Hook, f.
(Half size.)

a—Ruppia maritima, L. Long, curved pollen
grain (magnified), measuring 25 u. x
83 u.

b—Potamogeton crispus, L. Rounded pollen
grain (magnified), measuring 33) u.
diam.

c—Potamogeton ¢érispus, L. Turion,

of course, the normal thing among ihe angzo-
sperms and this mode of life is considered
to indicate a more advanced phase of evolu-
tion than the aquatic habit which is charac-
teristic of the algae, and from which the
mosses and liverworts and ferns have not, or
only partly, emerged. The hydrophilous
nature of these interesting flowering plants
is not a reversion to some ancestral form,
but a further and quite distint specialisation
of an already highly developed race. Aquatic
conditions ara less exacting than terrestrial,
but the complete change from one to the other
must present a great problem in adjustment
to the plant, in whichever direc‘ion it is made.

There is a truly hydrophilous group of marine
flowering plants; presently we shall discuss

some aquatic flowering plants which still
preserve some of the characters of land

plants, especially in their pollination, and
are thus not hydrophilous. But these marine
angiosperms, popularly lumped with the
algae as “seaweeds,” have become perfectly
hydrophilous and live entirely under water,
including pollination of the flowers as the
term indicates. These plants are Zostera,
Cymodocea and Posidonia. three genera of
the family Potamogetonaceae and a fourth,
Halophila, of the family Hydrocharitaceae.
There are drawings of Cymodocea. (fig. 3) and
Halophila (fig. 4), the other two are grass-
like in habit, Zostera is of comparatively
fine growth, while Posidonia is the “seaweed”
most commonly cast up along the Gulf
beaches; it is a stout plant with ribbon-
shaped leaves from + inch to }$ inch broad
and often a yard long. These are green
when growing, but more familiar in the
papery, brown slate of the heaps on_ the
beaches. The leaf-bases remain on the lower
parts of the stem in a fibrous mass: this
marine Posidonia fibre has been deposited in
a layer some distance below the soil along
the north-eastern shores of the Gulf of St.
Vincent and Spencer Gulf, it may be reached
by boring at St. Kilda beach. north olf
Adelaide, There have been schemes to exploit
this fibre for commercial purposes and_ it
could be used, among other things, to replace
jute to some extent. Posidonia is rooted in
the sand like the other marine angiosperms,
and it has bisexual and
pollen.

flowers filiform

Cymodocea has ribbon-like leaves of the
Posidonia type, but only an inch or two in
length. The flowers are enclosed in a leaf
sheath and much reduced, they are unisexual
with the males and females on different
plants. How, then, is the pollen of the male
flowers conveyed to the females? The
pollen grain is known to be threadlike instead
of globular and may be 2mm. long, a great
length for a microscopic object. The stigmas
also are threadlike and apparently succeed
in catching some of the pollen after it has
been discharged into the water, but probably
only if conditions are fairly still. The seed
thus formed seems to have no resting period,
but germinates viviparously in the carpel on
the plant; at this stage the endocarp enlarges
into four horny petal-like structures which
later become toothed at the end like a comb
(fig. 3). The seedling plant is exactly like
an ordinary leafy shoot growing from the
centre of the four-lobed cup; eventually it
breaks off from the parent plant, with the
cup, which acts as a grapple to hold it firm
among the sand while roots grow out between
the lobes of the cup (fig. 3). For a long
time botanists did not understand that there
was a fertilised embryo involved in the pro-
duction of this apparently vegetative shoot; it
is opportune to mention here the contributions
of two South Australians to the study of this
plant, first, Otto Tepper at the end of last
century and, more recently, J. M. Black, the
author of the “Flora of South Australia.”

Zostera, another important grassy plant of
the littoral “sea-meadows,’’ has the same
subaquatic method of pollination as Cymo-
docea, but here the reduced male and female
flowers occur in rows together in the one leaf
sheath; one would think it a simple matter
for pollination to occur inside this spathe,
but no, that would be self-pollination, and it
is effectively prevented by the ripening,
emergence and falling of the styles before the
anthers in the same spathe are ripe; there-
fore, cross pollination must occur.

Helophila (fig. 4), belongs to a different
family, and is a plant of delicate texture and
translucent leaves, seldom found except as
rare fragments along the beach. The flowers
are unisexual and pollinated under the water.
the females have three filiform stigmas which

8

—

il

may be one inch long; the individual pollen
erains are globular, but united into chains,
so the effect is the same as in Zostera and
Cymodocea,

It will only be possible here to say a little
about three of the many fresh and brackish
water plants. The first is Ruppia maritima,
L. (fig.l), a submerged, grass-like plant ot
cosmopolitan distribution, which has a_ re-
markable toleration for variations in the salt
content of its environment; it has been found
in water containing as much as 12 per cent.
total salts, this is about four times the amount
in ordinary sea-water. The flowers of Ruppia
are small and bisexual, the plant is found in
still waters and the flowers are enabled to
reach the surface by the growth of a long
and delicate spirally coiled peduncle, some-
times of a pretty pink color. ‘The pollen, which
is boomerang-shaped in side view, (fig. a), is
shed in quantity on the surface and floats
about among the flowers, easily being caught
by the stigmas.

Our species of Althenia are practically in-
distinguishable from Ruppia in the absence
of flowers; these, however, are not on a long
coiled peduncle. but concealed within a bract,
they are unisexual and usually on separate
plants; the pollen is globular and the pol-
lination said to be subaquatic, which seems an
unusual combination, in fact, the literature
on the pollination of Althenia is very scanty.
Potamogeton crispus. L., Curly Pondweed
(fig. 2), sometimes makes iiself a nuisance in
the River Torrens, and is a familiar and wide-
spread plant. ‘The method of pollination is
interesting when we remember thal Potamo-
geton is still in the same family as_ the
majority of the marine angiosperms, Ruppia
and Althenia. In the Potamogetons the
flowers are raised slightly above the surface
on firm stalks, the pollen is globular (fig. b),
and normal wind-pollination takes place.
Ruppia, with floating pollination, is a half-
way siage between this method and_ the
entirely submerged one described for the
other members of the family. Potamogeton
crispus produces peculiar perennating struc-
tures called duriors, they also occur in various
forms in other water plants, those of the
Curly Pondweed (fig. ¢) consist of a small
part of the stem covered with closely set leaf

o

bases frilled and hardened; these turions are
really resting winter buds which fall to the
bottom of the pond, which may become frozen
over, and produce new stems and leaves after
winter.

The, water plants mentioned in this article
are all common in South Australia, but even
so, their biology is imperfectly known.
especially the reproductive phases of the
marine ones for the study of which a good
deal of perseverance is necessary.

It is a pleasure to express my thanks to Miss
Christine Miller, who very kindly made the
drawings illustrating this paper.

REFERENCES.

Arber, Agnes, 1920—Water Plants. Cam-
bridge University Press.

Ascherson, P., 1882—Propagation of
Cymodocea antarctica, Endl. Trans. Roy.
Soc. S.A., Vol. V, p. 37.

Black, J. M., 1913—The Flowering and
Fruiting of Pectinella antarctica (Cymo-
docea antarctica). Trans. Roy. Soc.

S.A., Vol XXXVII.

Black, J. M., 1922-1929—Flora of South
Australia. Govt. Printer, Adelaide.

Engler u. Prantl, 1889—Die naturlichen

Pflanzenfamilien. II Teil, 1 Abt. Ist

Edn. Leipzig.

Ewart, A, J., 1930—Flora of Victoria.
Govt. Printer, Melbourne.

Lucas, A. H. S., 1936—The Seaweeds of
South Australia. Part I. Govt. Printer.

Adelaide.

Tepper, J. G. QO., 1880—Propagation of
Cymodocea antarctica, End]. Trans.
Roy. Soc. S.A. Vol. IV., pp. 1-4 and
47-49,

Wood, J. G., 1937—The Vegetation of
South Australia. Govt. Printer, Adelaide.

Wood, J. G., and Baas Becking, L. G. M..
1937—Convergence and Identity in Re-
lation to Environment. Blumea, Vol. 2.

No. 4, p. 329.

Notes on the Ngaiawung

Tribe, Murray River,

South Australia

By
NORMAN B. TINDALE, B.Sc.

Ethnologist, South Australian Museum.

Mr. E. F. Boehm, of Sutherlands, South
Australia, has forwarded some interesting
notes on the aborigines of the Morgan dis-
trict which he calls the “Kampoola Tribe.”
He has the record of a rock shelter fire, kept
burning in winter; this is of special interest,
and recalls to mind that when the Narangga
natives of Yorke Peninsula lost their fire in
winter and wood was too wel to ignite with
the grass tree fire-sticks in use, they were
under the necessity of sending across to the
Birta people on the Murray River to ask for
gifts of fire.

The Morgan horde or clan, or Kampu:la, is
one of the series belonging to the Neaiawung,
or Aiawung tribe (often called Pitta, Pieta
or Birta by their western neighbors). People

|

|

j

|

|
“4
‘

Woman and Child of the Murray River.

10

Murray River Man with Fighting Clubs.

of this tribe ranged along the Murray River
from Herman Landing and Wongula in the
south to just below Waikerie. Korkorana
was the general name applied by the natives
to the vicinity of Morgan, and Kulpu:la was
a name applied to the lagoons and flats on
the other side of the river. The hordes of
this tribe. of which we have information.
are :—

Murundi, at Moorundie.

Aiaruk, north of Moorundie.
Karmakalangbila, north of Blanchetown.
Mulipaku, at Murbko.

Kampu:la, near Morgan.
Punkapareidke, east of Morgan.
Karminwirra, north-west of Waikerie.
Ulalpareidke, at Waikerie.

Kababera, east of Waikerie.

The two last named clans may belong to the
next up-river tribe.

tribe. It was recently (1935) reprinted by
the late Mr. T. E. Parkhouse in his series,
“Reprints ., . Relating to the Autocthones of
Australia, Part H.”

Several early photographs have been brought
lo notice. They may serve to illustrate the
foregoing remarks, although most of them
were taken somewhat further downstream on
the Murray River.

One figure shows a camp, probably at
Kalpang, near Point McLeay. A duck net

Murray River Men with Pipeclay Decorations.

{ have not previously heard the name Molo
applied to any tribe or horde living to the
east of Morgan. Among the tribes known
were the Ngarkat (also called Buripung) in
the mallee scrub country south of the river,
the Ngawait (also called Neawaijung) from
above Boggy Flat and Penn’s Reach to near
Loxton, on the river, the Maraura in the dry
country to the north and east of Lake Vic-
toria and on the northern bank of the river,
the Erawirung from near Loxton to the South
Australian border on the southern or eastern
bank, and the Negintait between Salt Creek,
N.S.W., and Ned’s Corner, Victoria, chiefly
on the southern bank of the Murray River.

The literature on the Neaiawung tribe is
scant. One of the earliest and rarest accounts
is that of M. Moorhouse, entitled “4d Vocabu-
lary of the Murray River Language,” Ade-
laide, 1846. The account was gathered at
Moorundie and applies principally to this

is draped over the entrance to the hut, and
one of the squatting women has a_ coiled
rush-basket slung over her back.

The man in the old skin cloak has fighting
clubs in a special basket under his left arm.
In his hands is a club for close hand-fighting,
and a hardwood shield as defence.

We also show an early studio photograph of
a Lower Murray River woman wearing a
skin rug. The two portraits are of Lower
Murray River men, the former is of the
Ramindjeri tribe at Encounter Bay, and the
husband of the woman and child in the other
picture.

One of the few photographs extant showing
the marks placed on the bodies of Murray
River men as decorations for dances and
ceremonies has also been reproduced. The
pipe-clay designs run over foreheads, noses
and parts of the beards, as well as around
the eyes.

I

Men of the Lower Murray: The one on the left belonged to the Ramindjeri tribe.

12

Notes on the Extinct Aborigines of the Morgan
District, Murray River, South Australia

B

EK. FL B
While on a short stay in the Morgan district,
Murray River, some time ago, | found some
traces of the now extinct tribe of aborigines
of the area, and an effort was made to dis-
cover as much about them as po-sible in the
time available to me.
Very fragmentary skeletal remains were seen
in several sandhills in the river valley, and
one skeleton, in a fairly good state of pre-
servation, was found in sandhills bordering
the river valley at a point about two miles
east-north-east of Morgan. This skeleton had
been exposed by drifting of the sand. It was
lying fully extended on an even plane (hori-
zontal) with the legs pointing in an east-
north-easterly direction. Examination of the
skull, especially of the teeth and palate, the
supraorbital ridges, and the receding frontal
region left no doubt that the individual had
been an Australian aboriginal.

On the sandhills of the river valley a small
quartz knife-tlake and a yellow sandstone
hammer, exhibiting distinct signs of wear,
were discovered.

An old resident of Morgan, who knew the
last survivors of the local natives in
person, and whose father had heen
acquainted with the tribe before it began to
dwindle in numbers, informed me that the
name of the Morgan “tribe’’ had been “Kam-
poola.” The most influential individual had
been a warrier called “Tannannabee.” — In

Af
DEHM.

the earliest days there had been about six
hundred people in the tribe.

A few miles up the river from Morgan, and
a short distance towards Morgan from the
junction of the Burra Creek with the Murray,
there is, local residents told me, an aboriginal
rock-shelter under the northern cliffs of the
river, near where some derelict barges had
been wrecked in more recent years. The
natives called this place “Tanamee,” meaning
“never die.” A fire is said to have been kept
burning constantly (? in winter) here, and
the spot was regarded as having certain
magical properties.

I was informed that in the South Australian
Museum there is the skull of a full-blooded
Kampoola male, whose name had _ been
“Cutmore Tommy.” It was exhumed at the
site of the present Morgan District Hospital.
The tribe whose territory adjoined that of
the Kampoola, upstream from Morgan, had
been known as “Molo.” On one occasion, a
battle occurred between the Kampoola and
the Molo people, and a notable Kampoola
warrior was speared to death. He did not
fall down immediately, however, but remained
standing for a few moments after having
been transfixed by the spear. The incident
caused a stir at the time, for surely only a
very brave and great fighter would remain
standing when speared to death! Even to
this day, the locality is known as “Nikalap-
ko,” or “Man Standing.”

The Native Pheasant

In “What We Saw in Australia,” by Rosamond
and Florence Hill, 1875, we find an early
record of this bird. The Misses Hill arrived
in South Australia on April 7, 1873, and
stayed with their aunt, Mrs. Clark, at Hazel-
wood. They made a trip to the “Lakes.”
“Our hostess, Mrs. Samuel Davenport, in her
own carriage, accompanied by her sister, led
the way, and E—— and ourselves followed
in a travelling carriage of the country . .
The gentlemen came next day by the mail.”
At a camp out, the manager, Mr. Sandys,
made a damper—whilst “Mr. Davenport was
busy with a “quart-pot’.”

ee)

They speak of seeing “a nest of the native
pheasant, a large dome-shaped mound made
by dead leaves and sand, with four tunnel-
entrances. When full it contains a very
large number of eggs, which are hatched by
the heat generated by the decaying leaves.

Numerous hen pheasants use one nest, and
are said to be conducted thither by the cock
when about to lay their eggs. The bird itself
we never saw in the wild state.”

(Tunnel-like entrances have never been noted
by other observers to our knowledge.—
Editor. )

Our National Park: Some Early History

By

GEORGE H. PITT

Archivist.

Before the passing of the Act of 1891, the
Park was known as the Government Farm.
The first man to occupy the land was a
Nicholas Foott, who, although he paid no
rent to the Government, was permitted to
“squat” on the property on the understanding
that, if it were sold, he would have to move
at once. In spite of the insecurity of his
tenure Foott put up a small wooden house,
which had been imported in parts from Eng-
land, added three or four stone rooms to it,
and built stockyards, spending in all about
£600 on these improvements.

In 18140 Governor Gawler decided to establish
in the valley of the upper Sturt a farm where
ihe horses and bullocks of the police, survey.
and other departments could be put out to
graze and where hay could be grown for the
public service. He also had in mind the
establishment of a “place of retirement within
a short distance of the capital.”

In July, 1840, Foott received notice to quil,
but he was allowed £300 for his improve-
ments.

The manner in which the Government
obtained possession of the land was not
strictly in accordance with the practice pre-
scribed by law, and doubts soon arose about
the validity of its title. |The Government
could not obtain the property simply by
proclaiming it a public reserve, for under
the Act of 1834 it was only permitted to make
reserves for roads and footpaths, and with
this exception all Jands were to be open for
purchase by British subjects. Land sales
were controlled hy the Resident Commis-
sioner, the local representative of the Colon-
isation Commissioners for South Australia,
in whom all the lands in the province were
vested; and the Government, if it wanted land,
was in precisely the same position as any
private party. It is true that Colonel Gawler
was both Governor and Resident Commis-
sioner, so that it was possible to observe the
forms of law while reducing the transaction
to a mere matter of bookkeeping, the sale
price being debited to general revenue and

credited to the Land Fund. Nevertheless,
under the Act of 1834, all sales were to be
in public and for ready money, and in the
purchase of the Government Farm these con-
ditions were not observed. On July 22, 1840.
the Government, through the Colonial Secre-
tary, formally applied by letter for ten
sections (Nos. 819 to 828) in the valley of the
upper Sturt, containing in all 800 acres. The
purchase price was £800, but no money
actually passed, for the Colonial Secretary
merely tendered his own personal promissory
note, which he was not called upon to honor.

Although the position was ultimately regu-
larised by the payment of £800, for a year or
two the Government’s title was rendered
questionable by the violation of the statutory
requirements of open tender and public sale
for cash.

There was a further irregularity in the fact
that, although the Colonial Secretary applied
for ten sections, thirteen were actually con-
veyed, and the farm was informally increased
by the addition of 1,108 acres of unsurveyed
land and several valleys running into the
property. Thus its area was at first, nol
800 acres, but 2,148 acres.

Upon the dispossession of Foott, the Govern-
ment appointed John McLaren superintendent
of the farm, and spent £577 on fencing.
According to an official description of the
place in December, 1840, about a thousand
acres had by that time been enclosed with a
post and rail fence, and the other improve-
ments consisted of Foott’s wooden house with
its stone additions, some out-houses, a stock-
yard, and a well.

When Governor Grey arrived in May, 1841,
he at once began to cut down Government
expenditure, and he had hopes of raising a few
hundred pounds by selling the farm. In a
despatch, dated May 21, 1841, after describ-
ing the colony’s desperate plight and discuss-
ing ways and means, he said, “The sale of
the Government Farm, and Government
horses, and other property of this description

would appear to be the readiest means of
providing the necessary funds. The
Government Farm is by no means a neces-
sary appendage to the province.” “In the
present distressed state of the money market,”
he added, “it would be difficult to find pur-
chasers, and the property, if the sale were
now pressed, would not probably realise more
than half of its actual value. The difficulty
may be avoided by negotiating a loan at one
of the banks and offering the Government
Farm as a security for the repayment of the
loan. [rom time to time advantage may be
taken of favorable opportunities, and portions
of the property may be sold.”

On July 15, 1841, it was announced in the
Government Gazette that the farm would be
sold by auction on July 19. Tt was described
as a “splendid farm of about 1,500 acres of
the richest land in the province.” But the
sale was apparently cancelled, for it was
feared thal, for the reasons given above, the
Government's title was defective.

During the depression of 1841-2 several of
the unemployed settled with their families
on the farm, enclosing small areas and grow-
ing vegetables on them. There were in all
about a dozen families, and, although warned
not to expect any fixity of tenure, they were
permitted during the hard times to remain
in occupation. Among those who were
“squatting” on the farm in this way in 1842
were the following:—Henry Bacon, John
Pearce, James Pearce, John Downing, John
Wecombe, and Zebulon Batt.

In June, 1844, the area of the farm was
reduced by about 400 acres by the sale of five
sections at the western end (Nos. 874, 875,
878, 879, and 882).

In 1848 a small cottage was erected at a
cost of £100, as a residence for the keeper of
the farm and also for the occasional use of
the Governor. The old house erected by
Foott had become dilapidated, and in 1844
Keeper R. H. Moulton had reported that the
ceilings of three rooms were in imminent
danger of falling in and that a storm had
stripped some of the tarpaulins from the roof
of the wooden portion.

In the following year tenders were invited
for the lease of the farm for a period of
seven years. The buildings then standing
were the new Keeper’s house and Foott’s old

15

wooden cottage, with stone kitchen and three
other small rooms attached. William O’Hara’s
offer to take the property at £266 a year
was accepted, but he appears to have failed
to fulfil the conditions of the lease, for
tenders were again invited in October, 1851.
A second lessee was found, but he too was
unsatisfactory, and in May, 1852, tenders
were invited for a third time, on this occasion
for a period of one year only. The adver-
lisement met with no response, and Governor
Young gave orders for the Commissioner of
Police to take charge of the farm for the use
of horses employed in the gold escort and
other police services.

In 1856 a coach-nouse and stables were
added to the buildings on the farm, and in
the following year, at the request of the
Governor, Sir Richard MacDonnell, a pigeon-
house was erected and a gate was substituted
for the slip panel at the entrance to ithe
property. Foott’s wooden house was still
standing at this time, and £90 was spent in
repairing it.

In 1858 it was decided to build a “cottage
residence for the Governor” on the farm, and
at the end of the year a contract was let to
C. Farr. This building, which was completed
before July, 1860, cost about £1,600, and
is still standing (1939). It was provided
with a swimming pool, fed by two springs
which, though close together, were of very
different natures, one being heavily impreg-
nated with salts, while the other yielded pure,
clear water.

The house erected in 1859-60 was used as a
summer resort by Sir Richard MacDonnell,
Sir Dominick Daly, and (until the erection
of the house at Marble Hill) by Sir William
Jervois. It was too small for Sir James
Fergusson, who preferred a residence rented
by him at Robe, but lent the house at the
farm to his brother, Major John Adam Fer-
gusson, who occupied it for a time after his
marriage in the early eighteen-seventies. In
1939 the house is called “The Rest,” and is
occupied by the Curator of the Government
Nursery. The building erected in 1848 and
those put up by Foott have long since passed
out of existence.

In the late seventies large quantities of carbon
bisulphide were manufactured at the farm
under the direction of the Surveyor-General,

for sale to pastoralists for the killing of
rabbits.

In 1881 a proposal by the Government to
sell the farm in small allotments aroused a
strong protest in the public press. The late
Mr. Walter Gooch was especially active in
condemning the proposal, and he was sup-
ported by the Australian Natives’ Association
and, later, by the Field Naturalists’ Section
of the Royal Society of South Australia. A
memorial, bearing many influential signatures,
was presented to the Commissioner of Crown
Lands on January 10, 1882, protesting against
the disposal of the farm and recommending
its retention as “a water reserve, an experi-
mental farm, a forest reserve, an acclima-
tisation station, and a national recreation
ground.” At this time the hills railway was
being constructed, and it was expected that,
when completed, it would provide the neces-
sary transport for thousands of holiday-
makers. This strong expression of public
opinion not only prevented the proposed sub-
division of the farm, but led to the passing
of an Act in October, 1883, prohibiting its
sale without the sanction of Parliament.

On August 5, 1890, the Premier stated that
his Government approved of the reservation
of the farm as a national park, but a change
of Ministry occurred a few days later. In
order to accelerate matters a Bill for consti-
luting the farm a national park was prepared

hy the Town Clerk of Adelaide under instruc-
tions from the City Corporation, acting in
concert with the Native Fauna and Flora
Protection Committee, but on November 5,
1890, the President of the Legislative Council
ruled the Bill out of order. The efforts of
all who had worked for the conversion of
the farm into a public recreation reserve were
crowned with success on December 19, 1891,
when the National Park Act received the
Governor’s assent. The first Board of Com-
missioners was appointed on January 19,
1892, and consisted of the following mem-
Edwin Smith, Alexander Me-
Donald, Walter Gooch, Joseph C. F. Johnson,
Samuel Dixon, and the following ex officio
members: The Commissioner of Crown Lands
(Thomas Playford), the Mayor of Adelaide
(I. W. Bullock). the Conservator of Forests
(W. Gill), the Director of the Botanic
Gardens (Dr, M. W. Holtze). the Director of
the Zoological Gardens (R. E. Minchin), the
President of the Royal Society (Rev. T.
Blackburn), and the President of the Agricul-
tural Society (J. L. Stirling).

ers: —Sir

The Board held its first meeting on January
28, 1892, and it appointed its first Curator
and Secretary (W. H. Sanders) on May 18,
1802.

(Prepared at the request of the Chairman of the
‘ommissioners of the National Park.)

The Platypus in South Australia ?

Professor Wood Jones states that “The Platy-
pus at the present time is distinctly an eastern
Australian and Tasmanian animal, and
Bennett did not believe that it existed in
South Australia. Its inclusion in the fauna
of South Australia is, however, quite correct
even at the present day. From some of its
old haunts it has disappeared. Nevertheless
it still occurs within the limits of our State,
and from its inobtrusive habits it is possible
that it may even linger in some places where
its presence has escaped notice.” The Misses
Rosamond and Florence Hill in their book,
“What We Saw in Australia,” 1875, p. 57,
remark: “Hahndorf, through which we drove,
is a settlement of Germans, and might be
taken for a village in the Black Forest, so

16

a

closely are the characteristics of the ‘Vater-
land’ reproduced in the build of the houses,
and of the long, narrow waggons, and in
the aspect of the people. Soon after we
crossed the pretty Onkaparinga, on whose
banks was shot, while we were in the colony.
a specimen of the almost extinct Ornitho-
rhynchus. Surely it is a pity to destroy, as
the curiosity-hunters will soon do if they
continue to kill every individual discovered,
this interesting link between different classes
of animals, to say nothing of depriving a
harmless little creature of the happiness of
existence!”

The Misses Hill arrived in South Australia
on April 7, 1873, and left again in January,
1874.

The Field Naturalists’ Section

EXCURSIONS

1940

Jan, 20—Outer Harbor Train, 1.10 p.m. Live Shells Mrs. G. Edmeades
29—Tailem Bend (9 a.m.) Motor (5/-) Lagoon Life Mr. B. C. Cotton

Feb. 3—Flinders, St., Kent Town Tram, 2 p.m. Aquaria Mr. P. A. Geisler
10—Marino Train, 1.11 p.m. Loricates Mr. W. M. Nielsen
24—_Hallett’s Cove (1.30 p.m.) Motor (2/6) Geology Miss W. M. Warhurst

Mar. 9—Port River (Launch 2/6) Train, 1.10 pm. Dredging Mr. F. K. Godfrey
16—Mt. Lofty Train, 1.14 p.m. Flower Show Mr. A. J. Morison

23—25-—Goolwa Easter Camp Train General To be arranged

Apr. 6—Botanic Gardens Gates, 2 p.m. Nurseries Mr. H. Greaves
13—Onkaparinga Gorge (1.30) Motor (2/6) Obzervoranda Miss D. M. Matthews
25—Williamstown (9 a.m.) Motor (4/6) Warren Reservoir Mrs, P. Filsell

May 4—Grange Train, 140 p.m. Sand Hill Flora Miss C. Eardley
11—Outer Harbor South Train, 1.10 pm. Malacology Mr. F. K. Godfrey
25—Morialta Tram, 2 p.m. Ecology of Res. Prof. J. B. Cleland

Jene 1—Museum Entrance, 2 p.m, Lecturettes Various
10—Roseworthy College, 9 a.m. Motor (4/6) Agriculture Dr. A. R. Callaghan
15—Henley to Glenelg Tram, 1.30 p.m. Intertidal Life Mr. G. Pattison
29-_National Park Train, 114 p.m. Foliage Mr. E. H. Ising

July 13—Semaphore to Grange Train, 1.10 p.m. Marine Life Miss D. M. Matthews
23—Zoological Gardens Gates, 2 p.m. Zoology Mr. R. R. Minchin

Aug. 3—Anstey’s Hill (1.45 p.m.) Motor (3/-) Physiographv Dr. C. Fenner

10—Outer Harbor
24—Black Hill (1.45 p.m.)
31—Kingston Park Reserve

Train, 1.10 p.m.
Motor (1/9)
Train, 1.11 pm.

Mud Flat Life Mrs. L. E. Elliott
Foothills Flora Mr. W. A. Stow
Shrubs & Plants Prof. J. B. Cleland

TRAM EXCURSIONS—Meet in Grenfell Street by T. & G. Building.
TRAIN EXCURSIONS.—Will members obtain their tickets and meet on the train.

MOTOR EXCURSIONS.—Meet at the Town Hall, Adelaide.

Bookings close with the Secretary or

the Treasurer three days before excursion, and seats will be allotted in order of priority.

EVENING

1940,
Feb. 20—Conversazione . L. A. Elliott
“Colored Travelogue Films.”

Mar. 19—“Bird Lore” Mr. R. R. Minchin

Apr. 16—“The Simpson Desert” .. Dr. C. T. Madigan

May 21—‘The Aborigines” Mr. N. B. Tindale

MALACOLOGICAL

1940.
Mar. 4—Acanthochiton Species, Rey, B. J. Weeding

18—1 Marden Road, Marden, Mrs. L. E.
Elliott
Apr. 1—Sea Stars wi ue we we Mr. FL K. Godfrey
15—Evolution of the Mollusca, Miss W. M.
Warhurst
May 6--Common Minute Gastropods, Mr. B. C.

Cotton

SOCIETY:

MEETINGS

June 18—The Malacological Society Evening.
Chairman Mrs. L. E. Elliott

Mr. J. D. O. Wilson
“The Micro Lepidoptera.”

July 16—Microscope Evening ......

Aug. 20—Annual Meeting.

“How Soils Determine the Distribution of
Plant Life”? wu. wu... Prof. J. A. Prescott

Evening Meetings

20—West Coast Shells .... Mr. W. G. Tucker

June 3—Anthochiton Species, Mr. W. M. Nielsen
17—Shells Studies ..... .... .... Mrs. G. Edmeades
July 1—Life of the Ocean, Miss D. M. Matthews

16

Apertures of Gastropods, Mr. F. K. God-
frey

5—Annual Meeting ..... wu... Exhibit Night

19—Some Attractive: Foreign Shells, Mr. W.
Tucker

Aug.

FIELD NATURALISTS’ SECTION OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY.

Publications of the Section.

PUBLICATION No. 1.
The National Parks of Australia, by Wm. H. Selway.
(Out of print.)

PUBLICATION No. 2.
Geological and Botanical Notes on the Victor Harbour District,
by
Prof. J. B. Cleland, M.D., and Prof. Walter Howchin, F.G.S.

Price 1/-.

PUBLICATION No. 3.
Botany and Geology of Coast from Outer Harbour to Sellick’s Beach,
by
Prof. J. B. Cleland, M.D., and C. Fenner, D.Sc.
Price 1/6.

PUBLICATION No. 4.
NATIONAL PARK.
Price 1/6.
“THE TOOLACH WALLABY FILM.”

Being a record of the last known living specimen of the Toolach wallaby (Macropus
greyii) now in captivity. Copies available. Price £4.

MALACOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

PUBLICATION No. 1.
“A SYSTEMATIC LIST OF SOUTH AUSTRALIAN GASTROPODA.”
By Bernard C. Cotton and Frank K. Godfrey.

Price 1/6.

WESLEY M. NIELSEN,
Hon. Secretary,

C/o Royal Society’s Rooms, North Terrace, Adelaide.

Obtainable at Rigby Ltd. 16 Grenfell Street, Adelaide, S.A.

E. 3. McAlister & Co., Printers, 24 Blyth Street, Adelaide.

GONTENTS

THE LIVING
BIRD

CURIOUS
ARRANGE-
MENT OF
STICKS AT
LYNDOCH

FLORA OF
MOUNT
REMARKABLE

FLORA OF
WUDINNA
DISTRICT

PLANTS OF
MELROSE

YELLOW GILLED TOADSTOOL

VOLUME 20, No. 2. The South Australian

Hay 5,188 NATURALIST

Beesiered) .at ibs conanty JOURNAL OF THE FIELD NATURALISTS’ SECTION OF THE
Adelaide, for transmission ROYAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
through the post as a

’ periodical. Price: One Shilling.

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

May 15, 1940

The Field Naturalists’ Section

of The Royal Society of South Australia

OFFICERS, 1939-40.

Chairman: H. GREAVES, Esq.

Vice-Chairmen: Mr. H. WOMERSLEY and Dr. M. SCHNEIDER.

Hon. Secretary: Mr. W. M. NIELSEN.

Hon. Treasurer: Mr. i. H. ISING.

Hon. Librarian: Miss D. Ms. MATTHEWS.

Hon. Magazine Secretary: Mr. A. K. BEASLEY.

Committee:

The PRESIDENT and VICE-PRESIDENTS of The Royal Society of South Australia

(ex officio), Professor J. B. CLELAND, Dr. M. T. WINKLER, Messrs. A. J. WILEY,

A. K. NEWBERY, A. J. MORISON, Mrs. A. R. ALTMANN, Misses F. WALLIS,
A. ADCOCK.

Hon. Auditors: Messrs. W. D. READE, F.C.P.A., and B. B. BECK.

Editor “South Australian Naturalist’: Mr. B. C. COTTON, The Museum, Adelaide.

No special knowledge necessary to become a member,
only a keen interest in Nature.

THIS Section was founded in 1883 for the purpose of
affording observers and lovers of Natural History regular
and frequent opportunities for diseussing those special sub-
jects in which they are naturally interested; for the Ex.
hibition of Specimens; and for promoting Observations in
the Field by means of Excursions to various collecting
grounds around the Metropolis.

THE MONTHLY MEETINGS of the Section for Lectures,
the Reading of Papers, and Exhibition of Specimens are held
on the third Tuesday, at 8 p.m., at the Royal Society’s Rooms,
Institute Buildings, North Terrace, Adelaide.

{
MEMBERS are requested to invite their friends to these
Monthly Meetings.

VISITORS CORDIALLY INVITED.

THE ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION (7/6) dates from August
1, and can be sent to Mr. E. H. Ising, Railway Station,

Adelaide.

MEMBERS are urged to take Receptacles for the carrying
of Specimens. At each outing every member is expected to
collect Specimens wherever possible, and to hand them to the
Leader for identifieation, ete.

i

EXCURSIONS. For meeting places, see particulars inside
kack cover. Members desirous of attending motor execur-
sions should advise the Hon. Secretary at least three days
before the outing, to enable sufficient accommodation to be
provided,

THE HON. SECRETARY. All letters to be addressed c/o
Royal Society’s Rooms, Institute Buildings, North Terrace,
Adelaide. Letters will be collected regularly.

F.N.S. HERBARIUM. The Herbarium is kept in the Botany
Department of the University, and is open to members. Mr.
E. H. Ising (Hon. Secretary).

“THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST.” The Journal
of the Section published quarterly. Editor: Mr. B. C, Cotton.
Free to members. Exchanges may be arranged. Extra copies,
1/- each.

May 15, 1940

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN

NATURALIST Page Seventeen

The Living Bird

By

OSCAR SYMON AND H. T. CONDON.

The astonishing progress made by _ orni-
thology in Europe and America during the
last twenty years has been mainly due to,
and is increasingly dependent upon, the
study of the living bird in its natural sur-
roundings rather than of the feathered corpse
in laboratories and museums.

In these two continents are tens of thousands
of birdwatchers who, mostly working on
organised and co-operative lines, are not only
enriching our knowledge of birds and so
contributing to science, but also helping to
ensure the permanence of one of the organic
resources upon which civilisation is depen-
dent.

AUSTRALIA NEEDS BIRDWATCHERS.

Australian ornithology to-day _ evidently
stands where European and American orni-
thology stood fifty years ago.

Here, in Australia the science of birdwatch-
ing is hardly recognised as such; here, we
mostly remain unapprecialive and passive in
the light of the successes and failures of
modern birdwatching as piactised in other
countries; here, organised and co-operative
birdwatching is still unknown; here, pur-
poseful and persistent birdwatchers number
a few hundred at most; and here, for instance,
exists nothing like a complete life-history of
a single species, much less of an individual
bird or pair of birds, of any of the birds
which may be found in Australia.

Australia urgently needs birdwatchers, thou-
sands of them!

To help meet this need by promoting a
better understanding of what birdwatching
means and how to go about it is the main
reason for this article, which has been
illustrated after the modern way of educa-
tional illustration of birds used especially by

the National ‘Association of Audubon
Societies of America.
The second is that modern birdwatching

offers practically a new field of service for
Australians—to people in all walks of life
and of any age, to field naturalists, profes-
sional and amateur natural scientists of all
kinds, teachers in schools and _ colleges,
scoutmasters, girl guides, field officers of the
Agricultural, Forestry and Waterworks De-

partments, harbor masters and light keepers,
and to agricultural colleges, experimental
farms, resezrch stations and institutes, and
to universities.

And, the third, because birdwatching is not
only a healthy, inexpensive, interesting and
entertaining hobby or pursuit full of endless
pleasures and surprising rewards, but because
the results of birdwatching are indispensable
material for ornithology in particular and
for science in general.

WHAT BIRDWATCHING MEANS.

Birdwatching is the objective, accurate
observation, with or without the aid of
scientific equipment and technique, and the
honest noting down on the spot of all the
facts of the everyday life of free, wild birds
in their natural or artificial haunts, either
as a species, or as individuals, or as both
in relation to their environments, and_ the
subsequent methodical and permanent re-
cording of al] such facts for the information
of any appropriate scientific body or museum
and, through them, for birdwatchers every-
where.
This explanation may or may not be sug-
gestive of the acknowledged fact that bird-
watching is “either the most sporting of
sciences or the most scientific of sports.”
One of which, according to the spirit in which
it is taken up and followed as a hobby or
pursuit, birdwatching surely is. But it does
imply that if you really desire to become a
birdwatcher of greater or lesser parts, and
contribute to the sum total of man’s know-
ledge of birds, you cannot regard birds
either as interesting, mostly misshapen,
mummified things in a museum, or as cap-
lives in aviaries or, and most important,
merely as an agreeable but vague part of
the general background of life in your
garden, in the country or on the seashore.

WHO CAN BE A BIRDWATCHER.

You don’t have to be an ornithologist, or
any other sort of “ologist” to become a
birdwatcher.

Some of the most outstanding contributions
to ornithology, as is also the case with other
natural sciences, have been made by men

Magpie Lark - male Magpie Lark - female

Bronze Cuckoo or ‘See You” Blue Wren Black-capped Sittclla
Brown Treecreeper

Willie Wagtall

White-naped Honeyeater

Crescent Honeyeater White-plumed Honeyeater or Creenie

Fork-tailed Swift

Blackbird Starling Indian Dove House Sparrow - male

Welcome Swallow Fairy Martin Whlite- backed Swallow

, . in flight
Black Cockatoo in fligh Ringneck Parrot Grey Butcher-bird

Eastern Spinebill

Whistling Eagle Wedge-tailed Eagle Swamp Harrier. Black-shouldered: Kite Nankeen Kestrel

~~

Musk Duck White-eyed Duck mnie a Goons Pink-eared Duck

Freckled Duck Black Duck Crested Grebe Crested Tern

Pied Cormorant in flight

Litde Grebe Hoary-headed Grebe Coot

Pied Cormorant

Pacific Gull

y Kingfish
Sacred Kingfisher eure’ lpgsisisn Immature above, flying

White-headed Stilt “ White Ibis
(after R.T-Peterson in “Bird Lore 7

Page Twenty

and women who never had any scientific
training whatever. They started watching
birds because they felt, and very rightly too,
that wild birds were worth watching and get-
ting to know better for their own sakes.
The object of their birdwatching was to have
for their own information and delectation
experiences with birds, to see exactly what
birds did and how they did it, and to hear
what birds said and how they said it.
Moreover, as part of the game, these bird-
watchers jotted down their observations on
the spot, using any piece of paper or any
sort of notebook, and then, after returning
home they found additional pleasure in the
methodical and systematic transcription of
the field-notes into diaries, ihus providing
themselves with permanent records and _ re-
ference books of the everyday activities and
peculiar manners of the birds which they
encountered.

True it is that such people were possessed
of an inquiring mind, a love of stalking wild
animals, an intelligent patience, listening
ears, and seeing eyes, strengthened more
often than not, with opera glasses or
binoculars. But what field naturalist does
not possess these faculties or what normal
and bird-loving layman cannot develop them
to a greater or less degree?

Birdwatching is open to all—man or woman,
young or old, rich or poor. Anybody, in
whom is a desire to know wild birds better
and have experiences with them, and in
whom is the little energy required to un-
bridle that desire, may easily become a bird-
watcher. Once started, the persistent novice.
carried along by the natural momentum of
the thing, will soon be not only experiencing
the endless pleasures denied non-bird-
watchers, but also asking him or herself and
others, in person and in books, “why” and
“how” questions about birds and their habits
and behaviour. And, because of this inquiry
and thirst for greater knowledge of birds
the novice is surely blossoming into a scien-
tific birdwatcher.

As to the cost of birdwatching. It need not
cost a penny for gear or anything else.
Contrary to the general belief, birdwatching
means neither travelling all over the country
nor tearing from one particular haunt or
“ood place for birds” to another, just seek-
ing to “list” birds or see birds alleged to be
rare. Better to stay at home or in one
locality and write a simple and accurate
biography of any of the common birds, say

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

May 15, 1940

the Silver Eye that nested in your garden,
that cleaned up the aphis on the rose bushes
last winter and is now messing up the grapes.
Remember it is easier always to study the
common bird than the rare.

HOW TO BEGIN BIRDWATCHING.
The art of birdwatching includes, it has been
well said, the ability to make the most of
different environments, whether reckoned
as “good” or “bad” places for birds, whether
humdrum or unusual.

The best place to begin birdwatching is about
the home or farmsiead, about the school-
house, or in a city square or park, say during
the lunch hour. Your interest aroused, not
only these places but also, when visited, the
sea beaches and countryside will become
alive to you in a new delightful way. But
as birdwatching absolutely depends on cor-
rect sight identification the first thing to
know is how to identify birds.

There are three ways. To follow all simul-
taneously is best, but any one of them will
serve. I*irst ask someone who really knows
birds both to name on the spot those in your
locality and to take you out birdwatching;
the second, visit museums whenever possible
and seek out the ornithologist, who will be
glad to meet you and to let you handle the
stuffed skins of all kinds of birds and other-
wise help you; third, at the Public Libary
study all the good and well illustrated books
about birds, as well as the periodical, and
other publications by ornithological societies
and scienthic bodies. If you care to, buy a
pocket-size book which will help a great
deal in the identification of Australian birds,
buy the one by Leach, and for preference
any edition but the last.

BIRD IDENTIFICATION FACTORS.
Identification looms large in. birdwatching.
It is the rock upon which all reliable bird-
watching is built, both by the expert and the
Icss expert. Hesitant at first, the beginner
will learn to instantly and almost uncon-
sciously recognise all the birds ‘regularly
seen.

However, at the outset and like all other
birdwatchers ever born, the beginner will
more or less successfully try to identify birds
by concentrating on their plumage and size.
Then, as femiliarity increases, will come a
realisation. that quick and accurate identi-
fication depends on a knowledge of not only
one factor but several, the importance of any

May 15, 1940

or all of which depends on the observer and
the circumstances. These factors are:—

1. Build.

2. Carriage, or action in flight, or both.
3. Size.

4. Plumage, particularly any distinctive

tribal marks.
5. Color of soft parts, certainly bill and
feet.

6. Call and song, if any.

7. Habitat and season.

8. Known habits.
The accompanying pictures satisfactorily illus-
trate factors 1, 2, 3, 4. As to factor 5,
one kind of adult tern has a yellow bill and
black legs, another kind has a red bill and
black legs, and another kind a black bill
and black legs, etc., so colors of “soft parts”
are of no little importance; by the same
token, the cock black-bird has a golden bill,
the hen a greyish-black one. Factor 6: The
importance of training the ear to recognise
the calls and peculiar voices and song, if
any, of birds cannot be emphasised too
strongly. It permits unseen birds to be
identified and as often as not, birds are
heard before they are seen. For instance
the hird which sings out, “Pee-Wee” or
“* Jean - Jean - Jean - or-whit-or-whit-or-whit,””
does not have to be seen to be identified as
the Magpie Lark, if its language is known.
And a knowledge of bird calls permits the
identification, etc., of nocturnal birds and
night-active birds—the subdued, nasal talk
of black swans in flight; the quacks and
squackerings peculiar to the different kinds of
ducks as they feed at night; the boom of a
bittern or the “more-pork” of the boobook
owl. Factors 7 and 8: Knowledge of these
factors is gained both from reading good
books and literature on birds and from per-
sonal field experience, the details of which
must be transcribed from field note books
into permanent records, both for your own
information. and reference purposes and for
that of other birdwatchers and scientists.

IDENTIFYING THE UNKNOWN BIRD.

When an unknown bird is seen, the best
course to take is to get as close to it as you
can and secure as many details as possible
about it, and from which it may be identi-
fied later on. This means skilful, patient
and often disagreeable stalking, and prefer-
ably with the aid of good binoculars. With the
bird under closest scrutiny, note down what
it looks like, what it does, an impression of

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

Page Twenty-one

anything it says, whether it was a solitary
bird or with others of its own kind or of
another kind, where and when it was seen
—anything which may help to establish its
identity. Afterwards consult books and
other birdwatchers or museum people to
determine, if possible, the bird’s identity.
Don’t be disheartened if it is revealed that
the particular bird has been often recorded
in that district, for locality where seen is
more important to ornithology than district
where seen. Besides some activity or piece
of behaviour by the bird in question may
never have been witnessed before by any
other birdwatcher.
Birdwatching has no rules, but the beginner
must understand from the start that:—
1. The person who can immediately
identify in the field every bird seen
is not an expert birdwatcher but a

charlatan.
2. Birds don’t have to be shot to be
identified. | Purposeless bird-skin

collectors, whose childish acquisi-
tiveness is only equalled by that of
collectors of eggs, say it is neces-
sary. Don’t believe them.

3. No sight record of a bird is worth-
less. It may be wrong, utterly
-wrong. But if it is humbly claimed
it is worth investigation; and, what
is more, birdwatchers, like other
people, learn from mistakes as well
as successes. Nevertheless, be care-
ful always, and so avoid recording
Cassowaries near the Coorong or
Regent Bower Birds at the Burra.

4. Even the most successful scientific
birdwatchers. have first approached
birdwatching in a haphazard way.
This manner of approach is one
of the peculiarities of the science
of birdwatching, and is often
ignorantly called “amateur” or
“dilettante.” Birdwatching is be-
coming more and more _profes-
sionalised as a science in_ other
countries.

WHY WATCH BIRDS.

Birds are one of the few groups of animals
which on the whole are useful to man.
Their place in Nature, and in the economy of
things generally, is at least of equal impor-
tance to that of all other forms of wild life.
The results, therefore, of birdwatching, are
indispensable to science.

Page Twenty-two

Specially valuable, as Huxley says, for two
branches of science. First, the study of the
behaviour and mind of animals—‘the evolu-
tion of mind, that strange and mysterious
property of living creatures with which the
present scientific scheme of things, coherent
though it be, is still very incompletely linked
up.” Second, the study of the relations of
living things with each other and their en-
vironment, called ecology or scientific natural
history—‘‘a branch of biology destined to
play a large practical part in human affairs.”
A common example of bird psychology is the
mobbing of cuckoos, hawks and owls by
small birds; another, the extraordinary gift
possessed by some species in their natural
state for mimicry of the calls or songs of
other birds—the Lyre Bird for instance,
while the vulgar Starling is a lesser master.
What is the utility of such mimicry? Why
do some species, and not others, possess the
gift? Why does one bird practice it in its
natural surroundings, and others, like cocka-
toos, parrots, magpies, only when taught?

Some interesting light was thrown on bird
behaviour and psychology by the results of
the following experiment in America. Stuffed
birds, made as lifelike as possible, were
placed in the open near wild birds with the
unexpected result that the male wild birds
came and fought the stuffed ones. Male
wild birds of one species mistook stuffed
males for living females of their own species.
Some wild birds, in which the plumage of
male and female is very different, were able
to distinguish the stuffed female of their
own species. But on the whole, the results
showed that, in all probability, the males of
many species of birds are unable to tell their
females at sight.

Bird ecology is a virgin field in Australia.
Its application is essential in order to dis-
cover precisely how, in any given locality,
birds: live in community with their own and
other species of birds, and how their lives
are nourished and activated and their ways
of living influenced by all the other living
things living in community with them.

Bird ecology provides field naturalists with a
great opportunity. For, in addition to a
good knowledge of birds, there is also re-
quired a knowledge of enough botany to
name ‘the common plants and trees among
which the birds live, enough entomology to
recognise the insects on which the _ birds
feed, and so on with each branch of natural

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN

NATURALIST May 15, 1940
history that has a possible relationship to
the environment of the bird.

Birds must also be watched to learn exactly
all their habits and behaviour—their life
histories. And, ever since modern bird-
watching established the fact that birds are
not automatons but individuals, each with
its own personality and temperament, its own
personal problems and solutions within the
species pattern, science has demanded _ in-
dividual life histories, instead of the former
general character studies and life histories of
different species of birds.

Since this recognition by science of the basic
importance of the individual bird, European
and American ornithology has been vastly
enriched by the observations and investiga-
tions of birdwatchers who, with acute selc-
tivity of objects, have watched, and are
watching, literally millions of individual
birds of many different species. The chief
method is called “Bird Banding,” which con-
sists of securing, in various combinations,
differently colored and numbered rings
around the legs of birds, either when they
are nestlings or when caught later on in life
in traps. | Thus individual identification is
satisfactorily maintained and, according to
the species and the object in view, the same
individuals may be accurately observed daily
for years.

Bird banding methods are used to throw
light on all sides of bird life. For example,
in a large American orchard were put up
numerous nest-boxes most of which were
occupied by pairs of house-wrens. At night
the pairs in the boxes were caught and
banded. These birds always have at least
two broods in the nesting season: so, after
the first brood had been raised and left home
and the second brood was about halfway
through its nursery period, all the adult
wrens were caught one night and examined
again. The result was surprising, for it was
discovered that about eighty per cent. of them
had changed partners between broods. Again.
for instance, it was demonstrated in England
that Ring Plovers are color blind, have no
ordinary sense of smell, and cannot recog-
nise their own eggs. Further, as an example
of the value of banding in learning about
migration, or the partial migration of birds,
a Tufted Duck, on a reservoir near London,
was banded in January, 1934. In January,
1935, it was caught on the same reservoir.
On April 25, 1935, it was reported from
Finland.

May 15, 1940

Bird banding has yet to be applied in
Australia, although Dr. Serventy is now try-
ing to get it organised and started along the
co-operative lines so successfully followed
in other countries.

Bird protection and bird black-listing laws
have been termed dated farces based mostly
on ignorance, personal opinion and prejudice,
both local and general. Substantially true!
Bird laws satisfactory to both birds and man
can only be framed on a scientific basis.
And the only way to prevent “ignorance,
personal opinion and prejudice” from detri-
mentally affecting the issue is to carefully
weigh the pros and cons of the correlated
results of the observations and investigations
of not a few, but hundreds of birdwatchers
and. ornithologists. All the more so because
a bird may be a pest in one locality and not
in another, and only birdwatchers can pro-
perly define these localities, and compute
bird numbers without resort to the vague
terms of “rare,” “common,” “very plenti-
ful,” or “as thick as flies and as_ bad.”
Birdwatchers can do a@ very great deal to
secure just bird laws.

It is well to destroy pests, just as it is well
to remember that no bird is altogether bad.
Some birds considerably damage fruit, crops,
fish, and lambs and ewes. But a carefully
planned scientific investigation of the whole

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

Page Twenty-three

matter over a number of years might, as
likely as not, prove that the damage claimed
to have been done was made good, perhaps
outweighed, by these same birds, in their
endless destruction of creatures and organic
matter much more pestiferous and harmful
to man’s fruit and other things—for instance,
grasshoppers, locusts, caterpillars, grubs,
aphis; fish, crabs and shell-fish, and the rest
which gorge on the spawn and fry of edible
fish; the carrion from which come blowflies,
the eggs and larvae of nasty worms and flies
in the droppings of sheep, cows and horses,
or the water-snail that harbors the sheep-
fluke. Other birds, which are enormously
beneficial to man, appear to be altogether
good.

Nevertheless, the more both kinds of birds
are observed the more it is realised that
most Australian birds, like most men and
women, are half saint and half devil. And,
because we are still a very long way from
knowing “Why” and “How,” “When” or
“What to do about it,” the field for organised
birdwatching in Australia is an extremely
wide one. A field inhabited by a great
many different kinds of wonderful, and not
a few unique, birds all of whom are fairly
singing out for more and more birdwatchers
to get to know and study each one of them
as an individual, living bird.

Yellow Gilled Toadstool

AMANITA OCHROPHYLLA.

The Ochre-gilled Amanita figured on the
cover belongs to a genus of fungi which con-
tains amongst its species some of the largest.
some of the most handsome and _ brilliant,
and some of the most poisonous of the toad-
stools. The Amanitas can be recognised by
their white spores, by the gills being usually
white or light in colour, by the presence of a
ring on the stem, by a more or less evident
volva or cup at the base of the stem which
may disappear at maturity or be represented
merely by a fringe or line on the bulbous
base, and by the stem being readily remov-

able from the cap. A. ochrophylla is one
of our largest species, the cap at times reach-
ing a diameter of nearly nine inches. It is
not common in this State, but has been
recorded from the Greenhill Road, Mount
Lofty, Kuitpo, Square Waterhole, Willunga
Hill and Waitpinga. In Sydney it may be
found in the sandy soil round the Harbour
in autumn after heavy rains. It has rather
a strong smell, which itself would deter
anyone from tasting it, so that it is not known
whether it is poisonous or not.

The Flora and Fauna Committee in its drive
to eradicate Mistletoe has learned from the
Director of the Botanic Gardens that trees
affected by this parasite in the Gardens have
been cleared of it.

It is interesting to record
Pittosporum undulatum and

that Lagunaria,

English Ash

MISTLETOE.

were the trees from which the Mistletoe was
removed. H. M. Hale has a photograph
showing Mistletoe growing on the, introduced
Argentine Tobacco (Nicotiana glauca), in the
Flinders Ranges, South Australia. It also
infests the common edible fig, at times very

badly.

Page Twenty-four

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

May 15, 1940

A Curious Arrangement of Sticks Near Lyndoch,
South Australia

By

NORMAN B. TINDALE, B.Sc.
Ethnologist, S.A. Museum.

In company with Mr. H. L. Sheard, the
writer went to a former campsite of the
aborigines on a sandy hill behind the golf
links, a mile from Lyndoch, South Australia.
This is a site of the type beloved of the
natives, for there is a view in every direction,
as well as a wide prospect across the valley
of the Para River.

We found a curious circular arrangement of
weathered sticks situated on an area of sand,
which, quite recently had been wind-blown
to a depth of about three feet. They were in a
closely spaced series, each stick about eighteen
inches long, standing slantwise in the ground,
in a circle. A series of loose ones were

resting on them on the outside of the circle.
testing by a_par-
erosion it

evident after
excavation, — that

It was

tal before

had been a round pit, filled with sand,
smaller in diameter at the bottom than at
the top. When newly made it had been
floored with crossed sticks and had been
lined with sticks around the walls. The
Hoor was covered with leaves, the decayed
remains being still in the pit. Stones had
been placed rather symmetrically around the
lip of the hole and were found lying where
they had been dropped when the wind had
removed the sand that had supported them.
The figure shows the probable appearance of
the pit when newly made.

No traces of bones survived in the pit. The
campsite has yielded few implements, the
only significant ones being rather poor adze
stones of the type often found on camps near
Adelaide, and correlated on general grounds

ee

May 15, 1940

with the Murundian culture of the Murray
River, as described by Hale and Tindale.?
The floor of the pit was covered with a
double layer of sticks at right angles, these
were enclosed in a square of sticks so chosen
and placed that they filled the circular floor
of the pit and made it level.

The sand below the floor of the pit appeared
to be undisturbed; nevertheless we dug down
to a depth of three feet, reaching a hard
bottom without finding anything to elucidate
the purpose of the pit.

We can only imagine that it is similar to
the stick and leaf-lined burial pits made by
the natives of the Wirangu tribe near Fowler

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

Page Twenty-five

Bay on the West Coast of South Australia,
which it resembles. No traces of bones exist,
so that, if this is the case, the burial could
only have been a temporary one. There are
many references to smoked and dried bodies
being carried from place to place before
being disposed of by burial at the birthplace
of the individual. Is this one a temporary
repository for such a relic?

REFERENCE CITED.
HALE, H. M., and TINDALE, N. B., Records
of the South Australian Museum, iv, 2,
1930, pp. 145-218.

The Flora of Mount Remarkable

J. B. CLELAND AND E. H. [SING

The following party of members made the
trip to Melrose and Mount Remarkable from
December 26 to 29, 1938:—Misses E. Har-
wood and D. Matthews, Prof. J. B. Cleland,
Messrs. W. A. Stow, L. C. Adcock, W. D.
Wade, T. G. Errey and E. H. Ising (leader).
Mount: Remarkable is a towering mass 3,178
feet above sea level and is a part of the
Flinders Range. Willochra Creek runs along
the southern end and passes by the township
of Melrose, which is at the base of the Mount.
Arriving at mid-afternoon, on the first day
the party explored the creek and collected
plants, including same swamp specimens.

A full day was taken to climb Mount Re-
markable. The Mount was approached from
the Wilmington side and the foothills were
climbed until a ridge was reached which
extended to the top main ridge. From that
point the summit was gained quite easily,
after five hours’ climbing. This entailed a
climb of 2,020 feet.. The Mount is clothed
with: vegetation, but has some patches of
scree (loose stones), which are devoid of
plant life. Gum trees (Eucalyptus spp.)
were very numerous, the chief species being
E. elaeophora with some E. cladocalyx (Sugar
Gum). Large and small shrubs were plenti-
ful. Not many plants were in flower, but
quite a number of identifications were pos-
sible. Lunch was partaken of at the cairn
at the summit, from where a wonderful view

was to be had. The descent was made over
the same route, which proved as tiring as
the ascent.

The second day was occupied by walking
along the Port Germein road and returning
down the Willochra Creek, in which were
some beautiful waterholes. Along this creek
the rare and dainty skullcap (Scutellaria
humilis) was found. In the afternoon the
local reserve was visited, where the rare
blue lily (Dianella laevis) was seen several
times. Passing through a forest of probably
Eucalyptus microcarpa, the party had an
experience with some bees and finally ob-
served some fine bushes of “Golden Shower,”
which were taken back to our hotel for
decorations.

The following very interesting plants were
found :—

1. Glycine tabacina Benth. In “The Flora
of South Australia,” by J. M. Black, the
author says that he had seen’no South Aus-
tralian specimen, but that it was recorded by
Mueller (“Flora Australiensis,” II, 1864,
244) from Crystal Brook and Rocky River.
Mueller lived in South Australia from 1848
to 1852, when he went to Victoria, so that
he collected his specimens at the latest in
1852. There is no record of this species
being found since that time until this trip,
when Prof. Cleland found specimens along

the bank of the Willochra: Creek. It is

Page Twenty-six THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

therefore 86 years between the two collec-
tions. It was not found in flower, but the
identification is reasonably certain from the
fruit which was obtained. Mueller’s localities
are also in the Mount Remarkable district.
This species is also found in all the States,
except Tasmania, and in New Caledonia, Fiji
and other Pacific islands.

2. Hovea longifolia var. lanceolata Benth.
This plant is only found on Mount Remark-
able, and was seen by the party on_ the
eastern slope. This species is one of a genus
which is noted, particularly in Western Aus-
tralia, for its handsome flowers, of a deep
blue colour. It was not in flower at the
time of our visit (nor was it in flower in
October, 1928). One of our party, Mr.
Wade, noticed that the bushes of this species
on the lower slopes had very few fruits,
but the fruits became more numerous _pro-
gressively as the summit was approached.
This variety was more common in Australia
than the type but strangely enough it does

May 15, 1940

not occur in Western Australia, which may
be regarded as the home of the genus.

3. Choretrum glomeratum var. chrysanthum
Benth. “Golden Shower” was coined by the
party for this splendid shrub and it proved
to be the gem of the excursion. It is a shrub
of about six feet in height with numerous
slender, sometimes drooping, branches with
nasses of small yellow flowers which cover
most of the plant. It presented a lovely
sight and brought forth admiration from all
who saw it. We were fortunate in seeing
this plant in its flowering stage, although
regrets ‘were expressed that no seed was
available for those desirous of cultivating it.
This yellow variety appears to be rare in
our State, although the type with white
flowers is more extensively known. The
variety is known from the Murray and
Avoca Desert (? Victoria) and Wheal Bar-
ton Mines (F. v. Mueller). The locality of

this Jast place is unknown.

A GROOVED STONE MACE-HEAD ?

During the Field Naturalists visit to Hallett
Cove on February 24, 1940, Mrs. R. W.
Edmeades found a curious implement made
from soft stone in the form of a gtooved
and polished axe-head. § What might be
presumed to be the cutting edge is exceed-
ingly blunt, and it is obvious that the stone
was never meant for chopping. Were it not

that no previous example of such a thing
has been recorded, we would unhesitatingly
regard it as a stone mace-head, such as might
be used for striking or hitting in warfare.
Examination of several other examples of
grooved axes in the South Australian Museum
collection, including one from Mount Gam-
bier and another from Cape Bridgewater, do
suggest the possibility that they may have
been used as a form of club-head.

It may be recalled that at Encounter Bay,
as recorded by Meyer in 1845, the Ramindjeri
people used a kaitjengl, an object made of
“two sticks about a foot or fifteen inches
long bound together with a stone between
them at one end, used for enchanting.” While
this description recalls that of an aboriginal
tomahawk, it seems likely that such objects
were not well known or used.

Mrs. Edmeades find constitutes the south-
westernmost example of an axe-like object
vet found in South Australia, and it has
heen kindly presented to the South Australian
Museum.

—N. B. Tindale.

May 15, 1940 THE

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN

NATURALIST Page Twenty-seven

The Flora of the Wudinna District, Eyre Peninsula

C. W. JOHNS

In the previous article published iin this
journal (Vol 19, No. 1), an account of the
therophytic and other species found in the
vicinity of rock outcrops was given. = In
the compilation of this second list an attempt
has been made to group species, as they
occur, in the habitats to which they appear to
favor in the hope that the list may be of
some value to ecological and other students
of our flora. The exact associations are,
however, difficult to define and this is due to
the fact that many minor variations in the
soil type occur in the vicinity of outcrops
leading to transition or mixed formations.
Another important factor is due to settle-
ment of the areas and subsequent biotic in-
fluences acting on the communities, resulting
in reversal of successions and movement of
associations. Species found on the soils of
better water relations such as_ soakages,
swamps and sandhills are given first. These
are followed by an account of those found
on drier areas.

I.—COMMUNITIES IN DRAINAGE
AREAS AND SOAKAGES FROM
GRANITE OUTCROPS (Continued)

Near tothe outcrops occur Helipterum Jes-
senti, Stenopetalum sphaerocarpum, Poly-
gonum plebeja (E.P.), Goodenia Havilandi
(E.P.), Notholaena Brownii (E.P.). Velleia
paradoxa, Pimelea simplex var. continua and
Erodium cygnorum. An associes of Caly-
thrix involucrata occupies the next zone with
the grasses Aristida arenaria, Amphipogon
strictus, Danthonia semiannularis, Lepturus
incurvatus, Stipa variabilis and S. eremo-
phila. The ephemeral element consists of
Blennedia brevipes, B. canescens, Ixiolaena
tomentosa, Angtanthus pusillus, Ceratogyne
obionoides and Mitrasacme paradoxa. Orchids
are represented by Pterostylis nana, Thely-
mitra aristata, Caladenia reticulata, C. dila-
tata and C. latifolia and Cyperaceae by
Lepidosperma laterale. On slightly deeper
red sandy soil and passing into the Calythrix
associes on one side and Melaleuca uncinata

on the other is usually a belt of Baeckea '

Behrii, with a slight undergrowth of epheme-

rals in winter and grasses in spring and
summer.

Among the grasses Microseris scapigera
grows. Little or no undergrowth is found
under Melaleuca uncinata when the growth
is dense. In the slight open spaces, how-
ever, Caladenia cardiochila (E.P.), C. fila-
mentosa var. tentaculata, Praspophyllum
nigricans and Pterostylis mutica have been
observed. Also the leaf mould surrounding
bushes is favored by Didiscus pusillus, D.
cyanopetalus, and D. ornatus. Should a
fire destroy the Broombush it has been noted
that large numbers of Calandrinia corrigio-
loides, Muehlenbeckia adpressa, Poranthera

microphylla (E.P.), and Ophioglossum
coriaceum germinate. The Melaleuca un-
cinata association passes into a_ transition

zone of mixed species to a Eucalyptus asso-
ciation.

I1—COMMUNITIES AND ASSOCIATIONS
ON HEAVIER, DEEP, SANDY SOILS,
RED IN COLOR AND CONTAINING

A FAIR AMOUNT OF CLAY.

Near the outcrops and fringing the same in
places, Eucalyptus odorata in mallee form
is present. Otherwise the dominant tree is
I. gracilis (Kong mallee) which grows to
comparatively large trees, providing a timber
which is white and resistant and used for
fencing and other purposes. It is a shallow-
rooted species, also grows on shallow red
clay soils over limestone where it sometimes
assumes a delicate pendulous habit. £.
oleosa is not so frequent in these heavy red
soils, but individual specimens occurring
reach large size, contrasting with the shrub
and whipstick forms of the drier areas. Its
timber is subject to the ravages of white ant,
but is useful for other purposes. Certain
varieties produce a timber which is not
favored by ants. EF. brachycalyx, rather
common, is of little use as timber, being soft
and weak. F. gracilis often, in these situa-
tions and in watercourses, approaches £,
calycogona in fruit and £. fasciculosa in
having large terminal panicles.. Undershrubs

Page Twenty-cight THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

are Acacia ligulata, A. Oswaldii, A. sclero-
phylla var. lissophylla, A. Merralliv, Pittos-
porum phillyreoides, Pimelea microcephala,
Geijera linearifolia, Alyxia buxifolia, Rha-
godia parabolica, R. Preissiti (E.P.), Cassia
eremophila var. platypoda, C. Sturtii and
Eremophila alternifolia (the last named three
being found also on flood plains). The open
formation of the above mallee permits a
prolific ground flora in winter and spring,
consisting of the following:—Helichrysum
Tepperi and Helipterum polygalifolium
(forming compact carpets of yellow and
white in spring), Cuphonotus antipodus (?)
and Phlegmatospermum sp., Goodenia pin-
natifida and G. pusilliflora. In summer,
grasses take possession. Stipa platychaeta
climbs up through shrubs to a height of up
to four feet. Beyeria Leschenaultii is com-
mon, and tussocks of Lomandra effusa may
be present, sometimes sheltering under its
sides in collected leaves, a plant of Heli-
chrysum leucopsidium.

On. the leeward south side of the Polda rock
there is a grey humus soil receiving a plenti-
ful supply of moisture from the rock. The
vegetation there is very dense and contains,
among species already mentioned, Eucalyptus
angulosa, Callitris glauca, Leptospermum
coriaceum, Bursaria spinosa, Acacia pycnan-
tha (?), Thryptomene Miqueliana, Exocar-
pus cupressiformis, Opercularia varia (E.P.),
Pomaderris racemosa, Eucarya acuminata,
Lasiopetalum Bauert. There is little under-
growth, but on occasional open‘spaces Cyno-
glossum australe var Drummondi: (E.P.).
Podosperma angustifolium, Thysanotus Pater-
sonit, Hydrocotyle rugulosa (E.P.), H.
pulifera (E.P.), Capsella pilosula, and
Stellaria filifermis occur. The above mixed
community earries a flora akin to those of
better rainfall areas.

The occurrence of rock debris and siliceous
soil near the outcrop is the habitat of
Dodonaea attenuata, Scaveola linearis, Dam-
piera lanceolata, Rhagodia nutans, Goodenia
robusta, Swainsona microphylla, Casuarina
cristata. Hakea leucoptera and var. Kip-
pistiana, Muehlenbeckia adpressa and M.
diclina (E.P.), (the latter rare). Acacia
calamifolia var. euthycarpa is sometimes
dominant.

I1I.—SANDHILL FLORA.
Soil type here consists usually of a mulch
of loose grey sand varying from six inches to
one foot in depth, overlying a yellow clay.

May 15, 1940

Water retention is good, the soil is cool in
summer.. These miniature hills are of un-
rivalled beauty in spring with a wealth of
gold, blue and white flowers intermingled
with the vivid green and plumes of tussocks
of spinifex and swordrush.

Many species already noted as occurring on
the moist slopes of outcrops, are also found
on sandhills. These situations appear to
form the only suitable remaining habitat for
the “refuge” southern species, in the drier
areas.

The chief shrubs are Eucalyptus dumosa, E.
transcontinentalis, E, conglobata var. anceps,
E. angulosa, FE. leptophylla, Callitris verru-
cosa (E.P.), Hakea multilineata, Grevillea
pterosperma, G. vittata, Acacia farinosa, A.
acanthoclada (E.P.), A. rigens, A. spinescens.
Cryptandra amara var. longiflora (E.P.),
Spyridium bifidum, S. coactiliferum, Daviesia
brevifolia, Eutaxia microphylla, Bossiaea
Walkeri (E.P.), Baeckea crassifolia, Bertya
Mitchellti (E.P.), Boronia inornata, B. caeru-
lescens, Phebalium bullatum, Billardiera
cymosa-—as a twirer or bush. Dicrastylis
verticillata (E.P.), Eremophila glabra var.
viridiflora, Hybanthus floribundus, Hibber-
tia virgata var. crassifolia, Hibiscus Pinoni-
anus var. Drummondit, H. Farraget (E.P.),
Leucopogon cordifolius, Prostanthera chlor-
antha (E.P.), Olearia ramulosa, O. micro-
disca (E.P.), O. Muelleri, O. pimeleoides, O.
decurrens, O. ciliata, O. floribunda, Helichry-
sum retusum, H. apiculatum, H. Haighii,
Anthocercis myosotidea, Solanum coactilt-
ferum, Comesperma scoparium, Pimelea
micrantha, Goodenia varia, G. affinis, Hal-
gania cyanea, Lobelia gibbosa, Calotis cym-
bacantha, Convolvulus erubescens, Erech-
thites ptcridtoides, Senecio brachyglossus, S.
lautus, Podolepis capillaris, Waitzia acumin-
ata, Velleia connata (E.P.), V. paradoxa.
Grasses are represented by Triodia lanata, a
porcupine grass, gregarious in habit in drift,
but spreading in circular patches with dead
centres in sheltered positions under bushes.
Dianella revoluta, Lomandra glauca, L. leu-
cocephala, Tricoryne elatior, Lepidosperma
concavum, L. congestum and other Cypera-
ceae.

IV.—PORCUPINE OUTCROPS OF RED
IRONSTONE SOILS OVER TRAVERTINE
LIMESTONE.

The dominant in this community is Triodia

irritans, Melaleuca acuminata, Dodonaea
hexandra, Microcybe pauciflora, M. multi-

May 15, 1940

flora, Calythrix tetragona and Cryptandra
amara (I.P.), are scattered shrubs. Thysa-
notus dichotomus (often growing up through
Triodia tussocks), Minuria leptophylla and
Gahnia lanigera are common.

The heavy timbered scrub adjoining outcrops
merges into that of the surrounding plains
dominated by the Eucalyptus oleosa, E.
gracilis association. The soil varying be-
tween light cocoa color over limestone rubble
and dark chocolate of an alluvial nature.
In open spaces in this association the fol-
lowing species occur:—Melaleuca pubescens
(either in dense societies on a flood plain or
as scattered bushes), Myoporum platycar-
pum, Dodonaea stenozyga, D. bursarifolia,
Westringia rigida, Halgania lavandulacea,
Eremophila Weldii, E. scoparia, E, glabra,
Myoporum deserti, Cratystylis conocephala,
Atriplex stipitatum, Clematis microphylla,
Cassytha pubescens, Loranthus miraculosus
(parasitic on Melaleuca pubescens bushes),
Kochia triptera var. pentaptera, Trichinium
seminudum and annuals. In this drier
country away from outcrops, monospecific
communities of Acacia calamifolia var.
euthycarpa, Acacia colletioides, Dodonaea
attenuata and Casuarina pusilla are found
in local swamps similar to those of Central
Australia.

Country consisting of plains of broken lime-
stone and white sandy soil carries many
plants of the steppe formation, viz., Zygo-
phyllum fruticulosum, Z. apiculatum, Z.
Billardieri, Z. glaucescens, Z. ovatum, Z.
ammophilum (chiefly under open mallee),
Atriplex crassipes, Chenopodium desertorum,
Bassia uniflora, B. sclerolaenoides, B. parvi-
flora, B. obliquicuspis, Kochia brevifolia, K.
tomentosa and var. appressa, K. crassiloba

(E.P.), and Salsola Kali.

V.—SALT LAKE VEGETATION, SOUTH
OF WUDINNA.

Near the water level Arthroenemum haloc-

nemoides and Salicornia australis are present.

Many ephemerals grow on favorable slopes

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

Page Twenty-nine

leading to the lake. Calandrinia volubilis
has been noted attaining large dimensions
and becoming very succulent. Many plants
found around rock outcrops are present,
such as Geococcus pusillus (E.P.), H'ymeno-
lobus procumbens, Cotula australis, Ranun-
culus parviflorus, Frankenia pauciflora, and
F. fruticulosum appear on other slopes.
Beyond this zone Alériplex paludosum, A.
cinereum, Threlkeldia diffusa, T. salsuginosa,
Hemichroa diandra and Tetragonia eremaea
exist in scattered form. If the lake adjoins
a sandhill, the immediate sand is bounded by
Darwinia micropetala, backed up by a zone
of Melaleuca uncinata and M. halmaturorum.
The sandhill itself carries a scrub type of
Eucalyptus oleosa and E. leptophylla mallee,
which develop exceptionally large gnarled
trunks clothed with large quantities of strips
of bark. Fruiting capsules are rarely seen
on these trees. The Quondong assumes a
weeping habit. The undershrubs are Acacia
rigens, A. farinosa, Hakea ulicina, Beyeria
opaca (E.P.), and Homoranthus Wilhelmii.

VI.—LIST OF SPECIES OF FACULTA-
TIVE PLANTS, Ete.

These are found in many different types of
soil and situations, but remain apparently
an overflow from other communities.
Chenopodium pumilio (E.P.), Ch. cristatum,
Alyssum linifolium, Stenopetalum lineare,
Brachycome ciliaris, Calotis hispidula, Vit-
tadinia triloba, FErechthites quadridentata,
Gnaphalium japonicum, G. luteoalbum, Heli-
chrysum bracteatum, Athrixia tenella, An-
gianthus tomentosus, Pelargonium australe,
Goodenia pinnatifida, Stipa variabilis, S.
cremophila, Acacia notabilis, Teucrium ses-
siliflorum, Eremophila crasstfolia, Comes per-
ma volubile, Parietaria debtlis var. australis
—a shade plant; Urtica urens, Daucus glochi-
diaius, Gnephosis skirrophora, Enchylaena
tomentosa, Craspedia pleiocephala, Euphor-
bia Drummondii.
Those marked (E.P.) are species not pre-
viously recorded for Eyre Peninsula.

LUMINESCENCE

During February, 1940, I noted a large area of
the sea near the shore at Glenelg literally
dotted with mobile pale green lights each
about the size of a finger nail. The sea was
calm and warm, and there was no moon. [|
attempted to gather some of the creatures
responsible for these lights, but without suc-
cess. I then noted a similar light in a

IN OSTRACODS

piece of seaweed which had been washed up
by the now receding tide. | gathered it up
carefully and examined the weed with the
aid of a torch. The creature producing the
light was not more than 1/16th inch long,
and in appearance not unlike a minute mol-
luscan bivalve shell. This proved to be an
Ostracod (class Crustacea).—H. T. Condon.

Page Thirty THE

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

May 15, 1940

List of Plants Near Melrose

(MOUNT REMARKABLE)

By

E. H. ISING AND J. B. CLELAND

The following list of plants within walking
distance of Melrose has been compiled as a
result of several visits, the last, that of the
Field Naturalists’ Section, in December,
1938. The list cannot be considered as in
any way complete, but merely as a basis to
which additions can be made from time to
time. The number of species recorded is
239, of which 50 are introduced. Mr. J. M.
Black has kindly identified a number of
species for us, and Dr. R. 5. Rogers has
supplied us with a list of the orchids. An
asterisk * indicates an introduced species.
Filicales:—Cheilanthes tenuifolia Swartz;
Notholaena Brownti Desv.; Gymno-
gramme leptophylla (L.) Desv.; Pleuro-
sorus rutifolius (R.Br.) Fee.
Pinaceae:—Callitris glauca R.Br.,
Pine; C. propingqua R.Br.
Typhaceae:—Typha angustifolia L., Bulrush.
Gramineae:—Andropogon exaltatus R.Br. L.,
Scent-grass (narrow-leaf form); Theme-

Native

da triandra Forsk., Kangaroo-grass;
Digitaria Brownit (R. et S.) Hughes;
Paspalidium gracile (R.Br.) Hughes

(railway line); Panicum effusum R.Br.;
*Phalaris minor Retz; Aristida Behriana
F.v.M.; Stipa variabilis Hughes; Oryzop-
sis miliacea (L.) Aeschers et Schweinf.,
Many-flowered Millet-grass; Polypogon
mons peliensis Desf., Beard-grass; Agros-
tis verticillata Vill.; Calamagrostis fili-
formis (Forst.) Pilger, Blown Grass;
* Avena fatua L., Wild Oat; *A. barbata
Brot., Bearded Oat; Danthonia semian-
nularis (Labill.) R.Br.; Pappophorum
nigricans R.Br., Black Heads; Triodia
sp., Porcupine Grass; *Briza minor L.,
Lesser Quaking-grass; Poa caespitosa
Forst.; * Bromus villosus Forst., (= B.
maximus Desf.), Great Brome; *B. mad-
ritensis L., Madrid Brome; Cynodon
dactylon Rich., Couch-grass; Chloris act-
cularis Lindl., Spider Grass (railway
line); *Lolium sp.; Agropyrum scabrum
(Labill.) Beauv.; *Hordeum murinum
L., Barley-grass.

Cyperaceae:—Cyperus — vaginatus — R.Br.;
Schoenus apogon Roem. et Sch:; Seir-
pus cernuus Vahl.; S. americanus Pers.;

S. littoralis Schrad.; Cladium articula-
tum R.Br.; Lepidosperma concavum,
R.Br, (or L. laterale R.Br.) ; L. visctdum
R.Br.; first record for north; Carex ap-
pressa R.Br.

Juncacae:—Juncus bufonius L., Toad Rush;
J. pauctflorus R.Br.; Luzula campestris
D.C. Field Woodrush.

Liliaceae:—Dianella revoluta R.Br.; D. lae-
vis R.Br.; Anguillaria dioica R.Br.; Lo-
mandra dura (F.v.M.) Ewart; JL. fili-
formis (Thunb.) J. Britten, slopes of Mt.
Remarkable; Thysanotus Patersonii
R.Br.; Bulbine bulbosa (R.Br.) Haw.;
Xanthorrhoea quadrangulata F.v.M.

Amaryllidaceae:—Hypoxis pustlla Hook.f;
Calostemmaz purpureum R.Br.

Orchidaceae (mostly identified by Dr. R. S.
Rogers) :—Microtis sp. (not in flower) ;
Prasophyllum sp.; Acianthus exsertus
R.Br.; Caladenia filameniosa R.Br., var.
tentaculata Tate; C. deformis R.Br.;
Diuris sp.; Pterostylis nana R.Br.; Pt.
longifolia R.Br.; Pt. vittata Lindl.

Casuarinaceae:—Casuarina stricta Ait.

Urticaceae:—Parietaria debilis G. Forst.

Proteaceae:—Hakea ulicina R.Br.; Grevillea
lavandulacea Schl. (rather _ prickly,
leaves narrow).

Santalaceae:—Exocarpus cupressiformis La-
bill; Choretrum glomeratum R.Br. var.
chrysanthum Benth; Eucarya acuminata
R.Br., Native Peach.

Loranthaceae:—Loranthus Miquelii
on Eucalyptus microcar pa.

Lehm.

Polygonaceae:—Rumex pulcher L., Fiddle
Dock; R. Brownit Campd.; *R. crispus
L., Curled Dock; *Polygonum aviculare
L., Wireweed.

Chenopodiaceae:—Rhagodia nutans R.Br.;
Chenopodium carinatum R.Br., Keeled
Goosefoot; *Ch. murale L., Nettle-leaved
Goosefoot; Atriplex Muelleri Benth.; A.
campanulatum Benth.; Kochia Georget
Diels.; K. crassiloba R. H. Anders;
Salsola Kali L., Roly Poly; Enchylaena
tomentosa R.Br., Ruby Saltbush.

Amarantaceae:—T richinium spathulatum

R.Br.

May 15, 1940

Nyctaginaceae:—Boerhavia diffusa L.
Portulacaceae:—Calandrinia sp.
Caryophyllaceae:—S pergularia rubra (L.) J.
et C. Presl.; Tunica prolifera (L.) Scop.,
Proliferous Pink (in the Reserve at Mel-
rose); *Silene nocturna L.; *S. gallica
L., French Catchfly.
Ranunculaceae:—Clematis microphylla DC.,
Ranunculus lappaceus Sm., Buttercup;
R. parviflorus L.; *R. muricatus L.
Lauraceae:—Cassytha pubescens R.Br.
Papaveraceae:—Papaver hybridum L., Rough
Poppy; *Fumaria capreolata L.
Cructferae:—* Nasturtium officinale R.Br.,
Watercress; *Sisymbrium officinale L.,
Hedge Mustard; *S. erysimoides; *S.
orientale L., Wild Mustard; Lepidium
hyssopifolium Desv.
Droseraceae:—Drosera Planchonii Hook.{.;
D. auriculata Backh.

Crassulaceae :— Crassula Steberiana
(Schultes) Ostenf.
Pittosporaceae:—Bursaria spinosa Cav.,

Native Box; Billardiera cymosa F.v.M.
Rosaceae:—* Rosa canina L., Dog Rose;

Acaena ovina A, Cunn.

Leguminosae:—Acacia spinescens Benth.; A.
pycnantha Benth., Golden Wattle; A.
verticillata (L’Her.) Willd. (with galls
of Uromycladium—summit of Mt. Re-
markable); Daviesia corymbosa 3Sm.;
D. genistifolia A. Cunn.; Eutaxia micro-
phylla (R.Br.) J. M. Black; Pultenaea
graveolens Tate var. glabrescens J. M.
Black (slopes of Mt. Remarkable); P.
largiflorens F.v.M.; Hovea longifolia
R.Br. var. lanceolata Benth.; *Trifolium
procumbens L., Hop Clover; *Medicago
sativa L., Lucern; *M. denticulata
Willd., Toothed Medic; Lotus australis
Andr.; Indigofera australis Willd-; Pso-
ralea patens Lindl.; Kennedya prostrata
R.Br., Scarlet Runner; Hardenbergia
monophylla (Vent.) Benth., Native Lilac;
Glycine clandestina Wendl.; G. tabacina
(Labill.) Benth.

Geraniacete:—Geranium pilosum Forst var.
australis Ostenf.; Krodium eygnorum
Nees,

Oxalidaceae:—Oxalis
cernua Thunb.

corniculata L.; *0O.

Euphorbiaceae:—Phyllanthus saxosus F.v.M.;
* Ricinus communis L., Castor Oil Plant;
Euphorbia Drummondit Boiss.; Beyeria
Lesehenaultit (DC.) Baill. var. resmari-

noides Baill.

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

Page Thirty-one

Stackhousiaceae:—Stackhousia
Labill.

Sapindaceae:—-Dodonaea
attenuata A, Cunn.

Rhamnaceae:—Pomaderris racemosa Hook.;
Spyridium parvifolium (Hook.) F.v.M.;
Cryptandra sp.

Malvaceae :—* Malva parviflora L.; Sida cor-
rugata Lindl.; Hibiscus Huegelit Endl.

Dilleniaceae:—Hibbertia acicularis (Labill.)
F.v.M. var. sessiliflora J. M. Black.

Guttiferae:—Hypericum gramineum Forst. f.

Violaceae:—Hybanthus floribundus (Lindl.)
F.v.M.; Hymenanthera angustifolia
R.Br., amongst loose rocks on the lower
slopes of Mt. Remarkable, westwards of
Melrose.

Thymeleaceae:—Pimelea stricta Meisn.; P.
petrophila ¥.v.M.

Lythraceae:—Lythrum
Lesser Loosestrife.

Myrtaceae:—Callistemon teretifolius F.v.M.;
Eucalyptus odorata Behr. et Schlechtd.,
plains and foothills; E. microcarpa
Maiden, foothills; 2. albens Miq., White
Box, foothills; ££. eladocalyx F.v.M.,
Sugar Gum; E. rosirata Schlechtd., Red
Gum, creeks; £. elaeophora ¥.v.M., Bas-
tard Box, upper slopes; FE. lewcoxylon
F.v.M., Blue Gum; Calythrix tetragona
Labill.

Oenotheraceae:—E pilobium junceum Sol.

Halorrhagidaceae:—Halorrhagis elata A.
Cunn.

Umbelliferae:—Hydrocotyle laxiflora DC.

E pacridaceae:—Astroloma humifusum (Cav.)
R.Br. and var. denticulatum (R.Br.) J.
M. Black, Native Cranberry-plants up-
right.

Primulaceae:—* Anagallis arvensis L., Scar-
let Pimpernel; *A. femina Mill., Blue
Pimpernel.

Oleaceae:—* Olea europaea \.., Olive.

(Labill.)

monogyna

viscosa L.; Dz

Hyssopifolia L.,

Loganiaceae:—Logania vaginalis
F.v.M.

Centianaceae:—Erythraea Centaurium Pers.,
Common Centaury.

Convolvulaceae:——Convolvulus erubescens
Sims; Dichondra repens Forst et f.

Borraginaceae:—Heliotropium europaeum
L.; *Echium planiagineum L., Salvation
Jane.

Labiatae:—A juga australis
*Marrubium vulgare L. Horehound;
*Salvia Verbenacea L., Wild Sage;
Scutellaria humilis R.Br., along the

R.Br., Bugle;

Page Thirty-two

creek bed, first record for the Northern
District.

Solanaceae:—Solanum nigrum L., Black
Nightshade; S. simile, F.v.M.; S. cine-
reum F.v.M.; Lycium australe F.v.M.,
Australian Boxthorn; *L. ferocissimum
Miers., African Boxthorn; * Datura metel

L.; Nicotiana velutina Wheeler; *N.
glauca Grah., Tree Tobacco.
Scrophulariaceae:—*Linaria EL latine | (L.)

Mill. var. lasiopoda Vis., Pointed Toad-

flax; Veronica decorosa F.v.M.

Myoporaceae:—Myoporum montanum R.Br.,
leaves to 16 mm. wide; M. viscosum

R.Br.
Plantaginaceae:—Plantago varia R.Br.

Rubiaceae:—Opercularia turpis F-.v.M.;
Pomax umbellata Sol.; Galium Gaudi-
chaudii DC.

Cucurbitaceae:—* Cucumis myrtocar pus

Naud., Paddy Melon.

Cam panulaceae:—Wahlenbergia sp.; Lobelia
anceps Thunb.; Isotoma petraea F.v.M.

Goodeniaceae:—Goodenia affinis De Vriese:
G. robusta (Benth.) Krause; G. ovata
Sm.; G. amplexans F.v.M.; G. albiflora

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN

NATURALIST May 15, 1940
Sehl.; G...pinnatifida Schl. (?)3. Dam-
piera lavandulacea Lindl.

Compositac:—Vittadinia triloba (Gaudich.)
DC.; Olearia pannosa Hook.; *Xanthium
spinosum L., Bathurst Burr; Cotula
coronopifolia L.; Erechthites quadriden-
tata (Labill.) DC.; Senecio odoratus
Hornem; Cymbonotus Lawsonianus
Gaudich.; *Cryptostemma calendulaceum
(L.) R.Br., Cape Dandelion; Gnapha-

lium luteo-album L.; Cassinia laevis

R.Br.; C. complanata, J. M. Black;
ixiolaena tomentosa Sond. et F.v.M.;
Helichrysum leucopsidium DC.; H.

apiculatum (Labill.) DC.; H. semipap-
posum (Labill.) DC.; H. retusum Sond.
et F.v.M.; Leptorrhynchus sp.; *Inula
graveolens (L.) Desf., Stinkwort; Caloce-
phalus citreus Less.; Craspedia unflora
Forst., Bachelor’s Button; C. globosa
Benth., a handsome plant with large
round heads; *Cirsium lanceolatum (L.)
Scop., Spear Thistle; *Carduus tenui-
florus Curtis, Slender Thistle; *Sily-
bum Marianum (L.) Gaertn., Milk
Thistle; *Centaurea melitensis (L.) Mal-
tese Cockspur; *Carthamus lanatus L.,
Woolly Star Thistle; Microseris scapi-
gera (Forst. f.) Schult#-Bip.; *Hypo-
chocris radicata L., Rooted Cat’s-ear;
*H. glabra, Glabrous Cat’s-ear; “Son-
chus oleraceus L., Sow-Thistle; *S. asper

Hill, Prickly Sow-Thistle.

LIST OF SHELLS COLLECTED AT
MELROSE.
By
MISS D. MATTHEWS.

Fresh water, Willochra Creek.
l. Amerianna subundata,
2. Lymnaea subaquatilis.
3. Sphaerium tatiarae
4. Isodorella newcombi
5. Potamopyrgus gunni

Land Shell:—

1. Meracomelon rufofasciatum.

These are the first records for the district,

SKELETONS AT BRENDA STATION.

Mr. 5. Wilcox recently drew the attention of
the Museum authorities to the presence on
Section 228, Hundred of Eba, on his pro-
perty, of a native burial ground. Mr. N.
B. Tindale visited the site and, on the bank
of the Murray River, at a point due east of
Brenda homestead, found three burials,
probably of a man, an aged woman and a
young child. The bodies were lying in the
straight out position with the head directed
to the west. The adults were lying on their
left sides, and the child on its right. Closely
associated with the remains were the buried
remains of no fewer than five native dogs,
a feature which has not previously been
noticed in burials along the River Murray.

May 15, 1940 THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST iii

The Field Naturalists’ Section

EXCURSIONS

1940

May 25—Morialta Tram, 2 p.m. Eeology of Res. Prof. J. B. Cleland

June 1—Museum Entrance, 2 p.m. Lecturettes Various
10—Roseworthy College, 9 am. Motor (4/6) Agriculture Dr. A. R. Callaghan
15—Henley to Glenelg Tram, 1.30 p.m. Intertidal Life Mr. G. Pattison
29—National Park Train, 1.14 p.m. Foliage Mr. E. H. Ising

July 183—Semaphore to Grange Train, 1.10 p.m. Marine Life Miss D. M. Matthews
23—-Zoological Gardens Gates, 2 p.m. Zoology Mr, R. R. Minchin

Aug. 3—Anstey’s Hill (1.45 pm.) Motor (&/-) Physiography Dr. C, Fenner
10—Outer Harbor Train, 1.10 p.m. Mud Flat Life Mrs. L. E. Elliott
24—Black Hill (1.45 p.m.) Motor (1/9) Foothills Flora Mr, W. A. Stow
31—Kingston Park Reserve Train, 1.11 pm. Shrubs & Plants Prof. J. B. Cleland

TRAM EXCURSIONS—Meet in Grenfell Street by T. & G. Building.

TRAIN EXCURSIONS.—Will members obtain their tickets and meet on the train.

MOTOR EXCURSIONS.—Meet at the Town Hall, Adelaide. Bookings close with the Secretary or
the Treasurer three days before excursion, and seats will be allotted in order of priority.

EVENING MEETINGS

1940. July 16—Microscope Evening ..... Mr. J. D. O. Wilson

May 21—“The Aborigines” .... .... Mr. N. B. Tindale “The Micro Lepidoptera.”

Aug. 20—-Annual Meeting.
June 18—The Malacological Society Evening. “How Soils Determine the Distribution of
CHAPMAN wee veces cerns see Mrs. L. E, Elliott Plant Life? wu. 20. ... Prof. J. A. Prescott

MALACOLOGICAL SOCIETY: Evening Meetings

1940, ' July 1—Life of the Ocean, Miss D, M. Matthews

May 6—-Common Minute Gastropods, Mr. B. C. 15—-Apertures of Gastropods, Mr. F. K. God-
Cotton " frey

7D Morden Road, Marden, Wins lL. . ENR Ang. 5° Amif@al: Memiinge si s. s Exhibit Night

June 8—Anthochiton Species, Mr. W. M. Nielsen 19—Some Attractive Foreign Shells, Mr. W.

17—Shells Studies ww. wu. u. Mrs. G. Edmeades Tucker

iv

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

FIELD NATURALISTS’ SECTION OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY.

Publications of the Section.

PUBLICATION No. 1.
The National Parks of Australia, by Wm. H. Selway.
(Out of print.)

PUBLICATION No. 2. “
Geological and Botanical Notes on the Victor Harbour District,
by
Prof. J. B. Cleland, M.D., and Prof. Walter Howchin, F.G.S.
Price 1/-.

PUBLICATION No. 3.
Botany and Geology of Coast from Outer Harbour to Sellick’s Beach,
by
Prof. J. B. Cleland, M.D., and C. Fenner, D.Sc.
Price 1/6.

PUBLICATION No. 4.
NATIONAL PARK.
Price 1/6.
“THE TOOLACH WALLABY FILM.”

Being a record of the last known living specimen of the Toolach wallaby (Macropus
greyii) now in captivity. Copies available. Price £4.

MALACOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

PUBLICATION No. 1.
“A SYSTEMATIC LIST OF SOUTH AUSTRALIAN GASTROPODA.”
By Bernard C. Cotton and Frank K. Godfrey.
Price 1/6.

WESLEY M. NIELSEN,
Hon. Secretary,

C/o Royal Society’s Rooms, North Terrace, Adelaide.

Obtainable at Rigby Ltd., 16 Grenfell Street, Adelaide, S.A.

E, 3. MeAlister & Co., Printers, 24 Blyth Street, Adelaide,

May 15, 1940

CONTENTS

SHELL MONEY
FROM PAPUA

VASCULAR PLANTS

LITTLE KNOWN
BIRDS

KANGAROO ISLAND
LAND SHELLS

REJUVENATION
AFTER BUSHFIRE

ORCHID NOTES

BLACK-THROATED WHIPBIRD

Western Australian sub-species above,
Eastern Australian sub-species below.

VOLUME 20, No. 3. The South Australian

“mmo NATURALIST

Ropisiered at the G.P-0., JOURNAL OF THE FIELD NATURALISTS’ SECTION OF THE

eats os poe tynnsinission ROYAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.
through the post as a
periodical. Price: One Shilling.

if THE

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN

NATURALIST September 30, 1940

The Field Naturalists’ Section

of The Royal Society of South Australia

OFFICE-BEARERS,
LADY MURIEL BARCLAY-HARVEY.
H. GREAVES, Esq.

Patron:

Chairman:

1940-41,

Vice-Chairmen: DR. M. SCHNEIDER and MR. B. C. COTTON.

Hon. Secretary: Mr. W. M. NIELSEN.
(Phone C.8845)

Hon. Treasurer:

Miss M. EMERSON,
c/o W.E.A.. University, Adelaide.

*Phone: C.3855.

Hon. Librarian: Miss D. M. MATTHEWS.

Hon. Magazine Secretary:

Mr. A. K. BEASLEY.

Hon. Auditors: Messrs. W. D. REED, F.C.P.A., and B. B. Beck.

Hon Editor S.A. Naturalist:

Mr. A. MOLINEUX.

Committee:

The PRESIDENT and VICE-PRESIDENTS of the Royal Society of South Australia
(ex officio), Professor J. B. CLELAND, Dr. M. T. WINKLER, Messrs. A. J. WILEY,

A. J. MORISON, A. K. NEWBERY, J. FERRIES, Mrs. A.

R. ALTMANN, Miss

A. ADCOCK.

Herbarium Committee:

Professor J.
NIELSEN, Misses C.

B. CLELAND, Dr. M. T. WINKLER, Messrs. W. D. WADE, W. M.
M. EARDLEY and J. STOKES.

No special knowledge necessary to become a member,

only a keen interest in Nature.

in 1883 for the purpose of
alfording observers and lovers of Natural History regular
and frequent opportunities for discussing those special sub-~
jects in which they are naturally interested; for the Ex.
hibition of Specimens; and for promoting Observations in

THIS Section was founded

the Tield by means of Excursions to various collecting
grounds around the Metropolis.
THE MONTHLY MEETINGS of the Section for Lectures,

the Reading of Papers, and Exhibition of Specimens are held
on the third Tuesday, at 8 p.m., at the Royal Society’s Rooms,
Institute Buildings, North Terrace, Adelaide.

MEMBERS are invite their friends to these

Monthly. Meetings.

requested to

VISITORS CORDIALLY INVITED.

THE ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION (7/6) dates from August
1, and can he sent to Mr. EK. H. Ising, Railway. Station,
Adelaide,

MEMBERS are urged to take Receptacles for the carrying
of Specimens. At each outing every member is expeeted to
collect Specimens wherever possible, and to hand them to the
Leader for identification, ete.

EXCURSIONS. For meeting places, see particulars inside
back cover. Members desirous of

attending motor excur-
sions should advise the Hon. Secretary at least three days
before the outing, to enable sufficient accommodation to be

provided,

THE
Royal
Adelaide.

HON. SECRETARY. All
Society's Rooms, Institute
Letters will ke collected

letters to be addressed c/o
Buildings, North Terrace,
regularly.

F.N.S. HERBARIUM. The Herbarium is kept in the Botany
Department of the University, and is open to members. Mr.
E. H. Ising (Hon. Seeretary).

“THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST.” The Journal
of the Section, Editor, Mr. A, Molineux, 31 Coorara Avenue,
South Payneham. Free to members, Exchanges may be ar-
ranged. Extra ccpies, 1/- each.

Page Thirty-Four

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN

NATURALIST September 30, 1940

Shell Money on Rossel Island, Papua

By

H. K. BARTLETT

This paper deals in a brief way with the
monetary system of the people of Rossel
Island, one of the thirty inhabited islands of
the Louisiade Archipelago, off the south-east
coast of New Guinea.

There is a system of wealth exchange amongst
the people of Misima and Panaeati. Wealth
consists of green-stone axes and strings of
“beads.” The former are known as “Aba-
raga’ and the latter as “Bagi.” Both are
used in the purchase of canoes, pigs, etc.
A good canoe will probably be valued at
from 40 to 50 “axes,” each of which is valued
to-day at from £2 to £5, according to the
size of the “axe” and the quality of the
stone. The “Bagi” is often exchanged be-
tween the parents of a couple on their wed-
ding day. The “Bagi” is made of small
discs cut from the red Spondylus shell.

Armstrong says: “They are systematically
inter-related as regards value, and any com-
modity or service may be more or less directly
priced in terms of them.”

Ndap, of which there are 22 main values, is
made from what appear to have been Spon-
dylus shells. Each piece of shell currency is
roughly triangular in shape, and a small
hole is usually bored at one corner. The
shell is said to have come from Yongga Bay,
on the western end of the island, and to be
made from a large bivalve, which is sup-
posed to be plentiful in that bay. The
waters from which the original shell was
taken (according to legend) are strictly
“taboo,” natives firmly believing that any-
one diving into the sea at the spot would be
afflicted with a disease that would cause his
head to become like a coconut, and death

Ndap shell money from Rossel Island ( specimens A. 19919-21 in S.A. Museum).

Strings of it are valued at £1 per foot, and
a full length usually measures 6 feet. These
forms of wealth can scarcely be termed
“money.”

At Rossel Island, however, there appears to
he a definite monetary system. It has al-
ready been well studied by W. E. Arm-

strong.?
There are two types of shell money, of which

(1) Armstrong, W. E., 1928, Rossel Island, Cambridge.

would follow. The “priest” of the tabu
spot is able to remove the sickness on the
payment of certain “money,” but the tabu
is so feared that | do not think that a Rossel
Islander would live if he even by accident
fell into the water. In Dyindyo village
(Dec. 15, 1938) I saw a shell which was
new to me. It was a large Spondylus, about
6 inches long and 4 inches wide. It was
a “dead” shell, worm eaten, and heavily
coated with lime. Natives told me that it

September 30, 1940 THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN
“The South Australian Naturalist,” c/o
Royal Society Rooms, North Terrace, Ade-

laide.

Editorial

The Malacological Society of South Austra-
lia will shortly publish a second part of the
“Systematic List” of the Mollusca of South
Australia. This will cover the Scaphopoda
(Tusk Shells), Cephalopoda (Octopus,
Squids), Pelecypoda (Cockles), and Crepi-
poda (Chitons), thus finishing the first com-
plete list of South Australian Mollusca.

A popular account of common “Sea Shore
Shells” of South Australia is ‘being pre-
pared, and will probably appear in the next
issue of this publication. Some seventy-five
pen-drawings illustrate the article and both
popular and scientific names given.

Mr. Gregory M. Mathews, C.B.E., one of the
world’s leading ornithologists and an eminent
authority on Australian birds, visited Ade-
laide during August and September. He
conferred with Mr. H. T. Condon, State Sec-
retary of the Roya! Australian Ornithologists
Union, on important aspects of Australian
ornithology. He also examined many
private collections of bird skins as well as
those of the State collection.

Mr. N. B. Tindale and other members of the
South Australian Museum staff have deve-
loped the Egyptian collections as part of the
scheme to reorganise the Museum on more
modern lines. The Egyptian specimens are
now displayed on the second floor of the
Eastern Wing.

The room has been decorated with murals by
Mr. H. T. Condon depicting the creation
myths of the Egyptians. Nuit, the sky
goddess, is raised by Shu to form the heavens
and Sibu, the earth, bewails his lost bride.

Among the principal exhibits of the collection
is the mummy and coffin of Renpit Nefert, a

NATURALIST Page Thirty-Three
wealthy woman of Akhmin, who died about
500 B.C. Other exhibits reveal the con-
tinuity of Egyptian history from the period of
the Badarians (about 8000 B.C.) until
modern times.

Prominent in the collection are examples of
cloths and fabrics, principally from the
period of the Ptolemys and from Coptic times.
The earliest specimen in the collection is a
Solutrean type implement from the Western
Desert in Libya, which probably dates back
to the middle of the Pleistocene and the more
recent examples include relics of the Greek
occupation of Egypt in the first century of the
present era. Replicas of basalt statues of
early kings and queens have been effectively
colored by Mr. A. Hay to simulate their
original splendor.

We are looking forward to the appearance of
the descriptive booklet mow in course of
preparation by Messrs. Tindale and Condon
explaining the exhibits.

Our Herbarium is now safely housed in a
suitable room at the S.A. Museum. The
recently elected Herbarium Committee will
shortly start work on the arrangement of this
collection, and additional material is ex-
pected shortly from various sources.

A named display of native wildflowers,
situated near the entrance to the Museum, is
now a regular feature.

Mr. G. P. Whitley’s excellent new book, “The
Fishes of Australia, Part 1, Sharks, Rays,
and Other Primitive Fishes of Australia and
New Zealand,” sets a still higher standard in
Australian zoological literature. The author is
Ichthyologist at the Australian Museum and,
as the Victorian “Naturalist” quotes: “Aus-
tralia’s foremost scientific worker of to-day
amongst fishes.” The book makes pleasant
reading, interspersed as it is with flashes of
rare humor amongst the comprehensive accu-
mulation of information—a book for the lay-
man as well as the scientist!

Back numbers of ‘The South Australian
Naturalist” are getting scarce. If any mem-
ber has copies to spare, the Magazine Secre-
tary will be pleased to have them,

September 30, 1940 THE
was known to them as “ndyile,” from which
the ndap and nko are made . one valve
being use for ndap, and the other for nko.
The value of ndap appears to be determined
by its color, which varies from white to
yellow and red. I was told that green speci-
mens of the shell are sometimes washed up,
but I have not seen a “coin” of that color.

W onajo, one of the gods, is supposed to have
made all the ndap from shel] taken from
Yongga Bay. I have seen ndap in the pro-
cess of being made, but natives readily dis-
linguish between the genuine old stuff and
the “counterfeit” ndap made by certain
“eet rich quick” individuals.

Of the 22 main values of ndap there are
probably more than one thousand pieces of
each value from | to 11. There are said to
he 20 pieces each of Nos. 12, 13, 14, 15, and
19: 14 each of Nos. 18 and 20; 13 of No.
21; and 10 each of 16, 17, and 22. Old
men, resenting the impact of our civilisation,
are said to be burning and destroying the
more valuable pieces. Armstrong says that

“there would probably be Jess than a
thousand ndap coins altogether.” My con-
clusion, based on the number of “coins”
that I have seen, is that there are many thou-
sands of pieces.

Ndap is frequently loaned, and a rate of
interest is charged on the loan. A _ brief
period necessitates the repayment of a ndap
of slightly higher value, probably one of the
intermediate values, not included in the 22
main values mentioned above. For a longer
period the rate is higher—e.g., a No. 5 must
be repaid for the loan of a No. 4; but for
a very long period it might be necessary to
pay a No. 6 for the Joan of a No. 4. Re-
payment must be made by a single “coin.”

A No. 2 and a No. 4 will not be accepted
as payment where a No. 6 is due. This
necessitates further borrowing, although the
debtor might have in his possession many
“coins” of both higher and lower denomina-
He must find a No. 6 to meet his
obligations. He does not need to wander
ahout seeking a loan from all and sundry,
for there are coin brokers who live by bor-
rowing on long terms and lending on short
ones. These gentlemen have become very

hions.

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN

NATURALIST Page Thirty-Five

shrewd dealers, and frequently are the

“Tichest’’ men in the community.

The exchange rate appears to lapse at about
No. 18, although “coins” of higher denomi-
nation are sometimes given as security for a
No. 18. [ have not been able to ascertain
who own the No. 18 ndap, but as they are
of such great importance, I conclude that
they are the property of the chiefs. Since
the higher values were at one time used for
the purchase of the bodies of victims for
the death feasts of chiefs, they have now
ceased to be of much value to the commu-
nity.

The purchase of pigs, wives, canoes, elc.,
involves the use of “money.” A No. 18
ndap is the necessary payment for a wife,
although there are probably payments of
other values. Young men, not able to obtain
a No. 18 ndap for a wife, will sometimes

pool their wealth, and six or eight of them

will become the owners of a girl. (Appa-
rently in this case the father accepts a
number of lesser value “coins” in lieu of

a No. 18.) The girl is known as tylibi,
and may become a woman of loose charac-
ter. on feast days bringing many pieces of
ndap to her owners. It sometimes happens
that one of the members of the “syndicate”
obtains possession of a No. 18 ndap. He
then buys up all the shares, pays the father
of the girl the required No. 18, takes the
woman away into the rugged hills, builds a
home of sago leaves, and lives more or less
happily ever after.

Pigs are few in number on Rossel Island.
They are so fat that, although they are
sometimes able to stand on their feet. walk-
ing is almost impossible for them. The pig
lives under the house of its owner. At a pig
feast certain special cuts bring a high price.
T have seen a basket full of ndap on such
an occasion, for everyone pays ndap to par-
take of the feast.

The second type of shell money, called nko,
is said also to have been produced by
Wonajo. Nko is roughly circular in shape,
the value of the discs varying according to
size and thickness.

For ordinary purposes, ten discs of uniform
size are strung on a piece of creeper. On
certain ceremonial occasions the nko is

Page Thirty-Six

made into ropes several fathoms in length.
These ropes contain hundreds of discs. The
Rossel Islander is able to count to ten thou-
sand. This is rather a remarkable achieve-
ment, especially when we remember that the
counting of some native peoples is restricted

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

September 30, 1940

ped to protect them from prying eyes, and
from the light of the sun. It seems evident
that the use of ndap and nko approximates
to the use of coins in our own country.

The following are the names given to the
various values of ndap. although many

Nko shell money from Rossel Island (specimens A. 19922-23 in S.A. Museum).

to the numbers | to 20—i.e., two hands and
two feet (10 fingers and 10 toes).

Armstrong suggests that nko are made from
the shell of the giant clam. I favor the
explanation given above—viz., that nko are
made from the valve of a Spondylus shell.
T am led to this conclusion by the fact that
there is much red on the nko discs, whereas
red is seldom, if ever, found on the shells of
the giant clam in these waters. I saw a
piece of newly-made nko which had _ been
fashioned from the thick part of the common
red Spondylus (sapisapi). I have in my
possession a shell (known locally as
ndapele) which I have not been able to
identify, but which is similar in appearance
to the nko and ndap.

Nko exchanges and rates of interest are
similar to those of ndap, although some im-
portant differences occur. The higher values
of both ndap and nko are very closely
euarded, and as each “coin” has its own
particular name, and the holder of each rare
piece is known to all, no one would dare to
sell a piece to an outsider. As a result, it
is impossible to get even a glimpse of the
“precious coins,” They are carefully wrap-

pieces have individual names:

1. Dwondwo. 12. Tangwolondo.

2. Gamo. 13. Kwarunundo.

3. Kejim. 14, Pimba.

4. Pwomondap. 15. Yananindo.

5. Kwaia. 16. Gumindo.

6. Uabe. 17. Bwelejumgwanagu
7. Tebuda. 18. Tyomundi.

8. Tebudongwo. 19, Tejema.

9. Tiama. 20. Gemida.

10. Yelengwindo. 21. Pwojuma.

11. Yelengwinjinindo. 22. Kwojuma.

I am indebted to Mr. B. C. Cotton for the
identifications of the shells. He writes:
“Although I have not seen the shell in its
natural state, from the pieces forwarded as
‘shell money’ it appears that the species used
to manufacture the money is_ possibly
Spondylus mutltisetosus, Reeve.”

&

September 30, 1940 THE

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN

NATURALIST Page Thirty-Seyen

Vascular Plants of the Sutherlands, Bower, and
Mount Mary Districts, 8.A.

By

E. F. BOEHM
Sutherlands, 5.A., 1/10/1939.

The area dealt with in this paper is situated
east of Eudunda, and is traversed by the
railway line from Adelaide to Morgan. At
Sutherlands the average annual rainfall is
10.73 inches. Bower and Mount Mary have
a lower average annual rainfall. The soil of
much of the area consists of chocolate-brown
loam, with nodular travertine limestone.
Flats are characterised by a warm brown loam
without the limestone nodules. In its virgin
state the area was covered with scrub com-
prising Kucaly plus spp., Myoporum platycar-
pum, and Geijera linearifolia. Atriplex spp.,
RKhagodia spp., and Kochia spp. were promi-
nent in the shrub stratum. ‘The vegetation
may be classed as a Mucalypius oleosa-Myo-
porum platycarpum stratum society, and it
commences at about the 12 inches annual
isohyet, west of Sutherlands, where the Luca-
lyptus odorata—F. oleosa ecotone of the
eastern slopes of the Murray Range ceases.
My investigations on the plants of the area
commenced in 1929, and have been carried
out only as subsidiary to other work in
natural history. | am pleased to acknow-
ledge assistance received trom several botan-
ists in the identification of some of the species.
I am indebted to Messrs. J. M. Black, E. W.
Pritchard, W. C. Johnston, and G. H. Clarke
for their assistance in the identification of
some of the plants listed.
The total number of species listed here is
283, representing 170 genera and 48 families.
Introduced plants are marked with an asterisk.
Pinaceae.—Callitris glauca, C. propinqua.
Gramineae.—Cymbopogon. exaltatus, Panicum
decompositum, Paspalidium gracile,
*Echinochloa crus-galli, *Phalaris minor,
Stipa nitida, S, platychaeta, S. erem-
sphila, S. elegantissima, *Polypogon
monspeliensis, Calamagrostis filijormis,

*Avena fatua, “A. barbata, Danthonia
semiannularis, “Lamarckia aurea, *Keoe-

leria phleoides, *Schismus barbatus,
*Poa bulbosa, *P. annua, “Festuca bro-
moides, *F. myosurus, *F. rigida,

*Bromus villosus, *B. hordeaceus, *B.

rubens, “B. madridensis, B. arenarius,
*Lolium spp. *L. temulenium, Lep-
turus incurvatus, L. cylindricus, “Hor-
deum murimum.

Juncaceae.—Juncus bufonius.

Liliaceae —-Dianella revoluta, Anguillaria
dioica, Lomandra dura, L. effusa, Thy-
sanoltus Baueri, Bulbine bulbosa, Dicho-
pogon fimbriatus, Asphodelus fistulosus.

Tridaceae—*Moraea xerospatha var. mono-
phyla.

Casuarinaceae.—Casuarina cristata (Syn. C.
lepidophloia), C stricta,

Urticaceae—Parictaria debilis, Urtica urens.

Proteaceae. — Hakea leucoptera, Grevillea
Huegelit.

Santalaceae.—Exocarpus aphylla,
acuminata, FE. Murrayana,

Loranthaceae. — Loranthus
Preissti, L. Miquelii.

Polygonaceae—*Polygonum aviculare, *Ru-
mex pulcher.

Chenopodiaceae.—Rhagodia baccata, Rh.
parabolica, Rh. Preissii, Rh. Gaudichau-
diana, Rh. spinescens, Rh. crassifolia,
Rh. nutans, Chenopodium cristatum,
*Ch. murale, Atriplex stipitatum, A.
velutinellum, A. vesicarium, A. semibac-
catum, A. prosiratum, A, Muelleri, A.
campanulatum. A. spongiosum, Bassia
uniflora, B. scilerolaenoides, B. para-
doxa, B. obliquicuspis, B. patenticus pis,
Kochia brevifolia, K. pyramidata, K.
tomentosa var. appressa, K. tomentosa
var. humilis, K. sedifolia, K. Georgei, K.
aphylla, K. triptera var. erioclada, Sal-
sola Kali, Enchylaena tomentosa, Arthro-
nemum halocnemoides.

Eucarya

exocarpi, L.

Amaranthaceae.—Trichinium obovatum, T.
spathulatum.

Aizoaceae.—*Cryophytum crystallinum, Car-
pobrotus aequilaterus, Tetragonia ex-
pansa.

Caryophyllaceae.—*Cerastium glomeratum,
Spergularia rubra, “Silene nocturna.

Kanunculaceae.— Clematis microphylla.

Lauraceae.—Cassytha pubescens.

Page Thirty-Eight THE

Papaveraceae.—*Papaver dubium, *P. hy-
bridum, *P. somniferum var. setigerum,
*Fumaria parviflora, *F. muralis.

Cruciferae.—*Sisymbrium erysimoides, *S.
orieniale, Blennodia trisecta, Geococcus
pustllus, *Diplotaxis muralis var. Bab-
ingtonii, Alyssum linifolium, Lepidium
leptopetalum, L. hyssopifolium, *Cap-
sella Bursa-pastoris, Hutchinsia procum-
bens, Stenopetalum lineare, *Rapistrum
rugosum.

Resedaceae.—* Reseda luteola.
Crassulaceae.—Crassula Sieberiana.

Fittos poraceae. — Pittosporum phillyreoides,
Bursaria spinosa,

Leguminosae.—Acacia obliqua, A. micro-
carpa, A. argyrophylla, A. ligulata, A.
notabilis, A, calamifolia, A. Sclero-
phyila var. lissophylla, A, Oswaldii, A.
Menzeltit, A. colletioides, Cassia Sturtit,
C. eremophila, C. eremophila var. platy-
poda, Templetonia egena, “Trifolium
tomentosum, “T. arvense, *Melilotus in-
dica, *M. alba, *Medicago sativa, *M.
tribuloides, *M. denticulata, *M. apicu-
lata, *M. confinis, *M. minima, Lotus
australis var. parviflorus, Psoralea
patens, Swainsona laxa, “Vicia sativa,
Glycine clandestina.

Geraniaceae.—Geranium pilosum, Erodium
eygnorum, *E. botrys, *k. moschatum,
“KF. cteutarium.

Oxalidaceae.—Oxalis corniculata, *O. cernua.

Ly gophyllaceae—Nitraria Schobert, Zygo-
phyllum apiculatum, Z. Billardieri, Z.
ammophilum, Z. crenatum, Z. ovatum, Z.
idiocarpum, 4. fruticulosum.

Rutaceae.—Geijera. linearifolia, Microcybe
multiflora.

Euphorbiaceae.—* Ricinus communis, Euphor-
bia Drummondii, Beyeria Leschenaultit
var. rosmarinoides.

Sapindaceae. — Heterodendron oleifolium,
Dodonaea viscosa, D. attenuata, O. cune-
ata, D. Baueri, D. stenozyga, D. tenut-
folia.

Malvaceae.—Lavatera plebeja, Malva parvt-
flora, Plagianthus glomeratus, Sida cor-
rugata.

Thymelaeaceae. — Pimelea serpyllifolia, P.
simplex.

Myrtaceae—Melaleuca pubescens, Euealy p-
tus odorata, E. oleosa, E. incrassata, E.
gracilis.

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN

NATURALIST September 30, 1940
Halorrhagidaceae.—Halorrhagis elata, Myrio-

phyllum Muelleri.

Umbellijerae—*Bupleurum semicompositum,
*Torilus nodosa, *Conium maculatum,
*Foeniculum vulgare.

Primulaceae. — *Anagallis arvensis, “A.
Femina.
Gentianaceae.—*Erythraea Centaurium.

Convolvulaceae—Convolvulus erubescens.

Borraginaceae.-Halgania cyanea, H. lavan-
dulacea, Heliotropium europaeum, Lap-
pula coneava, *Lithospermum arvense,
*Echium plantagineum.

V erbenaceae.—*V erbena supina.

Labiatae. — Teucrium racemosum, “Marru-
bium vulgare, “Salvia Verbenaca, Pros-
tanthera striatiflora, *Stachys arvensis.

Solanaceae.—Solanum nigrum, S, simile, *Ly-
cium ferocissimum, Nicotiana maritima,
*N. glauca.

Myoporaceae. — Myoporum montanum, M.
platycarpum, Eremophila oppositifolia,
E. longifolia, FE. alternifolia, Fk. glabra,
E. scoparia.

Plantaginaceae.—Plantago varia, *P. lanceo-
lata.

Rubiaceae.-—*Sherardia arvensis, Galium um-
brosum var. muriculatum, Asperula sco-
paria,

Cucurbitaceae.—*Citrullus vulgaris,
mis myrtocar pus.

Cam panulaceae.—W ahlenbergia vinciflora.

Goodeniaceae.—Goodenia pinnatifida, Scae-
vola spinescens.

Composttae.—Brachycome debilis, B. ciliaris,
minuria leptophylla, Calotis hispidula,
Vittadinia triloba, V. tenuissima, V.
megacephala, Olearia primeleoides, O.
magniflora, O. Muelleri, M. calcarea.,
*Xanthium spinosum, Centipeda Cun-
ninghamit, Erechthites quadridentatus,
Senecio brachyglossus, O. lautus, *Calen-
dula arvensis, *Cryptostemma calendula-
ceum, Cratystylis conocephala, Pterocau-
lon sphacelatum, Cassinia arcuata, Helip-
terum polygalifolium, H. Jessenii, H.
pygmaeum, H. corymbiflorum, Ixiolaena
tomentosa, Helichrysum leucopsidium,
A. apiculaium, H. semipapposum, Podo-
lepis acuminata, Athrixia tenella, *Inula
graveolens, Angianthus pusillus. Gnapha-
lodes uliginosum, Craspedia uniflora,

(Continued at foot of next page.)

*Cucu-

September 30, 1940

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

Page Thirty-Nine

Our Little-kKnown Birds

By

H. T. CONDON.

As it is unlikely that many new species of
birds will be discovered in the future in
Australia, it is a popular conception that
everything is known about our birds. Nothing
could be turther from the truth. In a land
where birds form such a prominent feature
of the landscape, it is surprising that, with
the exception ot a few enthusiasts, an apathetic
attitude is adopted towards any organised
study, so that atter 150 years of colonisation

we are still very far from elucidating the
mysteries of their origins, relationships,

occurrence, and economic importance.

In Australia occur some of the most obscure
of birds; many of them are as rare as the
rarest of gems. It should be noted, however,
that the term “rare” should not be applied
to many, as this gives an impression of
smallness of numbers, whereas all that is
implied is that they are rarely met with.
Nevertheless, it is a fact that several birds
may rightly claim the distinction of being

‘rare.” Foremost of these is the subject of
our cover picture, the Black-throated Whip-
bird (Psophodes nigrogularis leucogaster),

which was not discovered in this ein until
1936. Tt is called the Whipbird because
its closest relative is the Coach-Whip Bird
(Psophodes olivaceus) of Eastern Australia,
und famous for its loud “whip crack” call-
note, which is not made by the Black-throated
species however. A Western Australian
variety was first discovered in the Wongan
Hills, Western Australia, nearly 100 years
ago (about 1844). Seventy-six years later,
another sub-species was discovered in what
is now known as the “Murray mallee,” at
Panitya, Victoria (north-east of Pinnaroo,
South Australia). Twelve years _ later,
the first Victorian bird was collected, the skin
now being in the Melbourne Museum. Since
then two examples have been collected near
Pinnaroo in this State, one of which forms
the subject of the coloured illustration.

Until recently one of the least known of our

*Cynara Canduncuias. *Carduus tenui-
florus, *Silybum Marianum, “Onopordon
Acanthium, *O. acaule, *Centaurea sol-
stilialis, *C. melitensis, *C. Calcitrapa,

birds was the Scarlet-breasted Parrot (Neo-
phema splendida), which lives in the interior
of Western and South Australia, and New
South Wales. Within the last decade a few
examples have been captured and these have
bred in captivity. By 1936 this species had be-
come quite a common aviary bird, though
still a rarity in the wild. Two years later
the birds were discovered in incredibly large
numbers in the interior of South Australia.
Scores were taken at their nests and sent to
several places. In October, 1938, one Ade-
laide “bird shop” sold at aaa nine pairs for
£8/8/- per pair. Soon after, owing to the
large numbers offering, the price dropped to
£2/5/- per pair. Despite the vigilance of
the Fisheries and Game Department, it is
authoritatively stated that at least between
five and six hundred birds were illegally
smuggled out of the State in January, 1939.
Another little-known parrot is the Ground
Parrot (Pezoporus wallicus), a denizen of
the coastal swamp-lands of Southern Queens-
land, New South Wales, Victoria, ‘Tas-
mania, south-east of South Australia, and
south-western Australia. Only three examples
are at present known to be in captivity, and
all are in the Adelaide Zoo.

Another rarity is the little Plain Wanderer
(Pedionomus torquatus), which lives unosten-
tatiously on the plains to the north of Ade-
laide, and on Yorke Peninsula. Of some-
what quail-like appearance and habits, its
presence is usually only brought to notice

when it is accidentally shot by quail-
shooters. Records of its nest and habits are
few, although there is a recent one from
‘Maitland, Yorke Peninsula (). In this

species the female is larger and_ brightly
coloured, while the male, who is said to look
after the young, is hardly ever seen.
South Australian Ornithologist, XV, 2

19 (1939).
@) Emu, XXXVIII, 327 (1938).
[Color plate of Whipbird loaned by S.A.

Ornithological Association, ]

*Carthamus lanatus, *Hedy ‘pnois crelica,
*Hypochoeris glabra, *Scorgonera laa
niata, “Leontedon hirtus, *“Sonchus
oleraceus, *S. asper.

Page Forty THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST September 30, 1940 Septe

The LAND” SHEELS of +KANCAR

Rc : ; a eae : ee
J (Ce =~ Piiecnee aes
2! - aS potas
{i Ravine des ae J ae SS . | \ eee Lope
Casoars/” ~~ ~{ \ ETE HP! CO Edwards Lagoon
‘. es

ee (Fresh)
f a F Nangaroo Lagan
S FLINDERS,, do gee % oe mae
3 Fanaa & Flora Reserye ey 7 ay ae as
eae ’ yb Acca 200 Ska ire) ich | Y Ge x
(ap2 :
; Ad \ a
$
Graingeré Lagoon .
robe 79) i $y
| ' ia 4 mt (Caylor
i | bead ae 140 Stock dale, eo,
\ =~ Sy

a

My? Mary = ‘
G of Bloompoild ¥ : ‘

] Sie cls
5 x Kellys win

' frssdae ye

®
4 Pe
on iy SY :
os -
° tape Gur
cy
Y
G cape me ea 6
camry aencaarteeronemst
The terrestrial fauna of any island must colonies is strictly decided by geological Prey
always form an interesting subject of study, formation and ecological factors. Ecological Shel
particularly is this so in the case of land shells variations have proved very interesting, as Tred
with their limited means of dispersal and the variants may be (a) dependent upon local 2, f
consequent tendency to form very restricted ground conditions (geodecols), or (b) pro- had

communities. The extent of individual duced by climatic changes (horeocols). and

September 30, 1940

NGAROO

a

WR Sanger yarn

. Mohinaor
tne

DESTREE Bay

gas u

AOld Whaling Station

Point Tintine

Cape Gunthenume

n Petgeus faler

Previous to the publication of “The Land
Shells of South and Centra! Australia,” by
Iredale, in this periodical (Vol. XVIII, No.
2, p. 6-59), only five species of land shells
had been recorded from Kangaroo Island,
and three of these are still known only from

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN

ISLAND

Eastern
allast Hf

NATURALIST Page Forty-One

By
Bemaid C. Cotton

wea
po? Se
”
2 ; é
pia Rapid Boy

7 2 MC Rapid
oo
al
ra
ant FLEURIEU
s 5 fled
S Cape Jervis FMM. PENINSULA

Lands End a Tree Mtl

of P
a 4
cca :
© 7a Da. Aas AD , aa
4 ee

Cape St Albans

(rene Bay

a Willoughby

po “bight House

there. Iredale’s list added four species, and
the present list adds five more, two of which
are new. For most of these interesting
finds we are indebted to H. M. Cooper, who
has continued his effective collecting trips.
first mentioned in Vol. XX, No. 1, of this

Page Forty-Two THE
publication, by a preliminary investigation of
Kangaroo Island.

FAMILY VERTIGINIDAE.

Australbinula margaretae, Cox, 1863.
Type locality, Wallaroo, South Australia.
Three specimens from Cape Cassini (Cooper).

Themapupa adelaidae, Angas, 1865.
Type locality, Adelaide, South Australia.
Six specimens of this species were taken at
Vivonne Bay. It is widely distributed on
the mainland.

Omegapilla australis, Angas, 1804.
Type locality, Rapid Bay, South Australia.
Vivonne Bay (Cooper).

FAMILY SUCCINEIDAE.
Succinea australis, Ferusssac, 1821.
Type locality, Kangaroo Island, South Aus-

tralia.
Hoe Bay, Cape Hart, Emu Bay, Rocky River,
Antechamber Bay, Pennington Bay.

FAMILY BOTHRIEMBRYONTIDAE.

Bothriembryon decresensis, sp. nov.
Island

mm..

Cassini, Kangaroo

Mus.), height 16

Cape

S.A.

Holotype,
(D. 13773,
width 10 mm.

Shell imperforate, ovately conical, axially
irregularly plicate and spirally linearly fur-
rowed just below the suture; colour, vel-
lowish-brown with no other colour ornamen-
tation; adult whorls three, the body whorl
four times the height of the spire; aperture
slightly oblique, peristome simple, columella
slightly thickened, protocond of one and a
half whorls of a distinctly finely wrinkled
texture. Compared to the mainland species
masterst, decresensis is smaller, narrower,
thinner, less colored, and shows no indica-
tion of spiral banding, a feature which is so
characteristic of masterst. Specimens show-
ing at least distinct subspecific differences
from mastersi are in the South Australian

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

September 30, 1940

Museum collection from Thistle Island, Rab-
bit Island, Spilsby Island, and St. Francis

Island.

No species of the family Bothriembryontidae
has hitherto been recorded from Kangaroo
Island, but numerous specimens of this
species were taken al the type locality by
H. M. Cooper.

FAMILY XANTHOMELONTIDAE.
Pleuroxia lemani, Gude.

Type locality, Cape Borda, Kangaroo Island.
No specimens of this species have been ob-
tained to our knowledge by any collector
since the original specimens were taken.

Notobadistes cooperi, sp. nov.

Holotype, Stunsail Boome (Cooper) (D.
13797, S.A. Museum), height 14 m.m., dia-
meter 16 mm.

Shell medium sized, globose, white, sculpture
of indefinite, irregular, coarse axials, - and
peculiar secondary sculpture of regular, fine
spiral striae on the lower part of the body
whorl; umbilicus small, partly hidden by
the reflected columella; outer lip slightly
reflected; protocond of one and a half ap-
parently smooth but actually faintly granu-
lose whorls, this sculpture being visible under
an X10 pocket lens; adult whorls three. The
species somewhat resembles Notobadisies nul-
larboricum, from Bunda Plateau, Nullarbor
Plain, but differs in the smaller size and
coarser sculpture.

Glyptorhagada bordaensis, Angas.
Type locality, Cape Borda, Kangaroo Island.
Cape Willoughby, Rocky River (Cooper).

(Continued at foot of next page.)

September 30, 1940 THE

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

Page Forty-Three

Rejuvenation of Vegetation After the Bushfire in

the National Park, South Australia
By

J. B. CLELAND, M.D.

In the second week of January, 1939, near
ihe end of the record Australian heat-wave,
during which the shade temperature at Ade-
laide was over LOO degrees I. for nine days
out of the first fourteen in the month, and
the Adelaide shade record of 117.7 degrees
I’. was attained, fanned by a hot dry north
wind, an extensive bushfire swept through
the eastern part of the National Park. In
spite of numerous helpers, much damage was
done before any control could be obtained.
During its progress, the beautiful Japanese
cherry plantation was almost completely
destroyed. Onlookers described the progress
of the fire as a terrifying spectacle. The
flames ascended the trunks of the Stringy-
bark Eucalypts by the fibrous and frayed
outer fragments of the bark, which readily
became detached and were carried by the
fierce wind up hillsides and across valleys,
dropping sparks on the way and spreading
the fire ahead when they landed. In places
the fire swept aloft from tree to tree, the heat
being apparently sufficient to volatilise the
inflammable essential oil so that this itself
caught fire in mid-air by adding fuel to the
furnace. Mr. C. P. Hodge, the secretary
and curator of the National Park, describes
three distinct zones of fire--an advanced one
of burning vapor about a chain ahead of the
fire raging through the tree tops, which itself
was about a chain in [front of the fire advanc-
ing on the ground level. When the fire was
over, the area affected—hillsides, valleys and
creek-beds—was destitute of living leaves and

bare of vegetation, except for the blackened

“AMILY LAOMIDAE.
Paralaoma (Insullaoma) decresensis, Iredale,
1937,
Holotype, Kangaroo Island, (D. 3
Mus. ).
Excellaoma neta, Iredale, 1937.

Holotype, Kangaroo Island (D. 13769, S.A.
Mus.).

S.A.

FAMILY HADRIDAE.
Exilibodistes sutilosa, Deshayes, 1850.
Type locality, St. Peter’s Island.

leaf-less trunks of trees and the dead stems of
the stouter plants. Old dead stumps of forest
trees smouldered on and were nearly con-
sumed till put out by the rain that came
with the end of the heat-wave. The scene
was one of desolation. The intensity of the
heat and the fierceness of the conflagration
made one wonder whether it was possible for
regrowth and re-seeding to take place except
alter a period of many months.

The hot dry summer was followed, however,
by an unusually wet winter, with many days
of rain, and an official Adelaide total of
23.29 inches (average 21.17 inches). Soon
after the first showers, the eucalypts began
to show their leaves and, as winter passed,
vegetation appeared again. An accidental
visit io the burnt area at the end of Decem-
ber, 1939, just under a year since the fire
had occurred, showed a phenomenal growth.
So siriking in places was the rejuvenation
that a record was at once commenced over
the southern portion of the burnt area of
the species of plants present. This was sup-
plemented at the beginning of January by
an examination of a more northern part. The
present paper is to place on record the results
obtained. Jt is’ not a planned ecological
study of “pyric succession,” as in the account
of Jarrett and Petrie on the vegetation of the
Black’s Spur region in Victoria. It was not
realised Ull nearly a year after the fire had
occurred what an opportunity had been
missed for a similar study in our Adelaide
hills district.

Hog Bay, 4 miles west of False Cape, Vivonne
Bay, Ravine des Casoars, Stunsail Boome,
Emu Bay, Cape Hart, Rocky River, Ante-
chamber Bay. Numerous specimens were
taken by H. M. Cooper at all these localities,
Prof. Harvey-Johnston took specimens al
Kelly’s Hill Caves.

Cupedora tomsetti, Tate, 1887.
Holotype, Cape Borda, Kangaroo Island (D.
13594, S.A. Mus.).

Hundreds of specimens taken at Snug Cove
and Cape Borda by H. M. Cooper.

Page Forty-Four

The portion burnt and examined in this sur-
vey is almost entirely Stringy-bark (Lucalyp-
tus obliqua) forest. Most of the plants here
recorded and referred to later were noted on
the lower slopes of the northern and shaded

side of the upper end of Long Gully. Here
the Stringy-barks were interspersed with
Manna Gums (HF. viminalis s.1., probably

£. Hubertiana) and a few Blackwoods, the
Stringy-barks dropping out at the bottom of
the valley, but being the predominating tree
further up. The Manna Gums seem more
sensitive to fire than the other three species
of Eucalypt in the area, as some trees seem
to have been killed, and others, after throw-

ing out a few shoots had apparently suc-
cumbed. On the crest of the hill, the trees

were more open and &. leucoxylon and E.
fasciculosa were mixed with the Stringy-
barks; being grazed by sheep and drier, the
number of under-shrubs was few and no
notable additions were made to the list. On
the northern slopes of this hill, scattered £.
leucoxylon was the only tree; exposure to
the sun and the grazing had allowed very
few shrubs and smaller plants io develop, an
occasional Bursaria being the only important
addition. However, in the narrow watercourse,
where shade and a more fertile soil made
conditions more suitable, a number of plants
were growing, as along the lower slopes of

Long Gully. In one portion, situated above
Long Gully Station, the Stringy-barks in a

pure stand were dense and close together on
a steep shady hillside; here the forest floor
was still very bare, though, with a number
of scattered plants of bracken, Viola hede-
recea, Hibbertia acicularis var. and Acro-
triche fasciculiflora and a few examples of
Acaena, Erythraea and Hydrocotyle. In and
near the watercourse draining this area, F.
viminalis was mixed with Stringy-bark, and
a dense undergrowth had developed, the vege-
tation again heirs like that in Long Gully.
De esttling the opposite and more sun- “exposed
slope, F. Tewcouyion soon replaced EF. vimina-
lis. Dense Stringy-bark forest again occurred
above this slope in an undulating area form-
ing one of the highest parts of the Park. The
only change to be noted was the abundance
in the more open parts of Dichopogon stric-
tus and of seedlings of Acacia myrtifolia,
and in fewer numbers of Pulienaea daph-
noides. Again in the shallow watercourses
of this area, the vegetation was very luxuriant.

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

September 30, 1940

A very open area near here showed scattered
Pink Gums (k. fasciculosa) and a few
Stringy-barks.

It will be seen from this general description
that the survey comprises a Stringy-bark (E.
obliqua) forest, in parts forming a pure
stand, but with little undergrowth, most of
the plants recorded being found in the lower-
most slopes and near the watercourses, where
Manna Gums were usually intermixed with
the Stringy-barks. In the list of plants
appended, those that were numerous are in-
dicated. In the text a few species are men-
lioned of which only one or two examples
were seen, The other plants were scattered
in their distribution.

The eucalypts, as expected, had vigorously
sprouted from the butts and larger branches,
and were well covered with leaves. — For-
tunately the mistletoes, mostly Loranthus
Miquelii on Eucalyptus leucoxylon and E.
fasciculosa, but also L. pendulus on the
Stringy-bark (/. obliqua), had all been de-
stroyed. They seem very sensitive to the
heat of a fire. On one Blue Gum (E. leucoxy-
lon) no less than 36 dead mistletoes were
counted, and on another 19. The trees them-
selves were recovering. Blackwoods, Native
Cherries, gorse, Acrotriche fasciculiflora, and
other anal trees and shrubs with butt-like
bases were growing freely from the ground
level. A vast company of herbs, grasses,
undershrubs, and ephemerals were jostling
each other for room and for light on the
lower parts of the steeper hills, and in the
rich soil of the narrow valleys and along the
courses of the winter streams. The in-
dividual plants were unusually luxuriant and
the rank growth reached the knees or higher.
The ground was so covered that the soil
could not be seen till one ascended the hill-
sides, when the growth became more open.

Plants that one knew as denizens of the Park
normally only a few inches high (e.g., Hydro-
cotyle laxiflora), were here four time that
size. The fire had made an excellent seed-
bed and forcing ground. It had sterilised
extensively the actual surface, and'had burnt
up all loose surface seeds, and the ash had
supplied an abundance of salts for plant
food. The soluble constituents had to some
extent been leached down to the lower levels,
where also on the southern aspects the mois-

September 39, 1940 THE
ture had been largely conserved. There had
been as it were a rush to occupy the vacant
spaces, seedlings from buried and wind-borne
seeds competing with such perennial plants
as had survived by their roots or by means
of bulbs or other subterranean devices. In-
cluding the trees, approximately 143 species
of plants, 48 of them introductions, were
found struggling for survival against each
other in this burnt area. Some, mostly an-
nuals, were in great abundance, but in a few
cases one or two plants only were seen, ap-
parently the result of wind dispersal of their
seeds. These included three species not pre-
viously recognised in the Park—three
seedlings of Solanum aviculare, one plant of
Torilis nodosa and one of Stylidium gramini-
folium. Some points of special interest in
connection with the distribution of the plants
may he noted. It has already been mentioned
that the density of the growth became less
as one ascended the hillsides, where the
ground was more exposed and was also more
leached. Owing to exposure to the sun, the
northern slopes were also less densely covered
than those facing south. However, undulating
upland country north-east of Long Gully Sta-
tion showed a considerable covering of plants,
but the surfaces here were gently sloping and
transversed by superficial water-channels, dry
in summer. Here, in the spring, growing
amongst the trees, there had been large num-
bers of the Liliaceous plant, Dichophogon
strictus, which presents a very open appear-
ance with its loosely arranged, spreading
branches and vanilla-scented purple flowers.
In the southern portion of the burnt area,
sheep had been depastured in an attempt to
reduce the undergrowth with its danger of
fire in summer if left. It was of interest to
find that the sheep had, as yet, left almost un-
touched the rank vegetation on the lower
slopes and in the valleys, finding it probably
too long for them. Instead, they had fed
almost entirely on the hill-tops, where they
had in places almost eaten out the growth
and had even cropped closely harsh native
shrubs that were rejuvenating from their
bases. The contrast between this part of the
burnt area and that untouched by sheep north

of the fencing running over the Long Gully
tunnel was striking. This cropping had been
so close that there is danger of erosion: also

there may be difficulty in the perennials re-

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

Page Forty-Five

juvenating from their root-stocks if con-
tinually eaten back. Sheep, in taking to the
higher parts of their feeding area, probably
exhibit an ancestral trait. It would also
seem that they are not really suitable pasture
animals for our hills districts.

Many years ago, probably before the Park
was gazetted as the National Park, very large
Stringy-barks and other eucalypts had been
cut down. The stumps of these still remain.
Those in the burnt area naturally caught fire,
but even so were not completely consumed
owing to the rain that followed. Neverthe-
less, they had burnt for some time. Around
them the ground was usually reddish and
often bare or partly bare of plants. This
lack of vegetation may be due to the pro-
longed heat of the fire killing those plants
whose roots elsewhere had survived the short-
lived passing flames. Probably also it had
killed seeds buried but near the surface
which had survived elsewhere to germinate in
the winter. There were several rather in-
teresting features round these burnt stumps.
On such bare areas, and some similar ones
a few yards in diameter, but not apparently
associated with old stumps, a considerable
growth of the liver-wort Marchantia polymor-
pha, and of the common Cord Moss (Funaria
hygrometrica) that often follows a bush fire,
had oceurred. Also in the crevices at the
base of the inside of the stumps a number
of young plants of bracken fern were coming
up. the prothallus probably finding a suitable
nidus in the ash, and no competition with
other plants. In a few cases, luxurian!
colonies of Viola hederacea, up to 15 x 6
inches in size, were a striking feature on the
otherwise bare ground.

The most abundant plants, though not always
abundant over the whole area, were the fol-
lowing:—The native grass Microlaena_ sti-
poides and the introduced one, Aira caryo-
phyllea; the Liliaceous Dichopogon strictus:
the Mouse-ear Chickweed Cerastium glomera-
tum, much more abundant than the ordinary
Chickweed (Stellaria media), on the lower
southern slopes; seedlings of the pea Pul-
tenaea daphnoides and of the scrub wattle
(Acacia myrtifolia) in the highlands to the
north-east of Long Gully Station, where also
the small Euphorbiaceous plant, Poranthera
microphylla, the introduced St. John’s Wort

Page Forly-Six THE
(Hypericum perjoratum), the native H.
gramineum, the Lesser Loosestrife (Lythrum

hyssopifolia), the introduced Centaury (ry-
thraea centaurium), Dichondra repens (a
prostrale creeping and rooting Colvolvulace-
ous plant), and the alien Rooted Cat’s-Ear

(Hypochoerts radicata) were common. In
the rank vegetation of the lower southern

slopes were Hop Clover (Trifolium procum-
bens—introduced), Hydrocotyle laxiflora

(Umbelliferae), with very large leaves, and
lield Madder (Sherardia arvensis), another

Milk Thistle (Sily-

grew up to nine

alien. In a creek bed, the
bum Marianum—introduced )
fect in height.

Tour ferns were growing in the area, probably
from their rhizomes, though there were a
number of young plants of bracken. There
of which 12 were introduc-

were 1&8 grasses,
tions. Three of the native grasses, Kanearoo
Grass (Themeda triandra), Microlaena and

Poa caespitosa were perennials and probably
erew from old reots. The same probably
applies to the two Wallaby grasses (Dan-
thonta). The other 13 were dntnals: 12 of
them aliens, and only one native (Calama-
grostis filiformis), whose seed had_ either
blown there since the fire or had been covered
by humus and so protected. There were no
Spear Grasses (Stipa ), but this habitat
is not very suitable for them. Of the six
sedges, five were small annuals and the other,
Carex inversa, was a perennial.

The two-species of Centrolepis are annuals.
Of the six rushes, probably only one (Juncus
pauciflorus) had grown from root stocks. In
the Liliaceae, the Grass-tree (Nanthorrhoea)
erew from its base, Lomandra glauca and
Bulbine probably from roots, and Burchardia,
Tricoryne and Dichopogon presumably from

seeds. Only two orchids were noted (Decem-
ber), but doubtless others had come up
earlier. The Banksia seemed to be regrow

ing from suckers near the burnt stem. The
Native Cherry grew from its base. The
Docks (Rumex), the three Caryophyllaceae,
the two Ranunculi, the Cardamine, the
Drosera, and the two Crassulae, all grew
from seed. Bursaria, Sweetbriar, Blackwood
and Gorse grew again from their bases.

Acacia myrtifolia, the Golden Wattle, and the
Pultenaea daphnoides, found an_ excellent
seed bed. There were six clovers, Hop

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NA

TURALIST September 30, 1940
clover being very abundant, one Medic and
one Vetch—all introductions and, except
Trifolium repens, seed distributed. The two
Geraniums and Oxalis were seed plants; as
was Poranthera (Euphorbiaceae), which was
abundant in places. The Violet has already
been mentioned as growing unusually well.
Hydrocotyle laxiflora was abundant-and also
unusually large, and with the other four Um-
bellifers, seed distributed. Torilis was a new'
record for the Park, only one plant being
found. The two Epacrids grew from roots.

The tw : Pimpernels and Centaury grew from
seeds, the Asclepias and probably Dichondra
and Ajuga from roots. It was a surprise
finding three seedlings of Solanum aviculare
(Kangaroo Apple), also a new record for

the Park. S. nigrum, the Field Madder
(Sherardia), which was abundant, the three
Galiums, and the two Bluebells (/ahlen-

bergia), also had grown from seed. Scaevola
microcarpa had rejuvenated from roots, and
perhaps, so had the Goodenia. The Brunonia
was probably from seed. There were 18
Composites, ten of them introductions, and
all except perhaps the Cat’s-ear, growing from
seed. Six of the eight native Composites
grew similarly, the remaining two, Cymbono-
tus and Leptorrhynchus, probably from roots

Thus about 101 of the 145 plants noted were
probably growing from seed which had either
been buried too deeply for the fire to affect
or had been blown into the area after the
fire had occurred. Unburnt scrub was not
far from where the list of plants was made,
but growth seemed equally abundant where
such scrub was a quarter of a mile away.
The unburnt scrub was not so situated that
rain could have washed the seeds to the burnt
area in general, though this could have hap-
pened in places. Mammals and birds could
not have played any but an insignificant role
in distribution. When the seed has a well-
developed pappus for wind dispersal, as in
the thistles, seeding of an area such as this
can be readily understood. Very small seeds,
like those of the Australian Bluebells, the
Pimpernels, etc., can also probably be trans-
ported some distance by a strong wind. The
seeds of Solanum are flattened and evidently,
in the case of the Nightshade (S. nigrum) and
of the Apple of Sodom, are dispersed with
unusual ease. Apparently also the seeds of
Clovers, Medics and Vetches are readily dis-

September 30, 194¢ THE
tributed, though it may be held that the
erowth of these plants was from seeds buried
in the soi] and not from outside the area.
In the following list of plants noted an
asterisk (*) indicates an introduced plant,
and x that the plant concerned was abun-
dant.
[The authors of the various species of vas-
cular plants will be found in Black’s “Flora
of South Australia.” |
MOSS :—Funaria hygrometrica.
LIVERWORT:—Marchantia polymer pha.
FERNS:—Adiantum aethiopicum, Cheilan-
thes tenuifolia, Pteridium aquilinum,
Asplenium flabellifolium.
GRASSES :—Themeda triandra, xMicrolaena
stipoides, Calamagrostis _ filiformis,
x* Aira caryophyllea, “Avena sp., *Hol-
cus lanatus, Danthonia auriculata and
probably another species, *Briza
maxima, “B. minor, Poa caespitosa.
“Festuca bromoides, “Bromus villosus,
“B. madritensis, “B. hordeaceus,
*Brachypodium distachyum, “Hordeum
(cultivated barley, one plant), *Lolium

s

SEDGES:—Cyperus _tenellus, Schoenus
apogon, Scirpus cernuus (probably),

S. antarcticus, S. inundatus, Carex near
C. inversa.

CENTROLEPIDACEAE :—Centrolepis
tata, C. strigosa.

RUSHES :—*Juncus capitatus, J. bufonus, J.
planifolius, J. holoschoenus, J. pauci-
florus, Luzula campestris.

LILIACEAE :—Burchardia umbellata, Lo-
mandra glauca, Tricoryne elatior, Bul-
bine bulbosa, xDichophogon strictus,
Xanthorrhoea semiplana, *Moraea xero-
spatha var. monophylla.

ORCHIDS:—Dipodium punctatum, Microtis
porrifolia.

PROTEACEAE :—Banksta marginata.

aris-

SANTALACEAE: — Exocarnus cupressi-
formis.

POLYGONACEAE:—Rumex Brownii, *R.
acetosella.

CARYOPHYLLACEAE :—x* Cerastium gto-
meratum, *Stellaria media, *Silene Gal-
lica.

RANUNCULACEAE :—Ranunculus
ceus, R. parviflorus.

CRUCIFERAE:—Cardamine hirsuta.

DROSERACEAE:—Drosera
peltata.

lappa-

auriculata or

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

Page Forty-Seven

CRASSULACEAE:—Crassula Sieberiana, C.
macrantha.

PITTOSPORACEAE :—Bursaria spinosa.

ROSACEAE:—*Rosa rubiginosa, *Alchemil-
la arvensis, Acaena ovina, A, Sanguisor-
bae.

LEGUMINOSAE:—xAcacia myrtifolia (seed-
lings numerous), A. pyenantha, A. mela-
noxylon (rejuvenation—the agaric Schi-
zophyllum commune on the burnt butt).
xPultenaea daphnoides (seedlings).
*Ulex europeaus (Gorse), x*Trifolium
procumbens, *T. dubium, *T'. repens,
*T. glomeratum, *T. arvensis, *T. angus-
tifolia, “Medicago denticulaia, Lotus
australis, Psoralea patens, “Vicia sativa,
Kennedya prostrata, Hardenbergia mono-
phylta.

GERANIACEAE :—xGeranium pilosum var.
potentilloides, x*G. molle.

OXALIDACEAE:—Oxalis corniculata.

EUPHORBIACEAE :—Poranthera microphyl-
la.

DILLENTACEAE:—Hibbertia acicularis var.
sessiliflora.

GUTTIFERAE :—x*Hypericum — perforatum
(St. John’s Wort), xH. gramineum.

VIOLACEAE:—Viola hederacea.

THY MELEACEAE:—Pimelea sp.

LYTHRACEAE:—xLythrum hyssopifolia.

MYRTACEAE:—Leptospermum — scoparium
(regenerating), Eucalyptus obliqua (re-
juvenating, a few seedlings), FE. vimina-
lis (some rejuvenating, some dead), F.
leucoxylon (rejuvenating), FE. fascicu-
losa.

OENOTHERACEAE:—F pilobium sp.

HALORRHAGIDACEAE:—Aalorrhagis
ragyna.

UMBELLIFERAE:—xHydrocotyle laxiflora,
AH. callicarpa, Daucus glochidiaius.
*Torilis nodosa (one plant), *Foenicu-
lum vulgare (Fennel).

EPACRIDACEAE:—Astroloma
Acrotriche fasciculiflora.

PRIMULACEAE:—* Anagallis arvensis, *A.

tel-

humifusum,

femina.

GENTIANACEAE :—x*Erythraea — Centaur-
ium.

ASCLEPIADACEAE :—*Aselepias — rotundi-

folia (rejuvenating).
CONVOLVULACEAE:—xDichondra repens.
BORRAGINACEAE:—Cynoglossum — suaveo-
lens.

LABIATEAE:

Ajuga australis.

Page Forty-Eight THE
SOLANACEAE:—Solanum aviculare
seedlings), *Solanum nigrum.
SCROPHULARIACEAE:—*P erbascum
gatum, Gratiola peruviana,

arvensis.

RUBIACEAE :—Opercularis varia, x*Sherar-
dia arvensis, Galium Gaudichaudii, *GC.
divaricatum, *G. murale.

CAMPANULACEAE:—W ahlenbergia
flora, W. Sieberi.

GOODENIACEAE :—Goedenia
Seaevola microcar pa.

BRUNONIACEAE:—Brunonia australis.

STYLIDIACEAE:—Swylidium graminifolium.

COMPOSITAE :—Lagenophora slipttata,
Olearia ramulosa, Cotula australis, *Soli-

(three

vir-
V eronica

vinet-

primulacea,

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

September 30, 1940

va sessilis, Erechtites arguta?, E. quadri-
dentata, Senecio hy poleucus, Cymbonotus
Lawsonianus, “Crypostemma calendu-
laceum, Gnaphalium japonicum, Leptor-
rhyncus squamaius, “Inula graveolens
(one plant), “Cirstum lanceolatum,
*Carduus tenutflorus, *Silybum Maria-

nus (Milk Thistle), x*Hypochoeris
radicata, *Picris echioides, *“Sonchus
oleraceous, *S. asper.

REFERENCE.

Jarrett, P. H., and Petrie, A. H. K.,
1929, “The Vegetation of the Black’s Spur
Region. A Study in the Ecology of Some
Australian Mountain Kucalyptus Forests. II.
Pyric Succession.” J. of Ecology, 17, 249.

Orchid Notes

By

HAROLD GOLDSACK.

At the South Australian Naturalists’ Wild
Flower Show, held on September 26, 1936,
two very interesting orchids were noticed in
the Monarto South School exhibit, arranged
by Mr. W. Giles.

The first, Prasophyllum occidentale, Rogers.
is a dwarf green-flowered plant. This orchid
has previously been found only at Streaky
Bay, from which locality the type forms were
described by Dr. R. 5. Rogers, who considered
it a distinctly western plant. It is most in-
teresting that this little orchid should span
the barriers of distance and physiographic
obstructions, and be found in another home
at Monarto South. The distance from Streaky
Bay to Monarto South is about 350 miles.
Another surprise was the discovery of Thely-
mitra megaclyptra, Fitzg. This is a very
handsome plant, somewhat similar to Thely-
mitra aristata, Lindl., put with a much larger
column hood. Some botanists consider this
orchid to be a variety of Th. aristata, Lindl.
(W. H. Nicholls, 1934, Vic. Nat., 51, 153).
However, the plant seen in the Monarto South
collection was sufficiently distinct to be
noticed in a vase of Th. aristata. Whether
we call it a species under the name of Thely-
mitra megcalypira, Fitzg., or label it as a
variety of Thelymiira aristata, Lindl., we
have to record the fact of this orchid’s first
appearance in South Australia. It is found
at Ararat, Stawell, and The Grampians in
Victoria, and also in New South Wales.

The following is a description of Thelymitra
megcaly ptra, Fitzg.

Plant of medium height. Leaf often withered
at time of flowering. Flowers fairly large,
lilac or pale blue. Mid lobe of column
yellowish, smooth, and much inflated. Peni-
cillate lobes not as high as crest of column.
(FitzGerald, 1878, Aust. Orchids, vol. 1.)
In the May issue of the “S.A. Naturalist,”
1940, a list of plants to be found about
Melrose included several orchids. Their
number can be added to as the result of a
visit by some members of the R.A.O.U. to
the locality on November 8, 1936. One of
the party, Mr. J. R. Somerville, collected
Thelymitra longifolia, Forst., and Pierostylis
pusilla, Rogers, about halfway up Mount Re-
markable. Dr. Rogers identified the plants
for Mr. Somerville. who later very kindly
forwarded me the specimens.

Melrose is the type locality for Prasophyl-
lum validum, Rogers, so this species can be
added to the list.

In a communication from Dr. Rogers, Mount
Remarkable is given as a locality for Ptero-
stylis robusta, Rogers.

Additional orchids recorded from
are:

Pterostylis robusta. Rogers.
Pterostylis pusilla, Rogers.
Prasophylum validum, Rogers.
Thelymitra longifolia, Forst.

Melrose

September 30, 1940

The

1940
Sept. 14—Pelican Point.
28—Liorsnell Gully.

Oct. 5—Aldgate.
7—¥Eden to Blackwood.
19—Largs Bay North.
26—Mylor (2/6)

Nov. 2—Belair to Mitcham.
9—Henley to Glenelg.
16—Paradise.
23—Mt. Lofty.
30—Blackwood.

Dec. 7—Brighton to Glenelg.

28—Outer Harbor.

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

EXCURSIONS

Train, 1.10 p.m.
Tram, 2 p.m.

Train, 1.14 p.m.
Train, 940 a.m.
Train, 1.10 p.m.

Motor, 1.30 p.m.
Train, 1.14 p.m.

Tram, 1.30 p.m.
Tram, 2 p.m.
Train, 1.14 p.m.

Train, 1.14 pm.

Train, 1.11 p.m.
Train, 9.5 a.m.

Field Naturalists’ Section

Shell Collecting Mr. W. G. Tucker
Botany Miss C. M. Eardley
Flora Mr. F. C. Payne
Orchids Mr. J. Ferries
Shells Mr. B. C. Cotton
Flora Mr. W. D. Wade
General Dr. M. T. Winkler
Beach Life Mr. G. Pattison
Ramble Mr. A. K. Beasley
Quarries Mr. R. Sprigg
Cultivated Flora Mr. E. Ashby
Seaweeds Mrs. R. W. Edmeades
Mud Flat Life Mr. F. K. Godfrev

iii

TRAM EXCURSIONS.—Meet in Grenfell Street, by

T. & G. Building.

TRAIN EXCURSIONS.—Will members obtain their tickets and meet on the train.

MOTOR EXCURSIONS.—Meet at the Town Hall,

EVENING

1940.
Sept. 17—“Ephemeral Plants” ...... Prof. J. B. Cleland
Oct. 15—‘Epacrids” : . Mr. E. H. Ising
“South Aus. Seaports” Mr. F. C. Martin

Nov. 19—Members’ Exhibit Evening.

MALACOLOGICAL SOCIETY:

1940.
Sept. 2—“‘Pyrenidae” wo. ce ee eee Mr. B. C. Cotton
16—“Conchometry” . Mr. B. C. Cotton
Oct. 21—“Fossil Mollusea”’ ..... .. .. Mr. R. Sprige
Nov. 4—“Muricidae” wu. wu... . Mr. B. C. Cotton
“Seaweeds”? icc see cen nes R. W. Edmeades
Dec. 2—“Volutidae”’ . Mr. F. Trigg

Mar.

Adelaide. Book with the Secretary or the Treasurer.

MEETINGS
1941.
Feb. 18—Conversazione, Lady Colton Hall, Y.W.C.A.

18—"Color”’ ..
“Simpson "Desert F lora,”

15—“Goodeneacae” wa i can
“Hills Flowers”

- Mr. A. K. Newbery
Mr. R. L. Crocker
Dr. M. T. Winkler
Mr. W. D. Wade

Apr.

Evening Meetings

1941.
Mar. 3—‘Trochidae” 0. wu. wen ue. Mr. B. C. Cotton
17—“Land Snails”... ... Mr. W. M. Nielsen
April 7—‘“Shells Through the Ages”
Mrs. L. A. Elliott
21—“Hydro0z0a”? wu. ns eee ee. Mr, FL K, Godfrey
May 5—“Turridae” ou. wu. uu... Mr, B. C. Cotton
19> Conals’Meysiniy, tome “Miss D. M. Matthews

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST September 30, 1940

FIELD NATURALISTS’ SECTION OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY.

Publications of the Section.

PUBLICATION No. 1.
The National Parks of Australia, by Wm. H. Selway.
(Out of print.)

PUBLICATION No. 2.
Geological and Botanical Notes on the Victor Harbour District,
by
Prof. J. B. Cleland, M.D., and Prof. Walter Howchin, F.G.S.

Price 1/-.

PUBLICATION No. 3.
Botany and Geology of Coast from Outer Harbour to Sellick’s Beach,
by
Prof. J. B. Cleland, M.D., and C. Fenner, D.Sc.
Price 1/6.

PUBLICATION No. 4.
NATIONAL PARK.
Price 1/6.
“THE TOOLACH WALLABY FILM.”

Being a record of the last known living specimen of the Toolach wallaby (Macropus
greyii) now in captivity. Copies available. Price £4.

MALACOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

PUBLICATION No. 1.
“A SYSTEMATIC LIST OF SOUTH AUSTRALIAN GASTROPODA.”
By Bernard C. Cotton and Frank K. Godfrey.

Price 1/6.

WESLEY M. NIELSEN,
Hon. Secretary,

C/o Royal Society’s Rooms, North Terrace, Adelaide.

Obtainable at Rigby Ltd., 16 Grenfell Street, Adelaide, S.A.

E, 3. McAlister & Co., Printers, 24 Blyth Street, Adelaide.

VOLUME 20, No. 4.
NOVEMBER 30, 1940.

Registered at the G.P.O.,
Adelaide, for transmission

through the post as a
periodical,

PAPER NAUTILUS

Price: One Shilling.

CONTENTS

SEA SHORE SHELLS
MISTLETOE

COLOUR IN BIRDS’
EYES

ORIGINAL FLORA
OF ADELAIDE

SNAIL ATTACKING
RUBBER TREES

GIANT SEA
URCHINS

The South Australian

NATURALIST

JOURNAL OF THE FIELD NATURALISTS’ SECTION OF THE
ROYAL SOCIETY OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA.

“ THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

The Field Naturalists’ Section

of The Royal Society of South Australia

OFFICERS, 1940-41.
Patron: LADY MURIEL BARCLAY-HARVEY.
Chairman: H. GREAVES, Esq.
Vice-Chairmen: DR. M. SCHNEIDER and MR. B. C. COTTON.

Hon. Secretary: Mr. W. M. NIELSEN.
(Phone C.3845)

Hon. Treasurer: Miss M. EMERSON,
c/o W.E.A.. University, Adelaide. ’Phone: C.3355.

Hon. Librarian: Miss D. M. MATTHEWS.
Hon. Magazine Secretary: Mr. A. K. BEASLEY.
Hon. Auditors: Messrs. W. D. REED, F.C.P.A., and P. B. BECK.
Hon. Editor S.A. Naturalist: Mr. A. MOLINEUX.

Committee:

The PRESIDENT and VICE-PRESIDENTS of the Royal Society of South Australia

(ex officio), Professor J. B. CLELAND, Dr. M. T. WINKLER, Messrs. A. J. WILEY,

A. J. MORISON, A. K. NEWBERY, J. FERRIES, Mrs. A. R. ALTMANN, Miss
A. ADCOCK.

Herbarium Committee:

Professor J. B. CLELAND, Dr. M. T. WINKLER, Messrs. W. D. WADE, W. M.
NIELSEN, Misses C. M. EARDLEY and J. STOKES.

No special knowledge necessary to become a member, MEMBERS are urged to take Receptacles for

November 30, 1946

the carrying
of Specimens. At each outing every member is expected to

only a keen interest in Nature.

THIS Section was founded in 1883 for the purpose of
atfording observers and lovers of Natural History regular
and frequent opportunities for discussing those special sub-
jects in which they are naturally interested; for the Ex.
hibition of Specimens; and for promoting Observations in
the Field by means of Exeursions to various collecting
grounds around the Metropolis.

THE MONTHLY MEETINGS of the Section for Lectures,
the Reading of Papers, and Exhibition of Specimens are held
on the third Tuesday, at 8 p.m., at the Royal Sogiety’s Rooms,
Institute Buildings, North Terrace, Adelaide.

MEMBERS are requested to invite their friends to these
Monthly Meetings.

VISITORS CORDIALLY INVITED.

THE ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION (7/6) dates from August
1, and ean be sent to Mr. E. H. Ising, Railway Station,
Adelaide.

collect Specimens wherever possible, and to hand them to the
Leader for identification, ete.

EXCURSIONS. For meeting places, see particulars inside
back cover, Members desirous of attending motor exeur-
sions should advise the Hon. Secretary at least three days
before the outing, to enuzble sufficient accommodation to be
provided,

THE HON. SECRETARY. All letters to be addressed c/o
Royal Society’s Rooms, Institute Buildings, North Terrace,
Adelaide. Letters will be collected regularly.

F.N.S. HERBARIUM. The Herbarium is kept in the Botany
Department of the University, and is open to members. Mr,
E. H. Ising (Hon. Secretary).

“THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST.” The Journal
of the Section. Editor. Mr. A. Molineux, 31 Coorara Avenue.
South Payneham, Free to members. Exchanges may he ar-
ranged. Extra copies, 1/- each.

November 30, 1940.

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN

NATURALIST Page Forty-Nine

Sea Shore Shells Of South Australia

By

BERNARD C, COTTON AND FRANK K. GODFREY
(Conchologist and Henorary Assistant Conchologist, S.A. Museum)

Sea shore shells and snail shells are the
vacated homes of certain soft-bodied
animals, grouped under the name Mollusca
(Latin mollis, meaning soft). Actually the
shell is more than a home to the living
creature, being part and parcel of its very
self. Every mollusc, on emergence from the
egg, bears a tiny, glassy shell. The soft
animal parts and the shell develop together,
and are so connected that an enforced separa-
tion means death.

Certain of the Mollusca, for example, the
Sea Slugs, have no shell when full grown,
although beginning life with a rudimentary
shell, which does not develop. Others, such
as the Cuttles, possess a shelly plate, which
is imbedded in the soft manile covering. This
makes it clear, from the molluscan viewpoint,
that an external shell is not of chief im-
portance, although it may he of decided value
as a shield to protect the soft body from the
attacks of aggressive animals.

The Mollusca were very ancient inhabitants
of the earth, and their fossil shells are found
in geological strata, whose age in years
sounds almost astronomical. At that very
early time the shells of Limpets were not
much unlike those which cover the Limpets
to-day. Many groups of the Mollusca, how-
ever, have become extinct, or have under-
gone extensive modification during the long
interval, and others have arisen.

In every shabitable place, in water and on
land, the Mollusca have become adapted to
their environment and established themselves.
Each zone of depth of the sea and its surface,
the sea shore left dry by the tide twice daily,
cach river, pond, forest, desert, or mountain
range, has a mollusean population. — Fresh
water tanks, cisterns, water meters, and horse
troughs, yield their quota of pond snails, and
flower borders know the presence of snails
and slugs.

Reckoning as species, fossil and recent, 75
per cent. of the Mollusca are univalve, or
have the shell in one piece, as Cowry, Sea
Ear and Whelk. Twenty per cent. are bi-

valve, the shell being in two pieces or valves,
as Cockle and Oyster. The shell of Chiton
has eight valves. When we reckon the Mol-
lusca in terms of individuals we find that
the bivalves lead.

In the larval stage, that period when separate
existence commences, the young molluses of
the sea can keep afloat by means of waving
hairy processes called cilia, and are borne to
and fro by the tides and currents. Some
species are free-swimming in this manner for
only a very short time, and settle on the sea
bottom, where they drop their larval charac-
teristics and develop like their parents. These
are largely littoral forms with a limited dis-
tribution. Other species remain afloat much
longer, some even perhaps for days or weeks,
and are carried great distances. The mol-
luscan population variety of ocean islands is
thus augmented by these tiny travellers.
Myriads fail to arrive at a place suitable for
their development and so perish, their fragile
shells sinking and becoming part of a deposit
forever increasing over the bed of the deep
sea.

The mollusean shell is mainly composed of
pure carbonate of lime, with a very slight
proportion of phosphate of lime, and an
organic base allied to chitin, known as con-
chiolin. The conchiolin forms a sort of
membranous framework for the shell; it soon
disappears in dead specimens, leaving the
shell much more brittle than it was when
alive.

Nacreous shells, such as Hammer Oyster and
Sea [ar, are iridescent, due to a peculiar
lineation of their surface, and are the least
permanent. Porcellanous shells, like the
Southern Olive, will stand harder treatment.
Most shells have a membranous structure.
The Razor Shell is a rare form of cellular
structure composed of a multitude of fairly
regular hexagonal prisms.

Beaches not far apart often vary considerably
in the variety of shells found cast up. This
is accounted for by the varying nature of
the coast line below low tide mark. Sand,

©

Beaked Cockle Ark Shell y Dog Cockle Hammer Oyster Razer Shell
Scacoleda illepida Sarbatia pistachia Glycymeris radians Malleus meridionalis Pinna dolabrate
ae ea

Port Lincoln Oyster Murray Mussel Common Scallop Fan Shell Prickly Foa ‘
Ostrea sinuata Hyridella australis Notovola alba | Equichlamys bifrons Mimacklamys asperrimus
i

Thorny Oyster Perforated Oyster Chestnut Mussei Horse Mussel Black Mussel
Spondylus tenellus Monia ione Modiolus inconstans Modiolus areolatus Modiolus pulex
See ee ee ee Sg ee

Beaked Mussel Rock Shell Giant Cockle Scale Ribbed Cockie Rough Cockle
Brachyodantes erosus Cleidothaerus albidus Eucrassatelia verconis Cardita crassicosta Chama ruderalis
er a er en Ee EEE SR

Heart Cackle Wheel Cockle . | Frilled Cockle Sand Cockle Milk Sione Cockle B.CC
Cardium racke#ti Circe weediagi Callanaitis disjecta Katelysia scalarina Vercrupis gclactites

November 30, 1940.

rock, and weed, encourage and harbour dif-
ferent forms, and it is interesting to note
during a walk of a mile or two how one
predominant species gives way to another.

One of our collectors, with years of seafaring
to his credit, points out that in stormy
weather the beaches are swept by every tide,
until the wind swings round and blows ocff-
shore, when a lopping sea drops its load of
weed and shell on to the beach. That is the
time to get busy.

It is quite easy to collect 100 different species
of shells from the beaches near Adelaide. If
the quest be persisted in, say, from Outer
Harbour to Marino Rocks, 300 species may
be secured. Should the range be extended to
include the ocean beaches of the State, the
number may be brought to 500. The known
species of shells in the waters and on land
in South Australia total about 1,600. Many
live in deep water, out of reach of most col-
lectors, and storms fai] to cast up their dead
shells. To those who desire to limit the
field, we recommend the sand spit and
adjacent mud flats at Outer Harbour, next
upstream from the Royal Yacht Squadron
harbour, where probably 300 species may be
listed.

The shells here described are those commonly
brought to the South Australian Museum for
identification.

The following lines were written more than
80 years ago by Professor Edward Forbes :—
“To sit down by the sea-side at the com-
mencement of ebb, and watch the shore
gradually uncovered by the retiring water,
is as if a great sheet of hieroglyphics—
strange picture writing—were heing unfolded
before us. Each line of the rock and strand
has its peculiar characters inscribed upon it
in living figures, and each figure is a mys-
tery, which, though we may describe the
appearance in precise and formal terms, has
a meaning in its life and being beyond the
wisdom of man to unravel. How many and
how curious problems concern the com-
monest of the sea-snails creeping over the
wet seaweed? In how many points of view
may its history be considered? There are
its origin and development—the mystery of
its generation—the phenomena of its growth
—all concerning each apparently insignifi-

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN

NATURALIST Page Fifty-One
cant individual; there is the history of the
species—the value of its distinctive marks—
the features which link it with higher and
lower creatures—the reason why it takes its
stand where we place it in the scale of
creation—the course of its distribution—the
causes of its diffusion—its antiquity or
novelty—the mystery (deepest of mysteries)
of its first appearance—the changes of the
outline of continents and of oceans which
have taken place since its advent, and their
influence on its own wanderings. Some of
these questions may he clearly and fairly
solved; some of them may be theoretically
or hypothetically accounted tor; some are
beyond all the subtlety of human intellect to
unriddle. 1 cannot revolve in my mind the
many queries which the consideration of the
most insignificant of organised creatures,
whether animal or vegetable, suggests, with-
out feeling that the rejection of a mystery,
because it is a mystery, is the most besotted
form of human pride.”

Beaked Cockle. Scaeoleda illepida.

The rostrum or beak is at the rear end and
shows that the creature burrows deeply and
remains buried for a long time. The fleshy
siphons which convey water to aerate the gills
have become longer in order to reach the
water above, and the shell has become
lenethened behind for their partial protec-
tion, there being otherwise insufficient room in
the shell to withdraw the whole of the long
siphons. The valves at this point do not
fit closely, indicating that owing to the con-
stant protrusion of the siphons, the edges of
the shell cannot meet, there being always
a slight gape. Shell colour, greenish grey.
Common at Middleton. About one inch.

Ark Shell. Barbatia pistachia.

The rounded part is the front end. The
numerous radial riblets and fine concentric

grooves give a somewhat criss-cross ap-
pearance. The periostracum or covering is
bristly, especially at the posterior end.

Colour, brown, or whitish, famtly tinted with
pale brown. The hinge teeth are small, in
a straight row. Lives in holes and crevices
of rocks. The name Ark is adapted from the
sroup name Arca, which signifies a chest,
from the supposed resemblance to Noah’s

Ark. Length, 2 inches.

Suaset Shell
Telling alVinetla

Tusk Shell
Dentalium bednalli

Round Back Sea Ear
Haliotis cyclobates

Wavy Winkle
Austrocochlea concamerata

Pheasant Shell
Phasianella australis

Double Rayed Sunset
Soletellina biradiata

—— —————————

Post Horn
Spirula spirula

Keyhole Limpet
Sophismalepas nigrita

Adelaide Winkle
Austrocochlea adelaidae

Variegated Pheasant
Phasianella angasi

Goolwa Cockle
Plebidonax deltoides

Squid Pen
Sepioteuthis australis

Common Limpet
Cellana tramoserica

Granular Ear Shell
Stomatella imbricata

Black Crow
Nerita melanotragus

Southern Cockle
Mactra australis

Cuttle Bone
Sepia novaehollandiae

Hoop Shell
Thalotia conica

Common Warrener
Turbo undulatus

Screw Shell
Turritella iredalei

Wentletrap
Scala delicatula

White Cockle
Macira pura

Port Elliot Chiton
Poneroplax costata

Ribbed Winkle
Austrocochlea torri

Heavy Top Shell
Turbo torquatus

B.C.

November 30, 1940.

Dog Cockle.

Oval. Yellowish-brown, stained at the side
with reddish or violet-brown. Hinge teeth
numerous and small, in two series, one on
each side of the umbo or beak. Gregarious,
in sandy situations. Length, 13 inches.

Glycymeris radians.

Hammer Oyster. Malleus meridionalis.

The illustration depicts two wings or ears,
and the one set at a lower level is at the rear
end or posterior. Sometimes the front wing
or the rear wing may be absent, for the shell
is very variable. The animal lives an-
chored in sand by its byssus or fleshy root
fibres (like the roots of a plant), which pass
through a notch near the hinge line of the
right valve. Interior pearly. Length, 4
inches.

Razor Shell.

The largest of our bivalves. Lives vertically,
partially embedded by its apex in the soft
bottom of sheltered bays, just below low tide
mark, moored by the soft silky fibres of its
byssus, which spread out in the sandy mud.
The animal is good to eat; but it requires
five or six hours’ stewing, and then it is not
so tender as a Scallop. Length, 8 inches or
more.

Pinna dolabrata.

Port Lincoln Oyster. Ostrea sinuata.

Sold in shops for food. It is said to be in
prime condition from the fourth to the
seventh year, and rarely to live beyond its
fifteenth year. An oyster of one inch is
about one year old, it increases annually
by one inch until about the fifth year;
subsequent age is indicated by thickening of
the shell, the shelly deposit being added next
to the animal parts. The flat top is the right
valve. About 4 inches.

Murray Mussel. Hyridella australis.

Probably the principal food of the River
Murray natives, as evidenced by the accumu-
lation of shell on the river banks. The shell
substance is pearly under a heavy periostra-
cum, and when the latter has disappeared by
weathering, the shell heaps are visible at a
mile or more, glistening in the sunshine.
Length, 3 inches.

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN

NATURALIST Page Fifty-Three

Common Scallop. Notovola alba.
Right valve deeply convex, with sixteen ribs,
white inside and out, stained with brown or
red. Left valve flat, whitish, stained with
red inside and out. About 4 inches. Good
to eat and appetising. Tasmania cans and
exports Scallops, but the industry is not yet
established in South Australia, although we
have plentiful supplies between Cape Jervis
and Kangaroo Island.

Fan Shell. Equichlamys bifrons.

The two convex valves are not quite equal
in size, the left valve slightly overlapping
the right. The principal ribs number about
seven, with numerous smaller ones, and
granular sculpture between them. The ribs
are dark purple or rose colour. Interior of
shel] is very dark purple. Scallops are good
eating. Put them in a lid on top of a hot
stove, where they die almost at once, and
the valves open. They may be left to stew
in the salt water contained in the shell, until
it is nearly all exhausted, when they are
taken off. Next remove the thin tough mantle
skin cover, and eat the rest hot with pepper
and vinegar. There are immense beds of
these tasty morsels between Cape Jervis and
Penneshaw, and probably in many other
situations round our coasts. In life they flit
about in a zig-zag course, like submarine
butterflies. This is accomplished by slightly
opening and then rapidly closing the valves.
Average adult measures 3 inches.
Prickly Fan. Mimachlamys asperrimus.
The valves bear prickly scales and feel like
a file when the fingers are drawn over them
from the rounded edge upward to the straight
hinge line. The auricles or ears are of dif-
ferent sizes, the one at the front end being
the larger. The principal ribs number about
thirty, each having a smaller one on each
side. Colour may be yellow, orange, brown,
searlet, or purplish. About 2 inches.

Thorny Oyster. Spondylus tenellus.
The radial ridges bear spines of the same
substance as the shell itself. Colour, scarlet-
rose, scales pale. During life the shell is
attached by its right valve to rocks or other
objects, consequently the single valves cast
up are usually left valves. | Complete
examples are often cast up at Port Lincoln.
About 3 inches.

Worm Shell Split Worm A Violet Snail Cap Shell Spiral Shelf Limpet :
Yermicularia sipho Siliquaria australis lanthina violacea Sakiaicaniea Sigapatella calyptractormis

>
4
Sand Snail Ear Snail Brown Cowry Black Cowry Helmet Shell ‘
Uber conicum Ectosinum zonale Notocypraea verconis Zoila thersites Hypocassis bicarinata
Triangle Murex Dog Whelk Tulip Shell < Spindle Shell 4S) |Seuthera Olive
Pterynotus triformis Neothais textiliosa Fasciolaria australasia Colus australis Oliva australis
?

Smooth Mitre Southern Mitre Wavy Volute Lightning Volute Lyre Shell
Mitra glabra Mitra australis Amorena undulata Ericusa fulgetrum Lyria mitraeformis

Sea Bubble Pond Snall he Left Handed Pond Snail Amber Snail Helix aspersa B.C.c.
Bultaria tenuissima Lymnaea subaquatilis Amerianna tenuistriata Succinea australis Common Snail

November 30, 1940. THE

Perforated Oyster. Monia tone.

Irregularly rounded, flat, thin. Colour,
ouiside white, inside green. Lives affixed to
Razor Shells and pthers by a horny plug,
which passes through a large perforation in
the right valve. About 14 inches. Shape of
shell varies according to the adjacent sur-
face. Is not related to the Port Lincoln
Oyster, and is not edible.

Chestnut Mussel. Modiolus inconstans.

Colour, chestnut. Lives many together,
moored by its byssal threads in mud between
tide marks. About 14 inches.

Horse Mussel. Modiolus areolatus.
Lives a solitary existence and is sometimes
cast up in sponges or partly embedded in

clumps of worm-tubes (Serpulae). The
narrow end is the front. A beard-like cover-
ing is usually present on the rear half. Shell

colour, chestnut-brown. Leneth, 4 inches.
Black Mussel. Modiolus pulex.

Gregarious in masses on rocks and jetty piles.
It is moored by root-like byssal threads.
Front end narrow. Shell colour, bluish
under a black periostracum. _ Interior
brownish-blue or bluish-white, slightly
iridescent. Length, one inch. Mixed up in
the clumps of Black Mussels there is often
present a tiny pea-shaped bivalve shell, colour
whitish splashed with pink, named Kellia
australis,

Beaked Mussel. Brachyodontes erosus.
Variable in shape, with hooked beaks and a
variable number of radial thick granulose
ribs. Colour, brown, often tinted opal-green;
interior dark purplish. Lives, usually in
colonies, attached by the root-like byssus to
rocks. The byssus passes through a gap in
the valves near the front narrow end. About
2 inches.

Rock Shell. Cleidothaerus albidus.
Very solid, white outside, light-greenish and
somewhat pearly within. Lives with the right
valve cemented to stones or other objects in
shallow water. About 2 inches.

Giant Cockle. Eucrassatella verconis.
Posterior end attenuated and angular; front
rounded. _Periostracum or shell covering

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

Page Fifty-Five

brown, thick, persistent. Left valve with
two principal hinge teeth, right valve with
three, the posterior one more or less rudi-
mentary. Beaks rose tinted. Shell smooth
or with concentric ribbing near the beaks.
About 3} inches. The heaviest bivalve Mol-
lusc now inhabiting South Australian waters.
Aborigines of the Coorong and Encounter
Bay used it as a knife or hand axe.

Scale Ribbed Cockle. Cardita crassicosta.
Radiating ribs very strong, raised into
arched scales. Colour, red or pink, occasion-
ally yellow. Lives in shallow water, moored
by the root-like byssal threads. About 2
inches.

Rough Cockle. Chama ruderalis,
Concentrically frilled with wavy rows of
short irregular tile-like spines. White, some-
times tinged with pink. About 14 inches.

Heart Cockle. Cardium racketti.
Plump, with many fine radial ribs. White
or yellowish under a dirty-grey covering.
Beaks pink to purple. About 2 inches. Most
abundant on Kangaroo Island and Yorke
Peninsula.

Wheel Cockle. Circe weedingi.
Almost flat, slightly corrugated concen-
trically. Colour, cream or very light fawn.
About 2 inches. More common in Spencer

Gulf than in Gulf of St. Vincent.

Frilled Cockle. Callanaitis disjecta.
About ten concentric, flesh-coloured frills,
which are radially lined on the under side.
Lives in sand near low tide mark. About
24 inches.

Sand Cockle. Katelysia sealarina.
Fairly regular, concentric ridges, crossed by
crowded incised lines. Creamy white, freely
dotted with light brown in zig-zag. Lives in
sand at extreme low-tide. About 14 inches.
Used for food, fresh and pickled, and also
as bait for fishing.

Milk Stone Cockle. Venerupis galactites,
Somewhat inflated, beaks towards the front
end. Colour, milk-white, or greyish, or
ereyish-brown. © Closely lined criss-cross.
} inches. The beak i
inches. € beaks are sometimes

About 14
tipped with purple. A littoral shell,

Page Fifty-Six

Sunset Shell. Tellina albinella.

Oval, rather thin, flattish, shining, front end
rounded. A slight ridge from the beaks
obliquely to the rear end. Rose colour,
pale-orange, or white, the last usually having
pale-orange or yellowish near the beaks.
About 24 inches. Sandy beaches, but most
abundant south of Middleton.

Double-rayed Sunset. Soletellina
biradiata.

Gaping at both ends. Colour yellowish, with
purple to reddish at the beaks, also two
whitish radial rays at the hinder end, which
is slightly angulated. Often seen, between
tide marks, with the rear end slightly pro-
truding from the wet sand. About 24 inches.

Goolwa Cockle. Plebidonax deltoides.

Wedge-shaped, the rounded end in front.
Colour greenish, tinged with rose or some-
times blue. About 2 inches. Abundant on
the sandy shores extending southward from
Middleton; also Port Lincoln and Kangaroo
Island. It is eaten fresh and _ pickled.
Greatly valued as bait, and is sold in Adelaide
shops for that purpose. Aborigines work
their toes in the wet sand searching for these
cockles.

Southern Cockle. Mactra australis.

Rather triangular, rounded in front. Con-
centrically lined, very dense. Glistening,
banded with light-grey and violet beneath a
pale-brown transparent covering. About 14
inches. Very common on sandy beaches near

Adelaide.

White Cockle. Mactra pura.
Rounded front side slightly shorter than the
rear. Ivory-white beneath a _ light-brown
silky covering. About 2 inches. An attrac-
tive shell and quite common on sandy shores.
Plentifu] towards the Outer Harbour.

Tusk Shell. Dentalium bednalli.
Shell curved, tubular, open at both ends.
Seven strong, rounded ribs, which tend to
split near the larger (front) end. The
smaller opening serves as outlet for organic
waste. The animal has neither eyes nor ten-
tacles. Lives embedded obliquely in mud
or sand, with only the smaller end of the shell
projecting into the water. About one inch.

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN

NATURALIST Navember 30, 1940
Paper Nautilus. Argonauta nodosa.
(On cover).

The animal has eight arms and is related io
the Octopus. The males are much smaller
than the females. The “shell,” which is
secreted from the glandular membranes of
the dorsal arms of the female, functions as
an egg-nest as well as a partial retreat for
the female argonaut. The male has no
shell. The occupant can quit the shell at
will, as it is not a molluscan shell in the
same sense as that of Pearly Nautilus, Cowry
or Cockle. The ribs of the shell are regu-
larly broken up into tubercles, usually rather
coarse. Greatest length, up to (exception-
ally) 10 inehes. We were formerly of
opinion that nodosa was the only species in
South Australian seas, but we are now per-

suaded to the contrary. A_ well-known
and experienced collector, on Troubridge
Shoal, near Edithburgh, in three years
took more than 500 Paper Nautilus
shells, of which about 10, he — says,

were Argonauta argo. This species is com-
pressed, having the keel very narrow; ribs
close, numerous and bifurcating. The
tubercles on the ribs, which distinguish
nodosa, are absent. Collectors who may be
fortunate enough to take the animal with the
shell, of either species, are invited to put
the body into spirit and lodge it safely in
the South Australian Museum, where its
presence is desired. At the same time it is
hoped than an opportunity will be given to
view the shell, in order to attach the correct
label.

Post Horn. Spirula spirula.

Most molluscan shells contain the soft animal
parts. Spirula is an exception, the shell
being internal. Shell spirally coiled, with
several chambers, each partition or septum
having a convex face towards the initial
chamber. About one inch. Spirula lives in
very deep water and dead shells are carried
great distances by ocean currents.

Squid Pen. Sepioteuthis australis.
The common Squid of South Australia is
eaten by Southern Europeans here, and
fishermen use it as bait. Body almost
diamond-shape, with eight short arms and two
long tentacular arms, all bearing suckers.
Head small, eyes large. Beaks, in the centre
of the circle formed by the arms, closely

November 30, 1940. THE
resemble the beaks of a parrot, except that
the lower hook closes over the upper ore.
The “pen” (equivalent to a shell) is internal,
feather-shaped and somewhat horny in
character.

Cuttle Bone. Sepia novaehollandiae.
The common Cuttle has eight short arms

and two long tentacular arms, all with
suckers. Head broad, eyes large. Cuttle
Bone (or internal shell) is about three-

quarters of the animal’s length, and is mainly
of soft, porous shell-matter, with a strong,
oblique spine at the rear end. Cuttle Bone
about 6 inches.

Port Elliot Chiton. Poneroplax costata.

Eight overlapping segments or valves, held
in position by a large muscular girdle. Colour
green and brown, with cream markings. All
valves, except the front one, have on each
side a diagonal rib running from the central
posteriorly placed mucro to the front margin.
Length, 3 inches. On the surface of rocks in
exposed positions. Chiton Rocks, near Port
Elliot, were so named after this Mollusc.
Poneroplax albida differs in having a
wrinkled appearance, and is often found
where only the highest tides can reach it.

Round Back Sea Ear.
cyclobates.

Nearly circular, with a round back. Spiral
apex elevated. Colour consisis of broad
radial patches or stripes of chestnut, green,
flesh colour or whitish. About three turns
of the shell, the last and largest with the last
five holes, which have their uses, open. In-
terior silvery, with red and green reflections.
About 2% inches. Live attached to rocks or
other shells.

Haliotis

‘

Keyhole Limpet. Sophismalepas nigrita.
Both extremities slightly elevated. Orifice
nearly central or a little behind the middle.
Colour, dark brown, rayed with darker.
Animal, rose colour above, yellow below,
snout brown, tentacles orange. About half-
an-inch. ‘Alive on the underside of rocks.

Common Limpet. Cellana tramoserica.
Some are much more elevated than others.
Colour variable, usually yellowish-brown,
with white-spotted, dark-brown or black rays

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

Page Fifty-Seven

Radial ribs close-set. Interior glossy, with
greenish opalescent gleams. About 2 inches.

Hoop Shell.

Conical of about seven turns, wound with
many spiral threads. Colour pinkish or
greyish-white, with crimson apex, and
numerous close longitudinal dark reddish-
brown stripes. About three-fourths of an
inch. Very common on sandy beaches.

Thalotia conica.

\
Ribbed Winkle. Austrocochlea torri.

Conical, of four to five turns, with about ten
weak spiral ribs. Dull grey or whitish.
Mouth black-margined within, and notched
where the ribs terminate. About one inch.
Very common on exposed rocks.

Wavy Winkle. Austrocochlea
concamerata.

Roundly conical of five turns, with about
fifteen strong spiral ribs. Colour, yellow
and black, — tessellated or longitudinally
striped. Mouth margined inside with yellow
and black, followed by a white thickening;
the aperture contracted by two tooth-like
prominences at the lowest part. About one
inch. Lives, many together, under stones
between tide marks, on rocky shores, like
Marino Rocks.

Adelaide Winkle. Austrocochlea
adelaidae.

Roundly conical, of five turns, with shallow
spiral grooves. A dark shell with fine white
lines crossing the spirals. The small top turns,
when beach worn, are orange coloured. About
half an inch. Lives in rocky situations.

Granular Ear Shell.
imbricata.
Ear-shaped, creamy-white with scattered dots
of reddish-brown. Interior silvery, iridescent.
About 14 inches. ‘Alive on stones under
rocks.

Stomatella

Common Warrener. Turbo undulatus.
Top shaped, bluish-green with longitudinal
white zig-zag streaks. About four spiral
turns, faintly grooved. Operculum or trap-
door calcareous, solid, white. About 2 inches.
Common in rocky localities. Boiled and eaten
with pepper and vinegar, the animal is good

food.

Page Fifty-Eight THE

Heavy Top-shell. Turbo torquatus.

Spirally depressed, about four bulging spiral
turns, with numerous rounded ridges crossed
by a multitude of longitudinal rough, flaky
lines of growth. Colour, dirty greenish-

grey. Base, spirally perforate to the apex,
white. Mouth pearly within. Operculum

solid, white, with ear-like prominences. Up
to 5 inches. In rocky situations, chiefly on
ocean shores.

Pheasant Shell.

Spirally elongated, rather thin, smooth, of
about eight convex turns. Mouth pear-
shaped. Operculum shelly, bluish-white,
spiral on inner side, a long rounded
prominence on outer side. About 3 inches.
Brilliant coloration, the pattern extremely
variable, tints of red, rose, and pink are
common, cream is rarer. Common all along
the shores of Southern Australia. Lives in the
midst of a light green sea-plant called Cymo
docea australis.

Phasianella australis.

Variegated Pheasant. Phasianella

angasi.

Much smaller than the last named, spiral
turns narrower, shell thicker, more variable
in shape. Colour, reddish and greyish
bands, and numerous zig-zag or dotted mark-
ings of darker colour and an intrusive pattern
of lighter colour on the red. Up to one inch.
Ocean beaches; very common at Middleton,
where the lip of the shell is usually broken.

Black Crow.

Back rounded, spire low, of three turns. Very
shallow grooves, criss-cross with very many
growth lines. Colour black; mouth white
like porcelain, with two or three tooth-like
projections in the middle, and a larger one
on the rounded inner edge. Operculum pale
purple, granulate on the outer face. One
inch, Lives under stones between tide marks.

Nerita melanotragus.

Screw Shell. Turritella iredalei.

Gradually tapering to a point. About seven-
teen turns bearing two prominent ribs,
spirally wound. Colour, brown in_ life;
beach specimens almost white. Nearly 2
inches. Common.

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN

NATURALIST Novemher 30, 1940

Wentletrap. Scala delicatula.
Elongate, tapering, about eleven spiral turns
almost separated by a deep spiral groove
(suture), with nearly twenty longitudinal
prominent thin ribs. Translucent white.
Scearcely one inch.

Worm Shell.
Wormlike, coiled, sometimes in colonies,
often attached to other shells. Brownish, with
rugged growth lines. Spiral turns, irregu-
larly twisted. About 14 inches, occasionally
larger.

Vermicularia sipho.

Split Worm.

Worm-like, tubular, coiled, about five turns,
with a longitudinal split formed by a series
of perforations. Reddish-brown in __ life
(beach specimens whitish). |About 3 inches.
Lives in purple coloured sponges, which are
sometimes cast up and common. on Sellick’s

Beach.
Violet Snail.

Rounded, thin, fragile, of about four turns.
Colour violaceous—white on the depressed
spire, uniform violet on the base and about
the mouth. Scarcely one inch. These “blind
snails of the sea” live in myriads, floating
with the mouth of the shell uppermost, in
the warm and temperate oceans, each at-
tached to one end of a long gelatinous
raft or float, filled with bubbles of air. To
the undersurface of this float the egg-
capsules are attached. They feed on small
jelly fishes. When touched, they exude a
violet fluid which clouds the water around.

Siliquaria australis.

Ianthina violacea.

Cap Shell.

Cap shaped, apex to the rear and directed
backwards. Grooved longitudinally. Colour,
pale reddish, beach specimens white. — In-
terior like porcelain, reddish-brown in centre

Sabia conica.

and white on margin. One inch. Lives
attached to other shells,
Shelf Limpet. Sigapatelln

calyptraeformis.

Slightly convex, rounded, thin, yellowish-
brown, beach examples whitish. Interior
with a shining white basal plate or shelf.
Scarcely one inch. Lives attached to stones
or other shells.

November 30, 1940.

Sand Snail. Uber conicum.

Conical, fawn colour, of five turns, the last
turn disproportionately large. Mouth more
than half the height of shell. Basal perfora-
tion small. About 14 inches. Between tide
marks; its burrow in the sand has a raised
roof, and at one end lives the Sand Snail.
The eggs are arranged in collar-like wide
bands formed of sand incorporated with a
velatinous material. These ege bands are
often cast up in the spring.

Ear Snail. Ectosinuim zonale.
Ear shaped, only slightly convex, of about
three turns, the first two very small. White;
living specimens have a yellowish covering.
About one inch. Animal is much larger
than the shell and not retractile within it.

Brown Cowry. Notocypraea verconis.

Nearly oval, the broad end is at the rear.
Highly polished, chocolate brown, margins
whitish with numerous smeared dark brown
spots. Base white, mouth as long as the
shell with a tooth-like arrangement nearly
the whole length, about 27 teeth on the right
margin sloping into the aperture. Water to
aerate the gills is received through the notch
at the front, the waste water being dis-
charged by way of the posterior notch. About
one inch, On the underside of rocks just
beyond low tide. Other kinds of small
Cowries are spotted or banded.

Black Cowry. Zoila thersites.
Large, hump backed. Heavily splashed on
the back with dark reddish-brown and cream
between the splashes. Entire circumference
of base nearly black. Teeth white, about 27
on the right side; only a few teeth at the
front end on the left side. Nearly 3 inches.
On sponges in a few feet of water and taken
therefrom in long handled nets. The Paper
Shell Cowry is the immature form and is
more pear-shaped. Animal is black.

Helmet Shell. Hypocassis bicarinata.

The notched end is the front. Light fawn
and white, circled by spiral lines of dark
brown alternating with white; about six
brown bands on the reflected outer-lip.
Closely longitudinally lined. The shell has
five turns. About 3 inches. Burrows in
sand which helps to retain the polish.

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

Page Fifty-Nine

Triangle murex. Pterynotus triformis.
Angularly elongate; triangular when viewed
with the spire in the foreground. Six turns
ending in a frill. Mouth oval with a long,

narrow, curving canal at the base. Colour.
brownish to deep purple. About 3 inches.
Closely related species in the Mediter-

ranean provided the purple of the ancients,
the same species to-day are sold for food on
the coast of the Adriatic.

Dog Whelk. Neothais textiliosa.
Oval, swollen, of about 34 turns, the last
turn large. Yellowish-white, and sometimes
pinkish-yellow above the basal notch, About
ten spiral ribs, faintly cut by longitudinal

grooves. Mouth oval, outer lip grooved in-
side. About 3 inches. On rocks at low
water.

Tulip Shell. Fasciolaria australasia.
Spindle-shaped, swollen, shining, dark
brown, of about six turns, well rounded,

spire high. Three plaits on the central
column, About 4 inches. Amongst sea
grasses at about low tide. Beach rolled
shells yellowish.

Spindle Shell. Colus australis.
Spindle-shaped, spire high, basal canal long.
Brownish-red to yellowish. About nine
turns, rounded, having many spiral ridges.
About 4% inches. In life the long canal is
the front and goes first.

Southern Olive. Oliva australis.
Porcellanous, whitish or yellowish, with
brown markings dividing the turns, a_yel-

lowish-brown streak obliquely from the
frontal notch; often also brown — spots
on the back. About five turns, the

last elongate. The lower third of central
column obliquely grooved. About one inch.
Rivals the small Cowries in popularity.
Fairly common on sand spit next Royal
Yacht Squadron harbour.

Smooth Mitre. Mitra glabra.
Spindle-shaped, the spire pointed. Polished,
yellowish-brown with a blackish-brown
covering (periostracum). Nine spiral turns,
dividing line impressed. Central column with
four plaits, of which the highest is the
largest. About 33 inches. On sand flats in
shallow: water.

Page Sixty \
,

Southern Mitre. Mitra australis.
Shorter than the Smooth Mitre, brown, en-
circled throughout with a single spiral, light-
coloured, brown-stained belt. Central
column brown, with four strong white plaits.
About 14 inches. Common on sand spit,
Outer Harbour.

Wavy Volute. Amorena undulata.
Somewhat spindle-shaped, of four spiral
turns, smooth, polished, spire short. Central
column with four strong plaits. Cream
coloured with many longitudinal, zig-zag,
chestnut lines; central column and shell in-
terior bright red-orange. Mouth channelled
above, notched below. About 3 inches.
Shallow water, on sand banks.

Lightning Volute. Ericusa fulgetrum.
Somewhat spindle-shaped, of six turns, the
initial turn set obliquely. | Yellowish-flesh
colour with zig-zag brown dashes, which tend
to form two spiral rows of blotches. The
blotches are arrow-headed, with their con
cavity towards the outer lip. About 5 inches
Alive on ocean sand banks covered by about
18 inches of water at low spring time.

Lyre Shell. Lyria mitraeformis.
Oval, spindle-shaped, of five spiral turns;
dividing line deep. Many rounded, promi-
nent, longitudinal ribs. Colour, cream with
numerous dark brown squarish patches.
Central column with three almost horizontal
plaits, and several weak wrinkles above.
About 2 inches. Alive on sand banks near
low tide mark at Outer Harbour.

Sea Bubble. Bullaria tenuissima.
Oval-cylindrical, shining, spire sunken;
mouth high, extending beyond the spire, nar-
row above, enlarged toward the base. Yel-
lowish-brown, marbled with darker; some-
times spirally banded. About 2 inches. In
life, in sandy mud. Animal bulky, but
capable of complete retraction within the

shell.

LARGE SEA URCHINS FROM
NEW GUINEA

A large Heart Urchin, or Spatangoid, was
recently sent to the South Australian Museum by
the Rev. H. Bartlett, from Brooker Island, New
Guinea. It measures six inches long, five inches
wide, and three and a half inches high. This is
the largest specimen of its kind so far received.
Dr. GC. M. Deland forwarded a number of large
Sea Urchin Spines from Manus, New Guinea, pro-

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

November 30, 1940

Pond Snail. Lymnaea subaquatilis.
Spiral, thin, of four turns. Pale horn-
coloured, longitudinally lined. Mouth half
the length of shell. Scarcely half an inch.
Among herbage growing on the marshy
margins of River Torrens.

Left Handed Pond Snail.

tenuistriata.

Spiral, with four left-handed turns. Dark

olive colour, with criss-cross striations. About

one-third larger than the Pond Snail. Rivers
Torrens and Onkaparinga.

Amerianna

Amber Snail. Succinea australis.

Spiral, fragile, almost transparent, of three
turns, the last disproportionately large. Pale
horn colour, sometimes with darker streaks.
Longitudinal striae rough. About half an
inch. Under stones on high lands bordering
the coast. ‘Amber Snails are usually a little
too big for their shells. | Dead bleached
shells are pale bluish.

Common Snail. Helix aspersa.

Ground colour, brownish-yellow, with five
very dark brown bands; but these are broken
and the yellow appears as zig-zag streaks.
About five turns; spire not much raised; lip
white, thickened and reflected. About 14
inches. Eggs average about one hundred,
deposited in cup-shaped hollows among
herbage and covered with a little loose earth.

The young come forth with the same shape
as their parents, carrying a tiny, glassy shell.

They become adult in about a year and
live three to five years. They have their
regular roosting places, from which paint-
marked individuals have been noted to
emerge at evening and return next morning.

In hot, dry weather they remain at home and
wait for rain. This common garden snail
was imported to South Australia from
Europe.

bably belonging to an urchin of the Phyllacanthus
type. Phyllacanthus longispinus Mortensen, 1918,
is recorded from the Northern Territory and
Western Australia, and the largest spines are said
to be 90 mm. in length (about 44 inches). The
spines forwarded from Manus are up to 128 mm.
(over 5 inches) long and 15 mm. (over 4 inch)
in thickness. It would be interesting to see a living
urchin of this species, which must measure well over
12 inches across from tip to tip of the spines.
B. C. COTTON.

November 30, 1940.

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN

NATURALIST Page Sixty-One

The Distribution Of South Australian Mistletoes
And The Mistletoe Bird

By

J. B. CLELAND.

Professor Ralph Tate, in an article entitled
“The Host Plants of the Australian Loran-
thaceae” (Rep. Seventh Meeting Australas.
Ass. Adv. Sci., Sydney, 1898, p. 553), in
reference to the Mistletoe Bird (Dicaeum
hirundinaceum) says that “both bird and
mistletoe are absent from the large adjacent
insular lands of Tasmania and Kangaroo
Island. An extensive tract of lightly timbered
country on the eastern slopes of the Adelaide
chain has also neither mistletoe nor
Dicaeum.”

As regards Kangaroo Island, a rare mistletoe
(Loranthus miraculosus Miq. var. Melaleucae
Tate) has now been recorded on Melaleuca
sp. (E. H. Ising, “S.A. Naturalist,” XIV,
1933, pp. 67 and 127).

On June 25, 1940, on a journey to Swan
Reach, passing through Mt. Pleasant, on the
road to Cambrai on the Murray Flats, I had
an opportunity of seeing some of the eastern
slopes of the Adelaide chain referred to by
Professor Tate. From Gumeracha to Mount
Pleasant the country was undulating, with
scattered Red Gums (L£ucalyptus rostrata)
which are unusual! hosts for mistletoe. On
some of the hill tops in the distance scruh
was present, with apparently E. elaeophora,
but I was not close enough to see if this had
mistletoe, which it often has. Near Mt.
Pleasant there were some Manna Gums (£.
viminalis) along the creek. Mistletoe was
not noticed on any of these trees. The real
eastern slopes began after leaving Mt. Plea-
sant and Mr. Melrose’s station. Before
reaching Cook’s Hill, overlooking the Mur-
ray flats, occasional EF. leucoxylon and She-
oaks (Casuarina stricta) were seen. Descend-
ing the hill, Lorarthus Exocarpi was seen on
a number of the Sheoaks. Red Gums, free
from mistletoe, were present in the creeks.
On reaching the plains one mistletoe was

seen on a Peppermint Gum (E. odorata).
Near Cambrai there was much Peppermint
Gum, but no mistletoe. At Swan Reach, one
Red Gum was noticed attacked by four or
five mistletoes; this is an unusual] infestation.

The return journey was made through
Keyneton and thence to Mt. Pleasant. East
of Keyneton there were Peppermint Gums,
many with mistletoes on them, apparently
some E. leucoxylon without mistletoe, and
Red Gums along the creeks without mistletoe.
Near Keyneton, Loranthus was abundant on
E. leucoxylon, several trees being killed by
it; possibly some of the trees affected were
Red Gums. Red Gums round Eden Valley
and occupying the undulating slopes through
Springton to Mt. Pleasant were free from
mistletoe.

On August 22, travelling by train from
Nairne to Callington, the eastern slopes were
again inspected for mistletoes from the train
window. The railway line winds down a
long open valley through open country with
very few trees. No mistletoes were seen on
Red Gums or Sheoaks, but Loranthus was
present on a number of Peppermint Gums
(E. odorata) which appeared as the descent
of the valley progressed.

Summary: From the above it will be seen
that mistletoe has occurred on Kangaroo
Island and that mistletoes do occur in places
along the lightly timbered country on the
eastern slopes of the Mount Lofty ranges, be-
ing numerous where the trees are close
together, as in the Peppermints and Blue
Gums near Keyneton. Much of this country
has very scattered timber and is occupied by
Red Gums, which naturally are unusual hosts.
It would appear that any immunity that this
region enjoys is partly due to the kind of
trees which grow there and partly to their
widely separated distribution.

Page Sixty-Two THE

SOUTH AUSTRALIAN

NATURALIST Novemher 30, 1940

Eye Colour In Australian Birds
GENERAL CONSIDERATIONS

By

H. T. CONDON

The subject of eye colour in birds is one of
great interest to the ornithologist, the avicul-
turalist and the geneticist. Its value as a
factor in identification of species has long
been recognised by ornithologists, while the
aviculturalist also has realised its sex-linked
character and employs it as a means of deter-
mining sex, notably among parrots. It is
also a useful guide to the relative ages of
birds of many species.

Colour of the iris may arise in several ways.
It may be due to the presence or absence of
pigment granules in the anterior portion of
the eye, to the presence of masses of capil-
lary blood vessels, or to a special structural
condition resulting in the reflection of certain
light rays, such as blue.

The pink eyes of albinos are due to the
absence of dark pigment, such as melanin,
which results in the blood in the capillaries
of the eyes alone being visible.

The novice frequently confuses the pupil with
the iris. In dark-eyed birds it is often difficult
to determine the exact limits of the pupil,
which may be small or large. There are
often frequent changes in the size of the pupil
owing to varying conditions of light or men-
tal excitement. In birds othen than albinos
the pupil appears black. On occasions also
the highly-coloured eyelids of some birds
have been mistaken for the coloured iris by
observers. Jn the Silvereye (Zosterops) the
eye is surrounded by a ring of white feathers.
Considering the range of variation in eye
colour of birds, it is rather surprising to
find that collectors and painters of birds
generally have shown a lamentable disregard
for this important feature. It is the excep-
tion rather than the rule to find data record-
ing the colour of eyes on labels attached to
museum specimens. The value of many
skins is largely reduced because of such
omissions. Glass eyes indiscriminately used
in mounted birds are a feeble substitute for
the real birds’ eyes with their subtle gradua-
tions and wealth of colour.

Eye Colour in Young Birds.

The eyes of a new-born European human
infant are deep blue, and this condition is
seen to persist in some adults. In birds, also,
the infantile condition of the eyes persists in
some instances throughout life, e.g., white
fantail pigeon (Bond).

The eyes of many newly-hatched birds are
dark in colour owing to the absence of pig-
ment on the anterior portion of the eye, so
that the dark uveal epithelium beneath is
revealed. In many birds further pigment
soon appears and the eye then assumes an-
other colour.

In the newly-hatched young of Ravens, Cor-
vus coronoides, for example, the rather ex-
pressionless eyes are bluish in colour, with a
glassy appearance. By the time the nestling
down has been replaced by contour feathers
the iris has become more clearly defined.
When about three months old the iris assumes
a light brown (“Sepia” of Ridgway), which
in one example noted by the writer, seemed
to vary in quality from day to day. In this
bird, a female taken from a nest near Ade-
laide, the iris had assumed a dirty white colour
by the time the bird had reached the age of
12 months. The iris was not one colour,
however, but was composed of several con-
centric coloured rings. Sepia in the centre
and grading to almost white near the peri-
phery. Another bird of unknown sex, which
had brown irides when a few months old,
assumed china-white irides at about six
months, but the writer feels that this bird,
because of its smaller size, was a Little Crow.
Corvus benneiti, although also taken near
Adelaide, which is generally regarded as
beyond the southern limits of this species.

In the Silver Gull (Larus novae-hallandiaz)
and Pacific Gull (Gabianus pacificus), the
iris is pure white in fully adult birds, but in
the youne of both species it remains light
brown (sepia) for a considerable time. In
the case of the Silver Gull, the iris only
changes to white after the loss of the brown

November 30, 1940.

teleoptiles of the young stages, when the bill,
eyelids, legs, and feet, also assume the deep
scarlet colour of the adult. The Pacific Gull
remains in brown plumage for about four
years (when they are wrongly called Molly-
hawks or Jack Gulls) before gradually
changing to white with dark wings, and birds
in this brown plumage have brown eyes.

The Yellow-winged Honeyeater (Mfeliornis
rovae-hollandiae) is another white-eyed bird
which is brown eyed in the nestling and
juvenile stages. The sexes are alike when
adult in all the abovementioned species.

Further investigations will probably reveal
that the eyes of most birds undergo marked
changes in colour during the various stages
before reaching maturity. In the White-
winged Chough '(Corcorax melanorhamphus),
sicenliinis and juveniles have light brown eyes.
In adult birds the irides are scarlet, this
apparently being due to the presence of
yellow cell sranules in the anterior parts of
the eyes eine! in conjunction with blood
capillaries, gives the irides a scarlet ap-
pearance. Eyes removed from a dead Chough
and placed in “pickle” (30°4 methylated
spirits) soon became orange-red in colour,
which colour remained.

It is of interest to record also that in ihe
Chough the outer zone of the iris where blood
vessels abound, is more intensely scarlet than
the inner zone surrounding the iris, which is
orange.

In Parrots the presence of a dark eye in
certain species of Kakatoe, etc., is regarded
as an indication of male sex, and dealers in
birds separate chicks as well as older birds
by this means. This method does not appear
reliable, however, in the case of young birds,
as the orange and red irides of females in
certain species do not appear as such until
the hirds are practically mature.

Recording Eye Colour in Birds.

The utmost care should be taken when noting
the colours of birds’ Tf a standard
colour chart (such as Ridgway’s) is not ob-
tainable for comparison, care should be
taken to distinguish between red and scarlet
and crimson, red and orange, red and brown,

chrome yellow and lemon yellow, blue and
areen. hazel and sepia (see below), black and
dark brown or dark blue, grey and white.

eyes.

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN

NATURALIST Sixty-Three
Different people have different conceptions of
colour. In many birds with light brown, i-e.,
sepia irides, this colour is often wrongly
stated as hazel, i.e., a deep orange, somewhat
approaching a reddish brown. It is impor-
tant in the case of slaughtered birds and
others to note the colour immediately after
death, as it may alter with great rapidity,
and the sex and, if possible, ages of the birds
should also be recorded. In observing the
living bird, of course, the eye colour can
only be noted with difficulty in many cases,
and less reliance can be placed on results
obtained in this way.

Some years ago it was claimed that the irides
of the eeu only assumed a scarlet colour
when the inde were alarmed or annoyed, but
the writer is not convinced and feels that
sufficient evidence has been obtained to dis-
prove the story (see above).

Eye Colour and Plumage Colour.

There seems to be no apparent relationship
between eye colour and plumage colour,
except in the case of albinos, when the eyes
are always pink or “red.” The commonest
colours seem to be brown or sepia, yellow,
hazel, black, white, various shades of “red,”
grey, green (as in Cormorants), while blue
is apparently rare (in some Birds of Para-
dise),

Dark eyes, such as sepia, brown, and black
usually occur in dark coloured birds. There
are a great many exceptions, the Australian
Raven (Corvus coronoides) being an out-
standing one, as although the eyes are dark
in the young they are white in the adult!

Eye Colour as a Sex-Linked Character.

Experiments with captive birds as well as
observations amongst wild birds show: that

eye colour is a sex-linked character.

It also appears to be a generic feature, as
individuals of various species of a genus
usually pass through similar changes in eye
colour before reaching maturity.

This is well exemplified in members of
the Parrot tribe. In the genus Apresmictus
the young birds have brown irides. In the
adult females the colour is dark brown, while
in the males it is scarlet (A. erythropterus,
Red-winged Parrot), and pale yellow (4.
scapularis, King Parrot, Vic.).

Page Sixty-Four

In the Cockatoos (genus Kakatoe) the eyes
of young birds are usually brown, while in
the adults the colour is black or very dark
brown in males and pale brown or reddish in
females, as listed below. White Covkatoo
(K. galerita), male, black; female, reddish-
brown. Pink Cockatoo (K. leadbeateri),
male, black; female, scarlet. Corella (K.
tenuirostris), male, black; female, brown
(?). Little Corella (K. sanguinea), male,
blackish; female, red. Galah (K. rosei-
capilla), male, black; female, dull orange-
red. In the case of the Galah, the iris of the
male has generally been given as dull orange-
red (eg., North, Cayley), but this apparently
applies to examples from New South Wales,
as a skin from that State in the S.A. Museum
is so labelled, and may be indicative of a
different geographical race or sub-species.
In the genus T'richoglossus, the iris is scarlet
in both sexes (7. moluccanus, Rainbow Lori-
keet, and T. rubritorquis, Red-collared Lori-
keet, N.A.), and also in young birds. An
example obtained on Cape York, N.Q., how-
ever, had brown irides and was an adult
female, perhaps suggesting another example
of geographical variation.

In a number of genera of parrots the colour
of iris is approximately the same in both
sexes. Judging by the evidence available,
this would appear to be the case in Platy-
cercus, Barnardius, Eclectus, Psephotus, Lep-
iolophus, Neophema (all brown), and
Melopsittacus (yellowish-white) .

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

November 30, 1940

In Lathamus discolor, Swift Parrot, the iris
is dark brown in the male and orange yellow
in the temale. In Glossopsitta the iris is
brown in the immatures, but approximately
the same colour in adults of both sexes, viz.,
orange-yellow (G. concinna); brown, (G.
porphyrocephala); yellow (G. pusilla). In
the Palm Cockatoo of North Australia the
iris is dark brown in the young bird and
adult male, and reddish-brown in the adult
female. The male Gang Gang, Calloce-
phalon fimbriatum, has a darker brown eye
than the female, :

In the genera Calyptorhynchus and Polytelis,
I have been unable to obtain any comparative
data on sexual differences. In the former
genus the iris is usually stated to be dark
brown in the male, and in the female it
may be approximately similar. A nestling
C. lathami, Glossy Black Cockatoo, from
Kangaroo Island had greyish irides.

In Polytelis the eyes are rich yellow (P.
swainsoni, Green Leek, Vic.); rich orange,
(P. alexandrae, Princess Parrot); and hazel
or reddish-brown, (P. anthopeplus, Rock
Pebbler) in the male, but the colours in
females have not been obtained.

Unless otherwise stated, the above observa-
tions are of South Australian examples.

In a future article I hope to discuss dif-
ferences in eye colour in other families of

birds.

The Original Flora Of The Adelaide Plains

By

PROFESSOR J. B. CLELAND.

Dr. W. H. Leigh, in “Reconnoitering
Voyages and Travels,” describes the country
between Port Adelaide and Adelaide in 1837
as consisting of alternating belts of trees and
extensive plains, giving a park-like appear-
ance. Buttercups are noted. He mentions
natives spudding up with a stick, on the
plains near Adelaide, a kind of pig-nut, about
as large as a little finger, white and milky
and unpleasant to the taste like the dande-
lion.—This was, of course, Microseris scapt-
gera, an addition to the flora of the plains,
now apparently extinct there.

J. C. Hawker, in describing the Torrens, at
Adelaide, in October, 1938 (“Early Ex-
periences in South Australia,” 1899, p. 7),

says, “here and there were patches of ti-tree
growing.” This presumably refers to Lep-
tospermum pubescens, the Silky Tea Tree
that grows in water.

The following further notes and records of
the present-day distribution of native plants
have been made. An asterisk indicates a
new record for the Adelaide plains.

GRAMINEAE:—Themeda_ triandra Forsk..,
Kangaroo Grass, Beaumont Common.
*Aristida Behriana F.v.M., Highfield,
near Beaumont, July, 1936. Stipa varia-
bilis Hughes, identified Kew No. 417,
near travertine limestone, University,
May 1931. Danthonia auriculata Black,

November 30, 1940,

identified Kew No, 419, abundant on
paddock at Highfield. *Poa caespitosa
Forst., Beaumont Common, Nov.

CYPERACEAE :—*Eleocharis acuta R.Br.,
Swamp near St. Saviour’s Church, Glen
Osmond, Dec., 1932.

LILIACEAE :—Dianella revoluta R.Br., Beau
mont Common. *Lomandra micrantha
(Endl.) Ewart, Beaumont Common.
Bulbine bulbosa (R.Br.) Haw., Beau-
mont Common, Sept.

LORANTHACEAE:—Loranthus — Exocarpi,
additional hosts: On Crataegus, Beau-
mont Common, on Lagunaria, Adelaide.

CHENOPODIACEAE :—Rhagodia nulians
R.Br., Devereux Road, Beaumont, Oct.,
and Beaumont Common, June and Oct.
*Atiplex semibaccatum R.Br., Berry Salt-
bush, Knoxville, March, 1936. *Sal-
sola Kali LL. Buckbush, Jubilee Oval,
University, Feb. 20, 1936.

CRUCIFERAE :—*Lepidium
Desv., Beaumont Common.

CRASSULACEAE:—*Crassula — Sieberiana
(Schultes) Ostenf., Beaumont Common.
C. macrantha (Hook. f.) Diels et Pritzel,
Beaumont,

PITTOSPORACEAE :—Bursaria spinosa
Cay., Native Box, Beaumont Common.

ROSACEAE :—*Acaena ovina A. Cunn.,
Highfield, Oct.

LEGUMINOSAE :—Acacia Victoriae Benth.,
one plant growing spontaneously on
waste land in Knoxville in 1939 and
1940. A. ligulata A. Cunn., Enfield.

GERANIACEAE :—*Erodium cygnorum

hyssogifolium

Nees, near Jubilee Oval, University,
Sept., 1934.

ZYGOPHYLLACEAE :—Tribulus terrestris
L., Caltrop, near Jubilee Oval, Uni-

versity, March, 1939.

CONVOLVULACEAE:—Convolvulus erubes-
cens Sims, the late A. A. Simpson’s gar-
den at Burnside, and Highfield. *Calys-
tegia sepium (L.) R.Br., beside the Tor-
rens, e.g., near the Zoological Gardens.
Dichondra repens Forst. et f., abundant
under trees, Parklands, South Terrace,
Jan., 1937.

BORRAGINACEAE:—*Cynoglossum suaveo-
lens R.Br., Beaumont Common, Nov.,
1931, Oct., 1937.

PLANT AGINACEAE :—*Plantago
R.Br., Beaumont Common.

GOODENIACEAE :—Goodenia

varia

primulacea

THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST eee SB ii

Schlecht., Mr. Moxon Simpson’s garden,
foothills, Burnside.

COMPOSITAE :—Gnaphalium japonicum
Thunb., on tennis court at Beaumont,
Nov., 1938. Helichrysum semipap-
posum, previously reported as probably
this species, is confirmed in Beaumont
Common.

Summary.

In the previous communications by Mr. J. M.
Black, Mr. E. H. Ising and myself, 82 species
(excluding those in the late Mr. A. A. Simp-
son’s garden at Burnside) were recorded as
still growing on the Adelaide plains. My
record of Danthonia penicillata for Beaumoni
Common is probably an error for one of
the other three species recorded, leaving a
total of 81. ‘The present list adds 13 further
species, making a total of 94.

(For previous contributions, see in the “S.A.
Naturalist,” J. M. Black, I, No. 3, 1920, p.
42; E. H. Ising, V, No. 2, 1924, 111-113,
VI, No. 1, 1924, 18-19, and XVIII, No. 4, 71;
and J. B. Cleland, X, No. 1, 1928, 1-6, XIJ,
No. 4, 1931, 68-69, and XIII, No. 3, 1932,
115-117.)

THE KALUTARA SNAIL

Achatina fulica Ferussac

ATTACKS RUBBER TREES IN CEYLON.

Five large snails were recently brought into
the South Australian Museum by Miss L.
L. Ayers, from Ceylon. Miss Ayers ex-
plained that they were taken from rubber
trees which they were attacking. The Snails
are Achatina fulica Ferussac, type locality
Mauritius. They have evidently been intro-
duced into Ceylon and are prospering, for
the largest of the five specimens is just over
five inches (128 mm.) long, being slightly
larger than the largest specimen recorded by
Pilsbry from Madagascar (123 mm.). 4.
fulica was introduced into Bourbon from
Madagascar for culinary purposes, and in
1847 into Calcutta by Benson. It is also
recorded from Seychelles and Comoro Island.
The species is known by the negroes of
Mauritius as “Couroupa.” The Achatina
species are common and large in South West
Africa, and an individual lays about 200
eggs, which are small and very like those of
a bird.

B. C. COTTON.

w ; THE SOUTH AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST

_ November 30, 1940

The Field Naturalists’ Section

EXCURSIONS

1949

Dec. 7—-Brighton to Glenelg.
28—Outer Harbor.

1941,

Jan. 18—-Long Gully.
27—Victor Harbour. (6/-)

Feb. 1—Blackwood.
15—Millswood, 37 Ave St.

Mar. jJ—Marino.
8—Outer Harbor.
15—Mt. Lofty.
29—Glenelg.

Apr. 15—Botanie Park.
19—Grange.
25—Barossa (5/-).

Train, 1.11 p.m.
Train, 9.5 a.m.

Seaweeds Mrs. R. W. Edmeades
Mud Flat Life Mi. F. K. Godfrey

Train, 1.14 p.m. Trees Mr. W. D. Wade
Motor, 9 a.m.
Train, 1.14 p.m. Exp. Orchard Mr. R. Fowler
Tram, 2 p.m.
Train, 1.11 p.m. Chitons
Train, 1.10 p.m.
Train, 1.14 p.m.
Tram, 1.30 p.m.
Gates, 2 p.m. Trees Mr. H. Greaves
Train, 1.13 p.m.
Motor, 9 a.m.

General Mr. H. Greaves

Aviaries Mr. R. D. Spinkston
Mrs. A. R. Altman
Dredging Mr. B. C. Cotton
Flower Show Mr. A. J. Morison
Sand Dune Flora Prof. J. B. Cleland

Shells Miss C. M. Fea
Petrology Mr. A. Kleeman

TRAM EXCURSIONS.—Meet in Grenfell Street, by T. & G. Building.
TRAIN EXCURSIONS.—Will members obtain their tickets and meet on the train.

MOTOR EXCURSIONS.—Meet at the Town Hall,

EVENING

1941.
Feb. 18—Conversazione, Lady Colton Hall, Y.W.C.A.
Mar. 18—“Color’”’ ...... ...... Mr. A. K. Newbery
“Simpson Desert Flora, ” Mr. R. L. Crocker
Apr. 15—“Goodeneacae”’ ...... Dr. M. T. Winkler
“Hills Flowers” .... Mr. W. D. Wade
May 20-—“South Australia and the Mineral World”
Dr. A. R. Alderman

MALACOLOGICAL SOCIETY:

1940.
Dec. © 2=—“Volutidae? 0.8. . . Mr. F. Trigg
1941.

Mare 8—Wrochidas) 243) cs.uop cu RS Be. wea Cotton
17—“Land Snails” Mr. W. M. Nielsen

April 7—‘“Shells Through the Ages”
Mrs. L. A. Elliott
21—“Hydr0z0a” we sn seer wee Mr, F. K. Godfrey
May 5—“‘Turridae” on. we un Mr. B. C. Cotton
TO Coral on: sata: dren ect Miss D. M. Matthews

Adelaide. Book with the Secretary or the Treasurer.

MEETINGS

1941. :
June 17—“South Australian Lepidoptera”
Mr. F. M. Angel
“Onehid® Studies? wea. Mr. H. Goldsack
July 15-—Malacological Society Evening
Chairman os. (0 no. Mie We G. Tucker
Aug. 19—Annual Meeting.

Evening Meetings

1941.

June 2—“Marino Chitons” .... Rev. B. J. Weeding
16-—‘‘Brachiopoda” Mr. W. G. Buick

July 7T—“Naticidae” ..... . Mr. B. C. Cotton
21—“Fresh Water Snails” .. Mr. A. K. Beasley
“Rissoidae” . Mr. B. C. Cotton

Aug. 4—Annual Meeting ari “Exhibits by members.
18—‘‘Patellidae, Lottiidae, Stomatellidae”
Mr. B. C. Cotton

E. 3. MeAlister & Co., Printers, 24 Blyth Street, Adelaide.

Ne ee