EDITED BY C. ANDERSON, M.A; D.Sc.
The Wetu.naton Caves - 0 . Anderaon, M .A.,D.Sc. Diacoloration of Harbour Waters-A Reason Why F. A. McNeiU and A . A. JAvingstone The Wunderllch Aboriainal Group Tambourine Mountain, Queensbtnd - - A. J'lusgrav e The Myatery of Marsupial Birth and Transference to the Pouch - Ellis Le G. Troughton Some Familiar Butterflies • Thomas G. Oampbell
Vol. D. No. J J. JULY-SEPT., 1926. · Price-ONE SHILLING. PUBUSHED QUARTERLY. I THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM COLLEGE STREET, SYDNEY
BOARD OF TRUSTEES: President: ERNEST WUNDERLICH, F.R.A.S. Crown Trustee : JAMBS M:cKERN. OfOclal Trustees : Hts HoNOUR THB Cm:mF JusTicE. THE HoN. THE PREsiDENT oF THE LEGISLATIVE CouNCIL. THE HoN. THE CoLONIAL SEcRETARY. THE HoN. THE ATTORNEY-G111NBRAL. THE HoN. THE CoLONIAL TREASURER. THE HoN; THE SECRE'l'ARY I'OR PUBLic WoRKS AND MINisTER ron RAILwAYs THE HoN. THE MINisTER oF PuBLic lNsTBuorioN. THE AUDITOR-GENERAL. THE PREsiDENT oF THE N.S.WALEB MlmiOAL BoaRD (T. STOB.IE DrxsoN, M.B., Ch.?ti., KNIGHT OF GRACE OF THE ORDER OF ST. JOHN.) THE SURVEYOR-GENERAL AND CwE.B' SURVBYOR. THE caoww soLICIToR. Elective Trustees : J. B. M. ROBERTSON, M.D., O.M. E. 0. ANDREWS, B.A., F.G.B. 'ERNEBT WUNDERLIOH, F.R.A.S. 0oTA.VIUS 0. BEALE, F.R.H.S. G. H. ABBO'rl', B.A., M.B., Ch.M. R. H. OaMBAGlll, O.B.E., F.L.S. SIB WlLLLUI VIOABS, O.B.E. GoRRIE M. Bum. MaJ.·GEN. Sm CHARLES RosENTIUL, K.O.B., O.M.G., D.S.O., V.D. . 0. GORDON MacLmD, M.A., M.D., Ch.M. PROI'. L. HaRRisoN, B.A., B.So. G. A. WATEHOUSB, D.So., B.E., F.E.B.
Director: CHA.BLES ANDERBON, M.A., D.So. Secretary: W. T. WELI.B,. A.I.A.V. Sclentmc Staff : WILLIAM W. THORPE, Ethnologist. J. RoY KmGHORN, Zoologi8t, in charge of Bird8, Reptiles, and Amp'h.ibiaM. ELLis, LE G. Taoua:aToN, Zoologist, in charge of Mammals and Skeletons. ANTB:6NY MusaB.A vE, Entomologial. F • A. Mo.NIlliLL, Zoo'Wgist, in charge of Inwtr I nverUbf'atu. T. HoDGE SMITH, Mineralogisl and Petrologilt. ToM lREDALE, Oqnchologi8e. .. Librarian: w. A. R.&INBOW • THE A USTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE
VoL. TI. , No. 11. CONTENTS July-Sept., 1926.
TASMA~ IA X R ED - g('K.ED OR B ENKETTs's WALLABY (.lJJacropus ntjicollis, va1·. bennetli·i) F'rontispiece
NoTES AND N Ew s :166
THE WELLINGTON CAvEs-O.Ander.son, M.A., D.Sc. 367
DISCOW RATION OF HARBOUR WATERS-A REASON WHY F'. A. J!eN e1'll and A. A . L ivingsto ne ...... 37 5
THE W u~ nERLICR A:BoRI TAllrBOURlNE lVIouNTAI :N, QuEENST~AN D -A . 11/usgrave 379 0BITUA RlES 386 REVIEW 386 1'lm "JlYSTERY OF l\IARSUPlAL BIRTH AND TRANS~'ERENCE TO THE Poucn --Elli.s Le G. Troughton 387 , OME FAMlLIAR BuTTRRFLms-Thornas U. Campbell 393 Published Quarterly by the Trustees of the Aw~tralian Museum, College Street, Sydney, in the months of January, April, Julv, and October. Subscription 4/ 4, including postage. · Commwtica.tions regarding subscriptions, advertising rates, and business matters generally in connection with THE AUSTRALIA~ MUSEUM MAGAZINE should be addressed to t he Secretary. ~ <::b ~ H ~ t_:l::j ::s> d U1 H 7J iJ> ~ zD.> !;;;I !-"" d U1 t::j d ~ A Tas mania n Red-necked or Bennett's Wallaby (Macro pus ruftcollis var. b ennettli) in a resting a ttitude, in whkh kangaroos and wallabies are often seen . Q~ Accounts~ of eye-witnesses also s how it to be the attitude assumed when the youn~ are born and making their journey to th e p ouch. T he position serves tl> to s h orten the journey a nd, thou~h the body was probably m ore erect when observations were made, it is doubtless the characteris tic attit ude on such occasions. N [Copyright Photo.- Harry Burrel!. !2: t?=j- Published by the Australian Museum College Street, Sydney Editor: C. ANDERSON , M.A., D.Sc. Annual Subscription, Post Free, 4/ 4. VoL. If., No. 11. JULY· EPTEMBER. 1926 Editorial. BLIND VISITORS . accuracy. At a. recent lect~re one of our youthful visitors wa.s handli~g a model of Of the many activities in t he field of general an octopus; ills fingers dehcately traced, education in which the Australian Museum with exceeding care, their wa't over the is engaged, perhaps the most appealing is exhibit not omitting a detail, however that of lecttu'es or talks to the blind, a func trifling, then passing it to his neighbour ~e tion in which this Museum has been engaged remarked that t he shape of the cr~att~ re s for some years. Classes of these afflicted body was simila,r to that of an electrJC hght ?hildr~n visit tlhe Museum regularly for bulb-a rather a,pt tikeness. ~nstruction in nature study. The instruction Imparted is, natuTally, more individual t han Tha.t these lectures are worth while i. that given to those who can see, and since shown by the appreciative way in which _they these classes are small, usually containing not are received. Children, who most likely more than t en or twelve chilclTen each child knew little or nothing of the ma~vels ?f ··" sees " t he artic]e upon which t he' discourse creation, leave the Museum portals r1cber m is based. knowledge than when ~hey_ ente~cd, .and, The specimens selected for instruction are are able to impart t? t~eu· fne~ds mtelligent more or less familar to the audience through recollections of the1r InstructiOn. everyday conversation - opossum, native By t hese unfortunate chilch·en the le?tures bear, wallaby, boomerang, womerah, shells are hailed with delight, for the handling of ?..nd objects of the sea-shore. The object, the Museum's treasures presents a new world wh~n size permits, is passed round the to them. audience and is " seen " by the fingers, and, be it said, it is seen more throughly than by THE AUSTRALIAN ABORJGl ;rE. many whom Nature has more generously endowed. The lecturer is plied with q ues In this l\IAGAZINE. Vol. ll, No. 7, July- t~ons show1ng an eagerness to learn, and the 1 cptember, 1 9~5, th~ editorial article made s1ze, shape, and general ch a.racteri. ·tics of the reference to the lamentable fact, patent ~o ?hject are comprehended to a degree surpris everyone, that the Australia~ blac~fellow IS ~ng .fiahtincr a losing battle with his enVIronment. to the ordinary morta.J , and the instruction 0 0 t ~mparted is retained with remarkable The hope was there expressed that a remnan 366 THE AU&'TRALIAN MUSEUM MA GAZINE of this dying race will for years be enabled to reached a certain ·tage of education and live the wild free life of t heir ancestors, and training in white man's ways. it is checrina to find that proposals are being There are wide areas of Australia beyond made to set ~side a large resen-e for exclusive the frontiers of profitable settlement by use of the aborigine. white men, where, nevertheless, the aborigine, Contact with dvi}jzation is fatal to races whose prowess as a hunter is well known, as primitive as the Australian, well meaning could easily maintain himself, and it is to be efforts to ·'civilize., them are doomed to end hoped that concerted action by the Federal in failure. There is an incompatibility and ta te G ovcrn ments will result in the difficult to define but nevertheless potent in establishment of a reserve large enough to its effect, which renders such attempts ensure the preservation for years to come of hopeless, in spite of the. fact that instances a residue of this race, one of t he most inter can be quoted of Austrahan blacks who have esting in the world. Notes and News. Dr. G. A. Watcrhouse, B.E., F.E.S., was aboriginal skulls and skeletons and a large elected a Trustre of this Mu eum on July 2nd. collection of stone implements from s1x Dl'. 'Vaterh ouse, who is one of the world's different sites. leading authorities upon Rhopalocera (butter flies) has contributed many important papers An interesting new exhibit is a series to variou journal , con. iderably enlarging illu. tt·ating t he structure and peculiarities of our knowledge of this group. Ris major J.lleiolania, an extinct turtle remains of which work, however, is The Butterflie.s of Aust·ralia have been found in Australia, on Lord H owe published in 1914-, which was written in and vValpolc Islands and in Patagonia. A conjunction with Mr. G. Lyel1, another description of this interesting form appeared leading authority. in the la.st issue of this MAGAZINE. In the pmsuit of his studies Dr. VI aterhouse The Tr ustees have decided to issue a formed a fine collection of Lepidoptera which series of picture post cards featuring some of he presented to the Australian Museum the most striking m em hers of the Australian some time ago; this ranks as one of our most fauna. A series of birds is now in preparation, treasured possessions. Apart from his scien the drawings in colour having been made by tific investigations Dr. \~laterhouse is an Mrs. T~m Iredale. It is anticipated t hat active member of local scientific societies, t hese will be on sale shortly at a nominal having been president of the New South price. Each series will be accompanied by Wales Naturalists' Cluh (1906-7). the Natural an explanatory leaflet-these cards should ists' Society of New South Wales (1914-15), prove invaluable to teachers engaged in Linnean Society of New South " Tales (1921- nature study work. 22), the Zoological Society of New South " 'ales (1924-25), and honorary secretary of ~Iessrs . E. Le G. Troughton and A. A. the Royal Society of New South Wales Livingstone of the scientific staff have de during 1923-24. It has also been the parted for Vanikoro, Santa Cruz Group, privilege of this Museum to include Dr. where they will be the guests of "Nir. N. 1 • vVaterhouse upon its staff as an Honorary Heffernan, one of our Honorary Correspon Entomologist, since 1919 ; he was recently dents. The island of Vanikoro is of exceptional elected a.n Honora:ry Correspondent in recog interest to coll ect ors as it was visited by the nition of the invaluable assistance he has A~t,rolabe under Dumont d 'Urville and zoo rendered. logical coll<>ctions were rnade, the specimens being described by Quoy and Gaimard. Mr. W. V·-l. Thorpe has recently made two Since then no systematic collecting has bern trips to the Port Stcphens and Newcastle done on the island, and it is hoped that an districts to examine aboriginal camp sites. important seri es of .· pccimens will be secured He was successful in acquiring a number of by our ofTicrt·s during the forthcoming visit. THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE 36'7 The Wellington Caves. BY C. ANDERSON, M.A., D.Sc. MONG the several justly celebrated specimens enabled Owen to describe and limestone caves of which New South name the animal to which the tooth belonged. A' Vales can boast , t h ose of V.,Te llington Our common Wombat (Phascolomys milcltelli) occupy a unique position. They are less was first descri hed in this report, Owcn spectacular than, for instance, the Jenolan or believing it to be an extinct species. Another Yarrangobilly Caves, bu t scientifically they interesting fact, first made known at the are t he most interesting of all because of the same time, was the former existence on t he vast accumulation s of fossil bones which AustraHan continent of the Tasmanian are found there. Wolf (Thylacinus) and the Tasmanian Devil (Sarcophilus), which 'FllSTORJCAL. are now con finrd to As previously men Tasmania. tioned in this MA GA From time to time ZJNE ( \ ol. II., No. 4, more specimens were 1924, p. l 14), fossils obtained from the pro were a ppa.ren tly first lific bone beds of \Vel discovered at Welling lington, and in l G7 ton by George R.an kin Owen, impressed by of Ba.th urst. in or before the value of the dis the year 1830. In that coveries, commw1 i year Major Thom.as cated with the Colonial L. (afterwards Sir Secretary (afterwards Thomas) lVIitchell, 8ir John Robertson) Surveyor - General, suggesting that a care visited the '\Vellington ful and systematic sur Caves and made a col vey of the caves might lection of the fossil be made by the Gov bones which were des ernment of New South cribed by Professor V\rales. This sug Richard Owen of t he gestion was fa.vourably Hunterian Museum, received, and, in Sep London, in Mitch ell's tember 1869, under work, 'Phree Ex instructions from t he p€(litions into the in Trustees of the Austra te?'ior of New South lian Jiuseum, GE-rard Wale.~. This report, Kt·efft, Curator, ac prepared in 1838, is of companied by Dr. extreme interest to us A . M. 'l'homson a.nd The" Pleat ed Skirt," Wellington Caves. H B f fol', though brief, it i~ [ Photo.- G. c. Cltllton. enry arnes, o t he the first systematic ac 1.\'[useum staff, pro- count, with illustrations, of some of the ceeded to We]}jngton and commenc('d the commonest and most striking members of work of excavation. They obtained a large the cxtjnct marsupial fauna of Australia. series of specimens, which were transmitted Here we find the first u se of the name to Owen and examined and1 with other. , D?'yJrotodon, and the earliest figure of t he described by him jn a series of important characteristic tooth o£ the so-called Marsupial papers. In 1881 the Trustees resumf'd the Lj on (Thyla,coleo ca1·nijex), although it was E-xploration of the caves, and, under the some years before the d iscovery of additional superintt'ndence of Dt·. E. P. Ramsay, who 36S THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE succeeded I< refft sts Curator, another la.rgc la.rgest cave is about a hundred feet a.bove collection was obtained. t he bed of the river, in the upper slope of a In the vears 1913-1917 the New • outh limestone ridge. l\1itcbell entered t his cave \Vales Phosphate Company put in a number t hrough a ~mall fi ssure between large blocks of drives and shaft near t he cave in the of limestone, hut the entrance has now hecn search for phosphate to be u ~ed in the manu widened and steps constructed along the facture of fertiliser. During these operations passage lcading down\\'a.rds. About 125 feet a number of fossil bones were found, some from t he entrance a large chamber is reached, of which were presented to the Museum. and at 169 feet we encountered an immense During April of this year, )fr. G. C. Glutton, stalagmite ca1led t he'· Cathedral>.. extending Articulator, and myself paid a short. vi. it upward almost to the roof, a height of over to the ca,es to enquire into the possibilitif's fifty te<"t . On one sirle t he wall of this of securing additional specimens, M.r. J'. H. chambel' is composed of contorted limc!::ltone 'll.'uman, Shire ClE-rk, having informed us strata, having almost the appea.rance of t hat some exploratory masonry . The nearly work was being done level fl oor is covered with a view to im with a deposit of red -proving the caves and earth, which is pre installing electric light. valent throug110ut t he At the same time he ca.ves, filling up the forwarded to the vertical chimneys a.nd ~ruseum some interest the openings between i ng specimens which t he limestone blocks. had been secured re A little farther on is a cently. On the oc peculiar dripst one re casion of our visit, sembling a pleated which lasted only a few skirt. From this days, we were success chamber proceed a ful in collecting a con number of rami siderable number of fying passages, one of isolated bones and which , high up on t he fraO'me ents, and two wall and reached only nearly complete skulls, by the aid of a ladder, which are figured in leads to a grotto where this article. Most of a colony of hats have the bones collected their home. At a lower were those of kan level a subterranean garoos and wallabie~, stream is reached, the but jaws and teeth of waters of which no the wombat,nativecat , doubt run into the Bell rat kangaroo, Thyl,a River. cine, Tasmanian Deru, T he " Cathedral," W e llin ~ton Caves. About thirty yards T his huge stalagmite is over 50 feet h igh . d f } Diprotodon, Thylacoleo [Photo.-G. c. Glutton. to the westwar o t 1e and a number of other . opening into this cave marsupials, living and extinct, as wen as 1s t he entrance to another of a different type ; bones of rodents, birds, and lizards were it was here that Mitchell obtained mo. t of his secured during the short period of our stay. specimens, a nd it is now known as the Skele 'Ve did not find any monotreme bones, ton Cave. The entrance is a sort of pit, nearly although scanty remains of both the platypus vertical, and the walls arc not comp0~cd of and the cchidna have been recorded from solid limestone but of shattered blocks, held the caves. together by red earth full of bone fragments. The Gaden Cave is entered on the summit THE ('AVES. of t he hill, a nd :its most striking feature is the These are situated in the valley of the occurrenc(' of a coralline growth on the roof Bell River, about five miles from the pretty and wall:;;, due to the deposit of carbona.te of town of Wellington. The entrance to the lime from the wa.tcr percolating from the THE AUSTRALIAN M USE UM MAGAZINE 369 panied u . di covered the skull of a kangaroo em bedded in the roof. After hour of hard work \\ith hammer aud chi el we wrrc ~ uc ce ful in extracting the skull along with a con~ id erable mas of envC>lopin~ matrix. This was conn'v<'d in tact to the ?~Ii.~ srum, where the matrix wa carefully rcmon•d. lt i the neal'ly eo mpl etc skull of an cxlincl marsupial closely re lated to the c:-.i.ling Great Grry Kangm·oo (Jl1tcropus giganteu ·), and from its d<'ntition we !ram that it was a On the banks of BeU River young animal. for tlw [Photo.-0. c. ('lultol•. replacing tooth i~ still surface anrl cli .. oh-ing the limestone jn its embedded in the jaw and the econd molar passage. ha!:> not emerged. Another pa . age" a. rntcrcd from the ]r\'el H UN 'J'l NG FOR FOSSlLS. of the river !lttt, a11d , at about lOO feet from We devot ed most of our attention to the the point of entry, one of the party noticed a passages clri ven into the hill by the Phosphate tooth of the Mar:-;upial Lion projecting fl'om Company, for here tho prospects of obtaining the red E'arth. '~'orking in relays in an good specimens seemed to be most favourable. exceedingly cramped position. in the course Entering thr ough a n open cut near the tov of t he hill we climbed down over fall(' n l irnc stone blocks for a bout eventy f<'et , then cr_awlcd, painfully and Wlth much wrigglin::'>cr 1 through a narrow cleft, and wormed OIU' way on hands and knees for another ninety feet. Here we found a hank of_ ha.rd red clay pack ed ~vrth fossils, pieces of Jaws, leg bones, teeth, and fr·a.gmenb; of all kinds. The appon.1·ancc of this bone repository can be j udgcd from the na· hlicrht photo graph reproduced lwn'. Near this spot M1·. Truman, who accom- The " red earth ," Wellin~ton Caves, crammed full of bone fra~ment. (Photo.- G. 0. Clutton. 370 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MA GAZINE of an afternoon, '"e managerl to remove the tcrrancan caverns are of common occurrE-nce, sk ull to which it belonged, and, subsequently and these form channel hy which t he !'mdace cleaned, it revealed itself as a splendid soil and living m· dead animals are conveyed specimen, almost complete, but lacking some to t he rlepths below. 'Ihe broken condition of the smaller teeth . of many of the bones indica.tes that t h<' No complete skeletons were discovered, skeletons had suffered dismemberment befor'<' and no such specimens have ever been fmmd coming to rest whPre we now find them. in the Wellington Caves, nor, from the nature Few or none of the animals, remains of which of the occurrence, is it likely t hat any fossil arc found in the cav<'S: are habitual cave with t he everal bones a ociated will ever dwellers: and t he probabilitiE-s are t hat they reward 1he eager seeker. eit her fell in through the sink holes, or were swept in by flood waters, where the honey ORIGIN OF THE CAVE l ~AR'fH AND FOSSILS. comhed limestone formed t.he bottom of the It is of some importance and interest to valley. It has been suggE-sted that t he enquire how the remains of the animals animals were poisoned by emanations of found t heir last re ting place in these caves, carbonic acid gas, but there is no warrant Skull of an extinct K an~aroo. The repl acin~ tooth has been revealed in its crypt by c uttln~ away th e bone. [Photo.- G. C. Glutton. and why there should be such large accumu for such a conclusion. A still more improb lations of their bones in certain spots. The able suggestion is that they took refuge in the red earth in which the bones occur is clayey in caves during volcanic eruptions. Some texture, in places soft and friable, in others may have been dragged in by carnivor?us hard and compact; sometimes it contains enemies, such as native cats or the thylacme small boulders and pebbles of limestone. Evi or possibly the :Marsupial Lion, but the~e is dently this red clay is the insoluble residue of little doubt that moRt of them entered m a many cubic feet of lim e~tone, the red colour much more prosaic manner. being due to oxide of iron. In all r egions When lVIr. Musgrave of the l\Iuseum staff where limestone caves occur t his red clay is a and myself were exploring the Belubula Cav_es conspicuous featm·e, and it is sometimes (MAGAZINE, Vol. II., 1 ~ 1924), we ~IS sufficiell tly rich in iron to be used as a covered on a ridge a funnel-shaped opcn~ng pigment. lea.ding down to unknown depths. Havmg Evidently this rod earth has worked down no ropes we were unable t o explore this ea \·c, from the surface, either by gravity or by but Mr. vYilliam Hosie, a resident of the trcam action. In limestone country \ertical district for many years, informed us that the chimneys and sink holes leading to sub- hole contained a con idcra ble number of THE A U T l~ALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE 37l mnll ·kuJh;. He subsrquently made anothC'r Krcfft, Lydekker. and others has rl'\'eal('d to de crnt but wnR d ise:tppointed to find that u ·that,. ea led up in th(' ca\·e eat th of \Yelling most of the ~ kull s had been covered by earth ton, arc the remains of animals such a. th<' since his last visit. He obtained some wombat, Red K angaroo, possum, dasyun·, however, including those of a Rat Kangaroo, bandicoot, and other marsupials which still a bandicoot, and a, C Skull of the" Marsupial Lion" (Thyl acoleo carnifex). In front there are two pointed Incisors and behind a I on~ cuttln~ pos terior premolar or " flesh ' ' tooth. [Photo - 0. C'. Ctutton. lated on t he floor of a cavern. As the like creature with a skull a large a that of a work of solution and excavation proceeded horsE', were morc or less closely allied to through t he ages, t he f1o or of a cave contain forms which still CAist, but othrrs havr pa. sed ing the skeletons would be attacked a nd a'Yay a nd left no de cendants or near relatives. undermined as thE> su bterrancan waters Such wr re the Diprotodon, thr Xototherium. sought a lower level. T he floor of t he older and. pr rhaps mo. t inter€' ting of all. the cave would form t h e roof of a new on e, and. Marsupial or Pouched Lion (Thylacoleo). should it u lti.rnatc1y colJ apsc, the bones would be prceipitatcd into the depths below. l\lARSlJPIAL J ,I O~. ''o the skeletons would h<'com c d i. membered, Few animal. ha ,.e been the occa ion of o the separate bones br ok en, and W<' would get much controversy as this. Owen rega rded the heterogeneous collection o·f bones, earth, j t as a carniYore of a particul arly destructi,·e and pebbl('S that we now find at \Yellingi·on. naturC', while othC'r authoritiC's. . uch as Krcfit and Flowcr. were of opinion that it 'fliJ~ WELLI NGTON ]IQSS ILS . \Yas a harmless YC'gC'table ferdrr. Tt cannot \Vhat kindF; of an imals li ved in Australia be s~1 icl t hat the <'C' hoC's of this battle ha\'C' yet in these d ay~? Investigation by Owcn, died clown. but t hr general opinion now is 372 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE t hat the a,nimal wa8 a Ae. h-caiC'r. Unfortun t he last premolar is in a m easure intermediate ately only the . kull and lower jaw ?'nd t h<' in a,ppcarance. between t hat of the Rat dPnt ition of Thylacoleo aee 1< nown w1th cer Kangaroo and 'Phylacoleo has been described tainty, though limb bon<'s have be~n tenta by Dr. R .. Broom (Proc. Linn. Soc. N .8.W. t ively assigned to it. We arc 1gnorant, Vol. X., 1895 p. 563) , but in none of these is t herefore, of its build and bodily structure, t he premola,r strictly comparable with that and such knowledge as t hese a fford. psually of Thylacoleo. l~chind this large t renchant teeth give the clearest indication of an premolar are the true molars, one on each animal's food h abit~. Confronted with t he side in the upper jaw and two in t he lower; dent it ion of a horse a comparative anatomist t hese like the canines a nd anterior premolars, would without hesitation pronounce jt to are small and apparently useless, t hough the be a ht> rbi vorous animal, it. incisors (front forem ost molar in t he lower jaw may have teeth) adapted for cropping t he herbage, its been used to supplement t he cutting action molars (back teeth) for grinding and mastica of the large premolar. W e are left t hen t ion. ,'o the teeth of a cat clearly indicate, wit h t he incisors and th<' enlarged premolal' in thC' sharp piercing canines and t he com as t he effective teeth of Thylar;oleo, and the pressed scissors.like molars, that t hey are problem is to discover for what kind of food mrant for a flesh diet, t he canines to hold such a dental equipment is adapted. and kill its struggling prey, t he molars to It is difficult t o escape the conclusion that remove from the bones and divide the fl esh it was a fl esh eater. Every mammal which of its victim. Also t he skull and jaws are Jives on vegetable food, except certain bats modifi ed for the attachment of t he muscles which are fruit eaters, have efficient grinding in accordance with t he purpose and use of teeth to reduce their food to a state fit for the t eeth. easy digestion. Thylacoleo has no such What then do we find in Thylacoleo ~ Its equipment, and its teeth in no way suggest a skull is rounded and massive, and comparable fruit diet. Flower offered the hypothesis in size with that of a small ]ion. Apparent ly t hat its blade-like premolars might ha\·e its temporal muscles were strongly developed, been used like a tw·nip slicer to cut up bulbs so t hat we may conclude t hat it was necessary and roots, but even that food requires to be for the animal to close its jaws forcibly from masticated. I t is certain that t he Australian a widely open posit ion. Its teeth are of a vegetation was much the same during the most unusual and specialised type. In period when Thylacoleo lived as it is to-day, front above and below is a pair of large anp. t.here is no kind of plant that we. can pointed incisors, the lower ones not meeting point to as the prohablc food of this annn~l. the upper as in the kangaroo but passing The suggestion h as also been made that It them. These are followed in the upper jaw wa a scaYenger, a kind of marsupial byrena, by a small canine and two small anterior and several cases have b<'en quoted of fossil premolars; in the lower jaw, behind t he b ones found in various parts of Australia incisors are two small premolars of no which appear to have been gnawed by some functional importance. But the last pre large animal. . molar in both upper and lower jaws is an In considering t he evolutionary h1st.ory enormous cutting tooth, greatly elongat ed in of the marsupial order of mammals, the a fore-and-aft direction, and . marked by conclusion has been reached that its members shallow vertical grooves. The lower tooth were primarily insectivorous, and were shears past t he upper on the inside, and in furnished with tcPth appropriate for insect old animals a polished worn surface develops caters. By a process of evolution some of at the point of contact. No such tooth is them acquired an ornnivotous habit, and known in any other mammal, its nearest subsequently one branch became carnivorous, analogue being found in the family Plag while another culminat('d in the k ang:a.roos ia.u lacidae, belonging to an extinct order and wallabies, in which the teeth are perfectly called the Multituberculata, the precise adapted for a herbivorous diet.. affinities of which arc uncertain, and in t he When we enquire into t he probable affi n Rat Kangaroos, in which t he last premolar ities of ThylacolPo we find t hat it preRents the is lengthened in the same manner and grooved greatest resemblance to t he phalangers a.mong vertically. An extinct form, Bun·amys, living marsupials; its skull and tedh are from t he Wombeyan cave district, in 'vhich C) uitc unlike tho c of typical carnivorous 1l'HE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM lVlAGA ZINE 373 forms. such aR the dasyurc and the thylacinc, entered through an opening in the wall ; thE' nor do they prcl"cnt <\ ny re em blancc to those animal had not long been dead, for the Uga of typical hrrbivor cs, such as the kangru·oos ments were still attached to the bones. and wn.llabicR. Apparently its ancestors Imagine a fall of t he roof to occur here reached the omnivorons stage and proceeded carrying with it some ·· prl'historic ·· red some distance a long t he path leading to et11rth , a nd t his specimen might then become hcrbkority, but reverted later to a carn en vd oped in the same m~Ltr i x as much older irorous habit. By that time the canines bones. Under favourable circumstances ihe had become reduced and the law of irrever drip of carbonated water might in a com sible e,·ol ut ion lays it down that a n ot·gan parf\.tively short p eriod seal up these recent once lo::;t or considerably re duced cannot he 1·egained. But gra ping and piercing teeth are necessary to any ca.r ni vore, and so in Thylacoleo the f1·ont incisors wer e modi fied to scrYc the purpose usually fulfilled by canines, while· the enlarged p osterior prt>molar becallle conver ted into a Bosh tooth. H Pi\1A " TOOTH. One of the most interesting find made in t he vVellington Caves was the discovery by Krefft of t he fractured crown of a human molar. This specimen is in t he Museum collection and has been dis cussed by R. Etheridge, Jr. (Rec. Austr. 1lfus., X I., 2, 1916, p. 31). According to K.refft it was found embedded in the cave earth, and Dr. J. M. Creed informs me that he vv-a.s present when the find was made. There is still some red earth adhering to the tooth but no actual matrix containi ng bones of extinct animals, so t hat there is an element of doubt Lower j aws of t he." Marsupial Lion" (T bylacoleo carnifex). In front as to this tooth being of the ~re two lon)l pmnted incisors followed by two s mall useless teeth same age as Th(1Jlf'l,co l e~, Dipro m front of tfie lar ge c u tting posterior premolar; behind tbjs is a s m all true molar. lodon , and other forms of the [Photo.-G. C. Cluttr•n. Pleistocene period. T he na.ture of the occurrence of fossils at Welling bones in such a manner that it would be hard ton makes it difficult to determine the to recognize their relative youth. contemporaneity or otherwise of the fos~ils. The probabilities are tba. ~ ~hey ch_ffer THE ACE OF 'J'H E FOSS U~S . considerably in age, and 1.t 1s poss1bl e This raises the interesting question of the that the human molar belongs to a later lapse of time since the Di7Jrolodon. Th!Jlacoleo, period than other bones found t here. Palo·rclt e.ste , and other marsupial giants During ou1· visit we discovered t he greater r oamed through th e bush and round the pat·t of the skeleton of a possum, deep down wa.ter-holes. It is quite possible, even in the ma'in cave a t· the bottom of a chute proba,blE', that the aboriginal had arrived in 374 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZlNE Australia befor<' these animals had become Cowrie water-holes, where his fore-fathers extinct, and that hP actually saw and perhaps had s<:-en t he a nimals themselves sporting hunted the lumbering Diprolodon somewh C;>rc about. I again asked him if t hey did not between twenty and a hundred thousand live on the leaves of t rees ; ~t ud his r eply was years ago. t hat t hey were never seen to feed on t hem, Dr. C:corge Eennett. a formc:r Trustee.'. in but always on grass, the s~tme as a horse or •· A trip to Queensland in search of Fos. il. ·· bullock.'' (Ann. Jlag. X at. H i.Ql., April, 1H72), r~fPrs to It may be remembered t hat the Diprotodo n a tradition of the blaeld ell ows rcgardmg t he is go n rr~ Uy supposed to have dwelt mainly Diprolodon. The passage is o! such interest in t he near neighbourhood of lakes and t hat it i:; worthy of q uotatton. water-holes, that it certainly walked on all ·· Jha\'Cha rl a I on~ conversation with 'Char li e fours, and lived on grass and shrubs, but Piercr,' an aboriginal, relative to t hesr that it was aquatic or a. burrower has 11ever fossils; and he avers that they are tho:c of to my knowledge been suggested, nor w~uld an ani ma l, long extinct, known to the natives its skeletal structure support ~uc h a v1cw. bv the namf' · Gyedarra.' Trn.dition among If t here is anything in t he tradition it may be them has handed down t he appearance and t hat t he animal referred to was Plz a co l onu~ . habits of t he animal for generation , but a large extinct form of wombat. Charlic says he never paid much attention to the descript ions that have been given to him. · ACKNOWLEDG MENTS. but imagines the auimal was as large a a hea\ry drA-ught horse. walked on all fours t he Our . tay at t he Caves was r endered much same as any other four footed beast, eating more pleasant and profitable by t he hospi grass, nrver went any distance back from tality a nd cordial assistance we received t he creek.- to feed, ancl spent mo.t of its time from 1\Ir. J. Harvcy Truman, Shire Clerk, in the water, chiefly in enonnous holes and l\Icssr . R. Newton Tabrett and C. H. cxcavatrd in the hanks. I told him he must 1\iunro, Shire Engineers. mean :omc other a nimal ; but he spoi There has just been presented to the Trus a nd wren.c; arc well repr e~ented. Exotic tees of t he Australian ~lu seuru what one forms were not over!ook <'d bv 1\h. Grant for ma,y juRtly regarc.l as one of the finc~st col t his collection couta.ins for eign parrots, lections of bird skins yet brought together woodpeckers, pittas, ldng fi shers, sun-bil'ds, within t he Commonwealt h. The collection hawk , owl , finches, and others too numer ous was made hy the lnJe R obert Grant , wh o for to list here, likewise a series of New Zealand a numhcr of years was taxidermist at this birds. including male and female Huia 1\Ius<'um and who had been a discriminating (H ete ralocha acu ti rost?· is) . coll ector from boyhoocl . 'fo studen tR of cur aYitauna. the collection The collection is notablf' in t h<\t it contains i. priccleas. though its catalogue valur may seri0s of great value to t he systernatic he set down at about £ 1000, and the 1 tate work<'r, ancl specimens of birds which , un owes a. deep deht of gratitude to t he following fortunately, arc now nearing extinction . donors whose timely generosit y s~\vcd the Some iden. of the importance of t his collec coiJ cction from leaving Au. tralia: i\Je :r . tion may he gleaned from t ht' fact that it B urn , Philp a nd Co., Ltd., l\Irs. Dangar, contains Atricho1'nis ruffscens (Rufous ~c ru b l\Ie ·sr:. R. H. A-nd R.. R. Dangar , Si r Hugh Birrl), PsoJJhodes nigrogularis (West Aus Dcnison, the la te Sir Hugh Dixson , l\fessts. tralian Coach \i\Thip), PseJJhotw~ pulche1·rim'llS Farmer ani! Co. Lt d. (the Director ), ~fl·. (Paradise Parrot), Ptiloris ?'icloriae and al R. H . Gordon, Rir Samuel H ordcrn, :\Jr. berli (Rifte Bird~), fJe;oporus u·allicus (G round L. E. P almer, Miss Eadith \Valker, C. n. E., P arrot). In addition to these species the and Mr. H. L . White and Mr. H. Wolsten bower birds, honey eaters, pan ots, robins holmc. THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE 3i.) Discoloration of Harbour Waters - A Reason Why. BY F. A. McNEJLL ,, · D A. A. LIVING TO~J·: . HE recent occurrence of reddish patches in alteration in the . alinity of the harbour T the open waters of Port J ackson has waters in calm weather foll owing cxces"" <' excited the intere t of many people, downpours of rain. The .. discoloration " and the strange phenomenon has inspired of the water on the. c occa ions ha quill' much conj ecture as to its cause and effect. naturally been attributed by many to largt• Early in 1891 a controversy waged in t he q uantit ies of earth matter that ha hcrn pages of the Sydney dailies over a similar washed into the harbour waters-a casual but more pronounced occurrence, and " Riv obser vation easily rejected. The idea thnt ers of Blood " was a s ubject which stirred the t he colour is due to wa te product i also out minds of t he populace. everal prominent of the question, as arc many other hypoth<:' 'es authorities of that day were induced to study as to its origin. ome haxe attributed tlw and report upon t he su bjcct and t he t rue phenomenon to the prc cnce of numrrou') solution to the problem fell to the lot of Mr. spore. of algae as in the Red 1 ea , while other" Thomas Whitelegge, la.te of t he Australian have maintained that thr larval . tag:rs of Museum. This gent lema n was subjected jelly fishes are responsible. lL is prepo tcrous, to adverse criticism at the hands of many however , to assert, as some do without con· well -meaning en t husiasts, who have not vincing evidence, that thr matter mu-;t Ill' ~ince comprehensively substantiated their chemical pollution from commercial cntl'r claims as he did in a scien tific journal. prises such as paper mill and ugar work ", or the blood and offal from abattoirs. CAUSE AND OCCURRENCE. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, as the following extract written bv a corr<:'s One of the main reason for the marked pondent to a Sydney newspaper ~will show. " discoloration " is t he presence of minutE' After first considering the red ·· discolora single-cclled animals, and t he density of t ion ,. to be due to t he presenccof huge lllllll· the colour is governed by their number bers of minute young jelly fish , he sought and age. These organisms belong to the later to ally such forms with the Infusoria. lowest type of animal life and are classified His discoursecommenccs: "Afterall.pultiug in a group known as t he Infusoria . Usua11y aside scientific classification. the largc~t of two or three species arc concerned in an epi the medusidae are but a form of life not a ,.<·r·y demic, but a form known as Peridinium great remove from infusory life ; in fact. t'o appears to be t he m ost prevalent. This my mind they are·' infusoria ·· made \'isible animal is enclosed in a transparent, more or by their gigantic size. Their actions, motions less elliptical case with a single whip-like and economy are similar to the low<:'st Aagcllu m at the broad end of the body. forms of life inhabiting water.'' This It measures about 1- lOOOth of an inch long, unfortunate effort closes with the state andl- 1500th of aninchwidc . Adeepgr ooYc ment that " I will gladly acknowledge r am is present in the equatorial region and is bor mistaken if any scientist of standing '' ho, dered by a ring of cilia which assists t he crea by research and not from books. pro' e". ture in locomotion . The contents of the I am wrong.·' case consist of densely granular protoplasm and a very large nucleus. REPRODUC'TIOX OF ORCA~IS:\1. It seems as though these infusorians have made their appea.rance regularly each year The free-swimming Peridinium and its in larger or smaller q ua ntities since 1856. aJi ies pass through a series of change!';, in An explanation has been put forward by Mr. crea inginsize up to a certain point. and then Whitelegge that t heir appearance in enor increase in numbers by a characteristic pro mous numbers may br due to a favourable cess called binary fi ssion. This simple form 316 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE of reproduction enables one individual to atmosphere. F ish life, t oo, was not immune split into t wo and t hese in t urn again divide, to t he effects of the visitation, and t his recalls and so on until myriads of them are formed. a similar incident which occurred in the Bay This division may be longitudinal or trans of Agu, J apan, where, it is stated, large num verse. In the final stages of an epidemic t he bers of fish were rendered drowsy, and were organisms make provision for a rest from their easily speared by the inhabitants. At this former active mode of reproduction. They place also pearl oysters were destroyed in accomplish this by developing spores within large numbers. their cases and remain dormant until suitable conditions recur. If placed in an artificial From what is known of the chemical compo environment active animals have been known sition of the P eridinia there are no reasons to settle down and develop these spores, why t hey should be regarded as injurious each spore having a t hick cell wall which is when eaten by fishes and other organisms. able to resist all kinds of injurious influences. The composition of these organisms is very 'o great is t his 1·esistance that t hey may be similar to that of diatoms, desmids, and such boiled, or kept in a dry state for a considerable like, which, owing to their oily property, arc period without having t heir vitalit y des known to constitute a highly nutritious food troyed. for fi sh, oyst er s, and other forms of animal life. Also, experiment has proved that the HABlTS . organisms do n ot die and undergo decay, for a bot tle containing them may be left untouched It is considered that the life histories of for ten days without showing traces of de t he organisms account in some degree for t he composition. density of the "coloured " patches of water , which may be light brown, or dark red like It would seem that t he exact cause of an blood when the organisms age and their con epidemic's effect on shore life is very obsc ure, tained spores are almost mature. When in but Mr. Whitelegge has submitted some reas fected water is viewed in a bottle with one onable arguments to account for the mortality. side shaded from the light, the creatw·es will H e noted that the bivalve molluscs such as arrange themselves in cloudy patches and oysters had evidently been the most affected, form a miniature reproduction of t he condi and that their decomposition had some tions obtaining in open water. This proves influence in killing the limpets, peri their social or gregarious habit , which is winkles, and other life. The death of a.pparently stimulated by favourable light the former was considered to be due to conditions. one or more causes. The organisms may No doubt much of the controversy of have been present in such numbers as 1891 was caused by lack of sufficient know literally to clog t he gills and prevent ledgeinhandlingthe organisms after capture. respiration, or the water may have been Mr. Whitelegge has personally informed the so deficient in oxygen as to be unfit to support authors t hat he could not determine t he the higher forms of life. Again, they could characteristics of the creatures until he perhaps be so overfed as to produce indiges conceived theideaofwarmingthe glass mount tion or sickness. No doubt any one of these upon which the specimens were placed before causes acting for weeks in succession, or a examination under t he microscope. This combination of the wh ole, would be sufficient procedure had to be adopted in order t o pre t o render t he entire lit toral fauna unhealthy. vent the creatures from casting their tests, The deat h of larger animals would tend to or cuirasses, in which case thev are almost make t he con ditions worse for those that unrecognisable. ~ remained. The sudden appearance of Pe·rid·inia in EFFECT. great bulk and their consequent depreda tions reminds us of the great national impor The pronounced epidemic of 1891 had a tance of, and necessity for a thoroughly very marked effect on the shore fauna of effi cient biological station. It also affords Port J ackson and the mortality was so marked anot her instance of our ignorance of the con in some areas as to create a very offensive ditions affecting our marine food supplies. THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM .MAGAZI:KE 37i The W underlich Aboriginal Group. HEHg has recent ly been placed on exhibi think how quickly the romance of ab01 iginal tion a fine seric.· of m odels of t h e Aus affair·s, togrthet· with all t he . dcntitk T tralian aborig ine, comprising an adult treasures it C' llcompa . ed, ha Yani. ht>d ami ma lr anr1 fcma le, and a boy . This interesting is now irretrievably lo t to the world. Thl· c•xhibit. has bern p rcscntrd by Mr. Ernest rising gcnC' ration will not have the adnlllhtgr \\'tmdrrlicb, F. H .A. '. , PrC'sident of the Board of men of even our timC'. BoneR. !->lO~I (' of Trust ccs of t hi :-; Mu scum. lVIr. W underlie h , artefacts, and wooden implemrnt will hr in who is kee nly interested in anthropology , has our Mus<' ums for eYer, but the habits, lnwl->, fol'lo ng regretted the a bscncc of an ex hi bit of beliefs, and lrgends arc doomed to rapid this nature i11 our galleries. The figure , extinction." It wa,. the realisation of this whiC' h we illu~tratc overleaf , were prepared tragrdy which induced l\Tr . \Vundel'liC' h tc, from life by 1\Tr. 0. Raynor H off, A.R.C.A., make t hi t imely prc,.cntation. H.• ' .. A.H.J:L '., ancl subsequently coloured, Perhaps some facts concerning thr indi. also from life, by 1\'Iis. E. A. King. ,~idu a l s who posed fot· the e figure. may hr of It will not b€' many year. before the intcrc t. · aborigine. in New outh Wales a nd Victoria The man, wh o i hurling a boomerang, i" at least. will be an entity of t h e past. Every Yangar, or ·· Jimmy Clement.... on of yrar sees a hrinkagc in their number, and Cayan-Blour r-Galoom, the late .. King of thC' coa tal tribe· that once r oamed t he Orange," western New 1 outh "'a ir~ . · · ~·dnr,v district arc, unfortunately, no longer ·' J immy " is an old man, but well prt'srn·<•t l. \\ lth.us. l n t hr Ja. nuary-~1arc h , 1926, issue H e has a very retcntiv(' mem ory and rrcollrch of. th1s ~~G ~ZIN E ~Ir. W. W. Thorpeillustrated the Yariou:o; tribal cu tom. and initiation \\'lth stattsttcs, the decline of this race from ceremonies, but regarding these h C' is C'X· iOOO in 1 :3, the first census, t o under 1000 tremely reticent and will not communieat<' at. thC' present t ime . T hese figures were for his" honom cd ·ecrets." The female figure is th1.· •'tate, but Victoria in 1924 possessed ·· Nel1i e \Valk<.' r," a da,ughter of Geri -B ungul , only i-1-. Of course, in t h e more remote parts and a nati vc of Born bala, Monaro cli. t l'ict, of t.h~ Uomrnonwcalth there is still an sout hern New l 'out h V\' ale . Thr boy is ahongtnal population of some dimensions H arold Marsh, aged nine years, who · was th~u g h even h e r~ time a nd contact with and ChinesC' a rc working change. . born at Kinchcla, :Macleay Ri,·E'r, not thern wh 1t ~·s New 'outh \Vale . He i. now lidng at thl' In h1.· rccf'ntly is,. ucd book The Aust,ralian Brewanina settkmcnt. :~b~rigina l , Dr. H erbert 'Bascdow says: En•ry year t he number of people who haYe In the RC' lrction of aborigine grrat c-are ~c-; n the unsoph isticated savage is dwindling. had to be:> take11 to ensure that the indidclual.., \\ h<:'t.l l l ~ok back _to t he time of my first were pure blood . and to the Abori!!irw< ~ne<:'tl ng wtth tlw t rll.>e!> of central Australia, Protcdion Board and the Police Departm('nt JU. t . t ~\'e n ty year · ago, and compare t he of thi 1 'tate thanks an· due for tht' Yaluahlc· conchtton. of then a nd n ow, I shudder t o assistancr rrndN·ed by them. 111·· . P \ . H . c•,am Ila gc, C. B .E• . , F . L .S . , Australia during ihe week commencing :2:3rd '[' t·uste<•, has hrrn a ppoin ted to represent the August. An i111tcresting and h1 tructin· Au:-;t rali a,n MuRc ut't"' at thr meeting of t he programme has been arranged for the meeting. Auiitralasinn As!-!oc:ia.Li on for th e Advance and it is h opr cl that a large body of members ll1Pnt of Rti('ll('(', to hP h C' Id at P erth , vVestern will aiknd. ~ 00 1-j ~ t:rj > g ~ > t: > ~ g~ t:rj ~ ~ 0 > Figures comprising the Wunderllch Aboriginal Group, modelled by Mr. C. Raynor Hoff, A.R.C.A., R.S., A.R.B.S., N and colou.red by Miss E. A. Kin~...... Presented by Mr. Ernest Wunderllc h, F.R.A.S., President of the Board of Trustees of the Australian Museum. z [l'hoto.-6'. C. r:tulton. PJ THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUl\1 :r-.IAGAZI NE 3i9 Tambourine Mountain, Queensland. 13v A ' THONY M usoR:\VE, F.E. ~.:'. IDWAY between Brisba.nc and the New It is also flat-topped and its highest point 1 outh ·wales border lies a long, low, is said to be l , 35 feet . The north<'rn Mmountain, an oJr hootof theMacPberson end is precipitous but its outhcrn t>nd slopC's Range, known as Ta mbourine Mountain, down to Canungra. Th<' eastern and we. tern which enjoys the disti notion of being a spot fre walls are al o precipitou. . On the southern quently visited by Australian entomologists and western ides of the mountain the rocks. and over ea natut·alists. For many years I accordjng to the late Dr. John hirlcv ' longed to v i~::; it the mountain, for everyone who belong t o the Trias-J ura system : thcs<' a ~·<· has sren its glorious OVt'l'lain by a cap of scrubs has sung its basalt . The roc l< s of praises. Eventually the 'l'rins-.J ura beds (as a-rc ult of an invi arc COillJ)Osed of . and tation by Mi s Hilda ·tone!', . halE's. and con Ge i ssma~m, a r esident glomrratcL . and, a~ of the mountain) I they weather mor·t• spent omc time there rapidly than thr hard in November, 1924, basalt, the undc·rlying and agai n in Decem roc){S are cut v€'rticall.v ber, 1925. The fol downward on th<' lowing notes are re eastern and we.·tcrn solts of these sojourns, sides, thus accounting which, though brief, for the precipitous gave me a general idea cliffs which occur of the topography and there. natural history of t he On the we tern sidr district. Miss Gt"is - of th€' mountain, to mann and her brother , wards its northern rnd, Mr. Colin Geissmann, ~ is a group of columnar were my guides on basaJti. c rocks called,. trips to various parts t hc · c a u : c way, of the mountain, and which here form cJifT .. I am greatly indebted Not far from the r to them for their a - occ ur hexagonal col sistance. umns. with their ends As the mountain protruding horizontal owes the wealth of its ] v from the sides of entomological fauna the cliff, a though they to the luxuriance of its Map of Tambourine Mountain, s howing its peculiar had been bent over. vegetation and thofer ou tline, and geological features. From the top of the t ility of the soil upon 't. Bernard Falls, on which the plants grow, a brief account the eastern side of the mountain one looks of the physiographic features and the botany down into the Guanaba Gorge, whicl1 lies will be appropriate before dealing with the between tv.. ·o spurs of the mountain. The insects themselves. Gorge provides some entrancing scenery. being filled with a very den e vegetation. PHYSIOGRAPHY. Fine cliffs of trachytc occur on the left-hand Tambourine Mountain forms part of the side, and wooded hilJs on the right. The coastal range and d ivides the Albert River Coomera River lies in the distance and from the Pimpana, Coomora and Nerang beyond it the sea. From \Vilson's Lookout River systems. The mountain lies roughly on the eastern side of the mountajn on a clear north and south, and is about seven miles in length, whil e the gr<'atcst width is three miles. 1 Queen<> land Naturalist, I., 1908. pp. 46·49. 380 THE AUSTRALIAN .MUSEUM MAGAZINE showing here and there through t he reddish-yellow soil in t he cuttings. 'fhr summitgained, one is treated to a vista of huge gaun t ring- barked gums springing from the rich .·oi l, with occasional patche of dcnsr cru b or open fore. t country. Capo-di-l"lonte, the home of t he Geissmann family, st ill retains some of the for<'st orimeval at its back doors, .. but t,he mountain scrubs are steadily falling before t he axe of t he settler, to provide pasturage for dairy cattle or space for c i tr u ~ orchards, and thus a rc meeting with a fate resembling that of our Dor rigo scrubs. The Canungra Valley from the top of Tambourine Mounta in, Mt. Miser y The top of t he mountain lies in the background. fl'hoto.- A. Mus[Jrave. i::; reminiscent of lVlount Wilson in the Blue lVIoun- clay, a splendid panorama, is afforded of the Coomera Valley and the Coornera and Nerang Rivers, while Beechmont, t he Darlington Range, and t he mountains of the Mac Pherson Range, which rise to a height of 4,000 feet , pile away in the distance, and Mt. Warning's peak, twenty-eight miles away in Now South Wales, shows plainly through a ga,p in t he ranges. PLANTS. Owing to the nearness of the sea the mountain top is well watered. When we look down into the Canungra Valley from t he edge of the plateau, we notice that the SW'rounding country is t imbered with such trees as eucalypts, wattles and oaks; but on t he mountain itself a very rich vegetation is present owing to the decomposing basalt. Driving up from Tambourine railway station at the foot of the mountain to the summit, over a beautifully tarred road, one is enabled to see on either side the changes in t he vegetation due to t he corresponding changes in t he soil. After driving for some miles past t he typical Australian gum-trees, and ascending, we follow t he road along the Cedar Creek Valley, on whose banks flourish huge gums, Piccabeen pa1ms, and masses of vines. On the right side coming up the " The (Causeway '• ; cliffs of columnar basalt, formin~ mountain t he hills have been denuded of the Mountain's northern boundary. Comp a rison with the figure of Miss Ceissmann In the mid-dis tance gives vegetation to a great extent, basalt rocks s ome idea of their m agnltude. [Photo.-.1. .llusgrat·t. THE AUSTRALIAN .MUSEUM MAGAZI NE :3 1 tain , except t ha.t .the vege ta.tion of Tambourwe Moun tain is on a much m or e luxuriant scale. lt pos sesses, in fact. many of the elements which go to make up an Indo-Malayan rain forest. Most ot t h c valleys on tlte plab?au resemble those of Cedar or Curtis Creeks, and the North Coast District of New 1 'outh Wales. The timber is much sought after for making furnitui'e and butter boxes. Queensland possesses about one hundl'ed and sixty species of named orchids, and of these one hundred are epiphytic species, growing on 1·ocks or trees, while sixty are terrestrial. Miss Geissmann ha.s published in 19223 a list of twenty-one cpiphytic species and ten terrestrial forms from Tambourine Mountain, and since that t ime she has discovered scve1·al other species. In a pretty spot on the summit t he Geiss manns showed me an interesting oycad, 111.ac·rozamia denisoni. According to Pro fessor Chamberlain of the Chicago University, who is an authority on t he cycads of the world, the genus 111 acTozarnia has more than a dozen species, a.nd is the do.nllnant genus of ouT Australian cycads. Its species range from the northern part of Queensland to the southern limit of the cycads in New South Wales, while there is at least one species in Western Australia. There are only three species with tall cylindrica.l trunks, and these are said to be so distinct as to be readily recognisable, and one of these three is Jl1ac 'ro zarnia. de.nisoni. It is native to Tambourine Mountain and th.c MacPherson R.anges, and is con.c:;idered to be t he most beautiful species "Gr a ndfa the r (P et er" (Macrozam ia den isoni), a three b ranched cycad , ei~hteen feet in h eight. Mr. C. Geiss m ann s t and ing b eside t h e trunk gives s ome indication of its s ize. [Photo.-A. .M tlsural'e. of the genus ; it is not common everywhere on the mountain but is restricted in its range. The typical denisoni has a short stem, from which the palm-like leaves radiate, but one specimen was twenty feet in height and had two branches. Y et another, called "Grandfather P eter ,, had t hree branches and measured eighteen feet in height. These heights may appear to be considerable for a cycad, but 111 acrozarnia hopei, which occurs in the Cairns district, grows to a height of sixty feet. From a typical 1.11.acrozarn1·a denisoni t he Geissmanns secured for Pro fessor Chamberlain a seed cone weighing eighty-five pounds. The seeds from one of t hese cones ar e bright red in coloul'. and are so large that they a,re used as match boxes, A Tenebd ooid b eetle IEn car a floccosum ) occurs commonly on tr~e-trunks and logs, the w Wte flocculent I NSECTS. matter with w htcb it is covered , resemblin ~ lichens , thus eoab lin ~ it to escap e d etection. Tambourine Mountain is an entomologists' (Photo.-.4_. 11!Iusgra•>e. elysium. It has been visited by very many 30p. cit., III., 1922, pp 53-57. Australian insect-collectors, but probably THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE many species remain to be ca.ptured in its A Tenebrionid beetle. Encara .flocco uJo. dense scrubs. Much time could be spent by provided an interesting example of protectin: an entomologist co1lecting both harmless mimicry. This insect is covered with a and noxious insects, for the gardens and flocculent matter, which l'esembles in appear orchards abound in all kinds of insect pests, ance the drv lichens one finds on trees. Tlw and .in the scrubs and open forests the insect beetle is fou"nd comm only on trunks and part:-: life during t he summer months is wonderfully where lichens occw-, and t hu c. cap<>. tht· abundant. At a farm near Curtis Creek, eyes of enemies. On Tambourine Mountain occurs al. o t ht· Bird s-Wing Butterfly,Troides priamussub p. richmondius, a species which range. from l\1ary. borough, Queensland, to the Clarence Riv<'r. New Sout h \'\Tales. The first time I srcurrd this butterfly was while rirling up )lount Warning on t he Tweed, and carrying a butterfly net. As several flew past I caught a female specimen. The species was ver~ common there Hying over the lant.ana bushes, and at Tam bourine Mountain they seemed to be a bundant on t he slopes of the range. The male Bird's Wing is a rich velvet~ · black, with brilliant golden green markings : A Lacewing ( Megapsycbops illidgei), a rare denizen t he hind wings a.re golden-green with thre<· of the Mountain, and of which about s ix s pecimens only have been secured. The wings are here seen outs pread. large round black spots, the abdomen i:- ( l,~ hoto.- 0. ('. Clutton. golden-yellow. The female is much Jargel' t han the male, and is dark-brown in colour. which flows into Cedar Cr eek , I found insect with dusky white markings, the abdomE'n i ~ pests causing havoc everywher e. Much of dusky white. the land nearing the house was under maize, which seemed to be badly infected by a maize moth, and nearly every " ear " examined appeared to be full of larvre. Orange trees yielded t he Bronzy Orange Bug, Oncoscelis sulci·ventris, and the Green Citrus Bug, Biprorulus bibax, both well known native pests of the orange. The Cherry Bug, Peltophora p icta, was secured on the fruits of a plant r esembling the D og-wood of Lord Howe Island. Of t he insect groups collected the beetles predominated, and of these weevils seemed to be the most abundant many occuring on t rees and vines. . Under decaying logs live the large carmv? The Lacewing (Megapsychops illid~ei ) , s howin~ the rous ground beetles or carabs, Castelnaudw normal pos ition of the w ings when at r est : here they a r e folded tent-wise over the body. An antenna is seen imperiale, a species first described from projecting from the bead. north Queensland in 1894 by Mr. T. G. IPhoto.-.4. Jiv~u ra ''" · Sloane, but since recorded from Tambourine Mountain, Mr. W. W. Froggatt. contribut ing A RARE LACEWlN G. a note on its life-history to the Proceedings A capture which created excitement in th<.· of the Linnean Society of New South vYal es Geissmann househ old during my last trip to for 1904. This insect measures from 1.;1: to the mountain, was the taking of a rare Lace nearly 1! inches in length. The h ead and wing, M egapsychops illidgei, by Mrs. Gei.·.. - thorax are brassy-green in co l o~, and the mann. While I was engaged in loading my elytra or wing-covers are black, w1th brassy plate-h olders one evening :\iiss Geissmann -green outer margins. The legs and under rushed to the door of the room and called. surface of the body are black. "Comeq uickly; mothcrhascaugbt an illiclgPi .· · THE AUSTRALIAN l\1 USE UM MAGAZINE ----- r ,. \. T he Bird' s-wi n~ Butterfly (Troides p rlamus, s ubsp. rlchmondlus ) which occ urs on the s lopes of Tambour~ne Mountain. The female Is seen with folded win~s. The male in the top left h and corner, displays th e un er s urface of the wings and body, while the male on the ri~ht s hows the upper s urface. The insect is one of the four subs pecies of Troides priamus occu rrin~ In north Australia, a nd is dl s tln ~uished by the absence of a ~re~n s tripe on the m edian vein of the upper s urface of the forewin~ of the male : b y its s m a ller size : and by sts distribution, w hich represents the southernmost ran~e of the species, a nd which extends from Maryborou ~b, Queensland, to the Richmond River, New South Wales. The food plant or the larvae are cllmbln~ vines (Arts- tolochia). [H ele11a. F orde, del. THE AUSTRALIAN M USE Ul\1 l\'IA GAZINE I hurried out, a nd found t hat they had of an embossed yellow-brown pot : bcnl."ath crrtainly ca,ught t he rare lace-wing, of which it is another ycll owi h spot with "hih· only a.bout six sp ecime ns have been recorded, m ottlings_, and the end of the L i. bent up -~11 . with on<' exc·option, from Tambourine and t ermmates near the t horax in a similarly Moun tain. The in sect had flown into Mrs coloured and m ottled spot. The e curious (:cis ·man':; bed-roo m , apparently attracted yellow-brown markings haYe been aptly by the light , a nd t here it settled a nd r e~aine d likened by Mr . Froggatt, t o a drop of w llo\, still while a t umblet' was placed over 1t. Its varnish placed on the wing cl o~e to the t h ora~ wing. w<' rC folded t ent-wise over its body, a ll owed to run down the hi nd-margin and and when I killed it t he wings remained in t hen t urned up and all owed to remain on tlw the s Dr. T. Storie Dixson, Ex-President, left 17th and inspected the collection m the· Sydney for a trip to Europe and America, Bird Ga11 ery. HP <.>xpressed high apprecia during which he will examine various tion of the exhibited series of birds, and was Mu scum!!l in t hese countries. Dr. Gordon MacLeod, Trustee, has also gone abroad. much attracted by the display of humming Mr. Rollo C. Beck of the Whitney South birds, sa.ying he had never seen a fin er Sea Expedition vi~itcd the Museum on May f:'xhibit of these h ·autiful little birds. 3 (j THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE Obituaries. J. J. FLETCHER. contrihui ions on marsupial eml>ryology, on frogs and earthworms, and, particularly in y the lamented death on 15th l\Iay of more recent years, on eucalypts and acaciag · J. J. Fletcher, l\I.A., B.Sc., the Board of he was regarded as a n authority on all thrc~ B Trustees loses a member whose ability bra.nches of nat ural science. H e hart a and wide knowledge of natural history were mar v<'l1 ous m emory and was seldom at a Iosl'< of the greatest service. for a reference to the literat ure on the many subjects in which he was interested. · He was born in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1850, and was educated at Ip~wich Grammar Personally he was a kindly, sincere, and School, Qurcnsland, at Newmgton College, J1 elpful friend, ever ready to put his vast Sydney, and at the University of Sydney, knowledge at t he disposal of anyone who where he graduated M.A. In 1876 he pro sought his advice a nd assistance. ceeded t.o England to complete his scientific studies, and was :1 pupil of t he great masters, I IR H UGH DIXSON . Huxlev and F. M. :Balfour, taking the degree of B.Sc. of IJondon University. Returning The death of Sir H ugh Dixson has remow•d to Sydney h~ joined the teachin~ staff of one who was a good friend to this Museum. Newin<>'ton College, but left there m 1885 to When funds were required for any particular becom~ Secretary of the Linnean Society of purpose an appeal to his generosity never New South Wales, from which position he failed to find a ready response. He contri. retired a few years ago after nearly forty buted to t.he cost of several of our recently years serv·ice: Dur.i~g his long ~eriod he installed habitat groups, and we owe many was the guidmg spmt of the SoCiety, and valuable mineral specimens to his liheraHty. eonducted its affairs, including the editing of the Proceedings, with judgment and devotion. Sir Hugh had reached tpe advanced age of eighty-five, a.nrl for some time he had been Mr. Fletcher contributed many articles to in feeble health. During recent years he had the Proceed·in:;s of his beloved Society, and been a.ccustomed to sp end the Australian the wide range of his knowledge may be winter a.t Colombo, where h e died on 12th judged by the fact that these included May 1ast. Review. • alllJ TJ' anu•r. BY FLORENCE :\I. lRBY. life story of the pretty little bush girl ally ·Cornstalk Publi hing Company (Angus Warner, to whom every li\·ing creature is a and Robertson Ltd.), 1926. JOy. The scene is ]aid in the picturesque North The authoress i a valued eorrespondent of Coast district a nd in New England, ~e~· this Museum to whom we owe several Sout.h Wales, and we have interesting valuable specimens and much interesting glimpses of the daily r ound of a stru~gling information. Miss Irby is intensely inter dairy farmer a.nd the more spacious hfc of ested in the life of the bush, her mind is the wealthy squatter. Incidenta-lly the stored with bnshlore, and in this pleasantly reader will learn much concerning the fas written story she has drawn on her knowledge cinating ways of the robin, the flycatc~er . of nature and the ways of wild creatures in the mistletoe bird, a.nrl many other charmwg weaving a whole ome romance round the inhabitants of scrub and bush. THE AUSTRALI AN MUSEUNI MAGAZINE 3 7 The Mystery of Marsupial Birth and Transference to the Pouch. BY E LLl S J.LE G. T ROlJOHTON . A youn ~ k an~aroo eyes the intruder from the safety zone or its cos y r etreat. Thou~h fully furred a nd feedin~ upon ~rass , the pouc h is soug ht a t s ig n of da n ger. W hen hard pressed by purs uers the young may b e thrown from the pouch eithe r ln an attempt to save the young or to reJieve t h e parent's dis tress. [Courtesy of Sydnl!y ··sun." RO:M: the sun-ba.thed centre to t he damp The truth is t hat no real mystery exi5ts at F forests of tropical Queensland, and over all, th ough, a.fter recent newspaper e~o.rts to the Leeuwin where t he sun sets west to impart the facts, and the uncompronnsmg of AustraJia., t he p1·ohlem of the birth and attitude of many correspondents, one almos~ transference of the baby marsupiuJ to the despairs of convincing t he die-hard doubters. .sheltering pouch provides much argument for However , let us bri~fly consider th~ funda· the bush naturalist. ]\{any cling tenaciously mental difference between marsupials and to the belief that it develops on the teat, other furred animals. much as an apple grows on a twig, emphati .cally stating that t he tiny baby could not MARSuPiALS AND OTHER FURRED .ANIMAT.S . possibly reach t he pouch, and so, by camp A distinguishing feature of all furred ani· fire and country bar the a.rgument has been mals or mammals is t hat t heir young are waged for ma.ny years. nourished by milk suckled from the parent. 3R8 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE They are diYidcd into thrN• groups, the following extract from t his account are lowest consisti11g of the egg-laying Platypus interesting :- " l\1y ohscrvAtions have refer and the S1Jiny Ant-enter or Echidna . Next ence only to the mode of transference of the conH' the marsupials, whosr young are born cm bryo to the }Jouch , which I now believe to· nt n Y<>ry imm::tture and almo~t hairless stage. he effected hy the cm bryo itself ; or, at any Thirdly we hcn·e the higiH'r placental mam rate, with very little assistance from t he mals, whose young arc horn cmupletely mother, and that almost unconsciously givC' n. J1nirc·d , th<'ir advanced fl<'''<'lOl)ment enahling I heard lately of an instance of the . a me them to mon~ about ~1nd .~ uckle at will. I n appearances haYing been ob ·erved hy a kau thrsc higher mammal" provi. ion is ruade for garoo hunter, and waR pleased to find t he the nourishmPnt of unborn young by the confirmation of hi ~ story hy my own rx c]o~c connection betwc·C'n thrm and the blood pcrience. He hadconcJuded that t he youug strea ru of the pnr<'nt, knrnvn as the placental one had been h orn during the parent's dying connection or '' m~vr l cord.· ' 'This ii'l absent agonies and described c-dm ost exactly what in mo:st marsupial!:;. on ly the J3andicoots 1 afterwards saw, ' tha.t the embryo was work (Family Pcramelida<') having a faidy efficient ing its way t hrough t he fur straight lo placental connection, whil r the kanga,roo wards the orifinP of the pouch.' has 11onc. Thus the young of most mar " The dam that l shot had been dead, supials prior to birth. rl<'pend for suste11ance perhaps, five minute: before I bad noticed 11pon a surrounding yolk -~ac tlte contents of what was going on: but I don't t hink suffi which arc soon absorbrd. A result of t hi cient time had elaJJScd for t he young one to· nwagrc provisioH is that they a.re necessarily have made its way ·o far. It was then born at an early and. imcomplete stage of within about five inches of the odficc of the development when a nrw and immediate pouch. . .. closer inspection showed it to source of nourishmrnt is essential. To be working actively with its fore legs- arm , mort thi.· need, natur<> has evolved a unique in fact-which were considerably developed, method for nourishing and tra,nsporting t he with the claws appan·nt. n was a bo~t one young of marsupials, and. the foregojng . bows and one-third iuch{'S in JenQ:th, the ta1l and that there are definite peculiarities of internal hind legs 1mdeveloped ... ~ After watch.ing structure to account for the unusual condi it a few minutes, and not having much t J ~ne tions of hirth and n o uri ~hm cnt ,,·hich have to remain I took it from the fur, to whtch gjvcn rise to so much useless aegument1. it seemed to adhere pretty firmly, and placed it on the closed orifice of t he pouch. It s~o 1t TRANSFERENCE Tl) TIT!~ POUCH. left this, h owever, and commenced tra,velll.ng t.hrough the fur, which "·as pretty lo~1 g, w1th Though it has been known for over a considerable energy: as, howen'r, 1t began century that the young marsupial is conceived to descrihe circles, and avpeared, as 1 may and horn in the usual mammalian way, there say, rather to have lost its way, after a few· will doubtless always be ardent exponents of minutes more I nlaced it again on the sup the born -in. t he - pouch hypothesis, while posed orifice of the pouch, ta.king care ~h at amongst those who have accepted the truth the head sunk among the folds of t he slon I there has heen controvcrsv as to t he method have mentioned. It then seemed to en of transference t o t he pouch. It was gen deavour to burrow in. At this stage I had crally believed until recent.ly that the parent to leave it as t he day was arlvancing, and I was entirely responsible, but it is now known had an ~ngagement e l sewh ~re.'' Stat i1~g bc·yond all doubt that t he young are able to that. he would have kept the slon and embrj <> reach the pouch ancl ten ts unaided, though had preser\a ti,·e~ been available the obsen ·er it is reasonable to suppose that mat ernal remarks : " What struck me was the man·el instinct may frerrucnt1y prompt the parent. lous energy and a.ppnrent endurance of the to assist the t iny voyng<·rs. There are at. cm bryo in its course, n,nd t he small chance least three Au str r~l ia n nccountr; of young there seemed to be of its falling from thr fur, which while r)roducing adherence, dicl not ma.rsupials traYclling unaided towards the ) . ll , pouch, the carlj est known to me Lcing that seem to impede its progrrs. matena y. of the Hon. L. H ope rrad i11 1882 and quoted These observation were later confi rmed in Volume ill. of the Transactions of the by Mr. A. Goerling, of Marloo Station in t l~ c Philosophical Soci<>ty of Queensland. The Murchison nistrict of vVestern Australia m THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE 3d) ~ n accoun.L of the birth of a. Red Kangaroo, able to ·ee the fuetu ' clinging to the fur near published in the P C' eth '' \Vestern Mail " for thP tail. .:\t this juncture, l ummoncd to January 3rrl, 19 13. He wr0te that " On witness, L. )[cHugh. E. Harrison, and F. -the morning of the ahovementioned date , 'tone. 'fhC' foctu · mond slowly up throuah (February 25, 1906), I was attracted hy the t.hc fur with an automatic kind of moYem<>~t peculiar behaviour of a female .Jfacropu~ of the fore li mb , hut was unahle to find the ?'ufus. She refused the feed placed before pouch and moved on hiah r.nd got lost near her, and I c~me to the conclusion that the chest. Thr fem;1 le continued to Lick the the animal harl ju ~t giv·en hirth to a young foetus, hut. made no attempt to rrnder otlwr -one. • he wa. · s itting in that resting po sition in which kangaroos can often be seen, the tail pa~sed forwa.rd. Thus she was sitting u.lmost entirely on the thick pu.rt of her tail. She took no n otice of my presence, A.lthough n ot more than three weeks in captivity. Presently she Jifted her head, when I was astonished to see a young kangaroo clinging to t he long fm· about four inches below the opening of the pouch. ·'It moved slowly, vC'ry slowly: through the fur upward·, using the arms in its progress, .and continually moving the head from side to side, thus as i ting the upward movement. Ne~dy 30 minutes were required by the little wanderer to reach the top o£ the pouch, the lMt end in a S<" mi-circlc. During the whole of this time t he m other paid no attention to her offspring , offering no assistancE>, a nd leaving it; C' ntjt·c]y ·t;o its own exert ions." On a previous occasion .Mr. Goerling h ad not.iced a hahy wallar oo eli nging to the fur A newly-born G reat Grey K an ~aro o, attached t o a helow the pouch. o£ a f0male ca.ptiYe and had teat In Its mother 's pouch . Its fore limbs arc l\b· thought t hat t he mother 's restless movement normally long and are provided with claws which are wantlnj1 on the weaker hind limbs. had djs]orlged it. [l'ilol o. --C. r•. ('llllltm. The agrcem<'nt between th ese two accounts i~ very stdking a nd, stre.. ngely enough , during aid, or remove it. t0 the pouch. The female the ~reparation of this article a f~her very became r c~t i C.:l:-5. aucl in hopping away di~o.. defimte account was published by Professot' lorlgecl the fot·tu!-;, which was rE'eovcred. Launc<'loL H arrisnn of Rydney University in (,'ign('d) .J . ••. )lunro t.he .. ''ydney Morning H er ald ., on ~lay 20, (k~Pper· a t .). 1926. Unrlcr the heading ·• ]3irth of the \Vc the undct'mt•utioned did witne"s the Marsupial,·' Th e Professor wr ote tha-t movements a: mentioned abm·e, and ..,wear ·' Through the com'tC'sy of t he H on. Frcd. that th<'. c :tatcnw!lts are corrc~ct. Flmr<'r~ , :\l .L.C., ehnirman of the Tarono-a (. 'igncd) L. :\IcHugh (keeper) Park Trust, the following document has be~n E. Harrison (keep('l'·s _placed in my hands for puhlication :- a~st.). F. Stone. -":\P' il''1 --?? , l f\v-v.·)f< I hereby sta.t;-c t.hat on the above date, As Professor Harrison says, Mr. iiiunro is .about 10.30 a.m., having noticed the actions to be congratulated upoH t he important of a .w.allaby (fem ale of the spccjes Macropus ol>serva.Lions he has made, and upon his t het1d1s). to be peculiar , 1 watched oru·efully forethought j11 securing an adequate number · BIRTH .AND TR ANSFERE~CE OF THE AMERIC.AN attached itsell£ even after twenty minutes. OPOSSUl\:J: . ~e1ay) showing that the instinct to find t he teat persists for some time. If the skin be . For further confirma.tion, unnecessary tiltedr the embryos ca.n, be made to travel though it appears, we may t w·n to ancient upwa.rd and even away from the pouch, f<:>r marsupia.! forms of another continent, the they are negatively geotropic. For loco American opossums, which have lived much motion the .embryo employs a kind of < over- in theiT present form for geological ages and hand , strok e,' as if swimming, t he heaq.. from which in t he remote past our own swaying as far as possibJe to the side opposit~ marsupial fauna appears to have evolved. the hand which is making the propelling. As early as 1823, Dr. Barton wrote in t he stroke. With each turn of the head the Annals of Philosophy that " The young sno~t i cs touched to the mother's skin al) if to opossums, unformed and perfectly sightless, test it out, and if t he teat is touched, the as t hey are at this period, find their way to emb,ryo stops and a-t once ta.kes hold." the teats by t he power of an invariable, a \¥e have then, at the risk of being tediousr determinate instinct." This statement, quoted five relia ble accounts in complete queried by the great Sir Richard Owen, has agreement on essent ial points: and may now recently been completely proven by the consider several important modifications 1nvestigations of Dr. Ha.rtmann, which are found in marsupials, in addition to the means. detailed by him in the " Anatomical Record " for nourishment prior to birth r~lready dis for 1920, the following extracts being of cussed. interest. A report of an experiment in t.he presence of Dr. H euser says : "Young w.PJch AD APTATIONS FOR TRANSFERENCE AND were removed from the teats crawled a.bout, FEEDIN G . moving hands alternately; as in swimming. Were able to crawl among hairs and find Nature has provided a means of locomotion teats by t heir own efforts. One specimen, for the baby marsupial in that the fore- limb~ removed three t imes, found teat each time a.re greatly enlarged in comparison to the and three others found teats after wa.ndering hind ones, exactly the reverse of what we about." Later the following method was find in a.dult k angaroos and wallabies, while adopted for observation : " The animaJ was the tiny hands are eC)_uippcd with claws and placed just outside a window in a cage able to cling t enaciously. After grasping the illuminated with a red electric light, which teat, the tip swe1ls within the young one ·s arrangE>ment. was least disturbing to t he mouth, helping to hold it there after it has animal as she was insulated against n oises become incapable of independent movement ... from within thE> room : the sight, of persons The general b e-lief is that the young mar movino- about in t he room caused little supial cannot even suck , and that a special respon~e on the part of the animal, but slight arrangement of :t;nuscles in the mother·s noises near the cage Rtartled her greatly." milk-glands regulates the flow. On the After stating that the young are born when contra.ry, Dr. HaJ."tmann states that whether the mother is in a sitting position with out it is true or not that the mother pumps milk stretched legs, Dr. Hartmann writes: " Un into the p ouch -young "certain it is that erringly the embryo travc1ed hy its own from t he very beginnjng the young opossum efforts ; without any assistance on the engages in active sucking movements." mother's part ... thiR ten-da.y-old embryo: \iVhether nature has provided a form of h1 appea.rance more like a worm than a forcible feeding entirely acceptable to the mammal, is able, .. . to crawl a full three patient. or not, there is definite provision inches over a difficult terrain. Indeed , it made for continuous breathing without fear can do more : after it has arrived at the of the. lungs being flooded. The epiglotti& pouch it is able to find the nipple amid a is produced upwards to form a t n be extending forest of hair. This it must find-or perish. into the nasal chambe~s and embraced by the ~ . . One detach ed young . . . crawled soft palate, a contmuous passage being readily ba0k .into the pouch. Two or three formed from the nostrils to the larynx so others regained the teats a.fter some delay, that air passes down the windpjpe to the and 011e wanderer, which lost out in the lungs, while milk flows unobstructed to the- first scramble: found a vacated teat and gullet. · THE AUSTRAL·IAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE 391 ERRONEOUS BEI.lEFS AND TllEIR E>."'PLANA · present writer. The fact. pron•d unaccept TIONS. able to Sf'Veral correspondl·nts. one \vriting that in spite of ·' Le Troughtou and Co .. and Adherents of the po~c h-birth theory all vour Pitt and George t.. naturalist ·· speak of a tiny bud a:ppearmg on the end of he ~ould stick to his opinion. This de·crip the tca,t, and of defimtely fon?ecl young, too tion though amusing, is hardly correct, a · the small to have survivecl the .Journ~y to the writer ha~ collected in many localiti<•s in pouch. The apparent. buddm~ of. the teat South and ~7 estern Australia 'and till ha a. is really a natural sw<:>lling •. p oss1b~y mcr eased vivid memory of shattering the lifl•-long bv thE> expected flow of milk, whil~ we know belief of an old hunter on Kangaroo Island that t he tiny young. of the Am:ncan opos by dissecting out the unhorn young of a sums can make the JOurney nnatded. as can kangaroo bf>fore his reluctant ey<'s . t.he inch-long yonng of a five foot kangaroo. Having always found bu hmt>n keen Bleeding follows forc ~ble removal from a, teat, observers and been much indebtcrl. to them learlincr manv to believe that the young one for assistance in the field, one cannot but is partof it., b~t this is really du.e to th ~ nip~le rogret t he r:stubborncss with which some swelling w1thm the mouth whiCh 8pl.•ts with persist in believing that marsupials arc born the force of r emova.l, also rnptunng the on the t eat . They pit their views. based soft<>ned skin of the teat. It is notable that upon superficial obse!'vations, again t truth ~ dead marsupials often reach the Museum expounded by giants of t he scientific world with young dE>tache.d .from th~ r elaxed te~ts Ruch as Owen, Huxley and Haswell. who without a.nv sign of InJury, while an authonty knew the structures of marsupials as great h&s sugges.ted that .at hir~h . the mouth. is Rurgeonl:'i know the human anatomy. wider and more elastiC than 1t 1s after closmg Of what avail to contend that the tiny a.round the teat,. young could Hot possibly r~ac h the pouch. or In fairness to observers who arrive at marvel at the instinct which urges them on. wrong conclusions and arc usually keen when naturP is daily pro,·ing that therc are nature lovers, it ma,y be pointed out that more things in heaven and earth than arc they are misled by inability to o?serve dreamt of in our philosophy. As Dt:. Hnrt continuous development of tht' offsprmg of m[1nn says in discounting th<' contentiOn that. such timid creatures, baging their views upon the adult must assist the young to the pouch observations of many animals, instead of the " Why should it be necessa ~y: .. . .. to presume steady development of one S';1 bject. r~~US such undue skill and senstt1v1ty 111 the adult t.he obser ver, noting a swollen mpple awaiting when a pure reactive instinct in the young a tenant, and later killing a parent with thP. will suffice ?" To express it ~ i mpl y and cc,n tiny hairless occupant cli~gin~ firmly t o the clusively, it may be said that t.he newly-h~rn teat., jumps to the concluswn , 1n a ma:r:tner_he marsupial seeks the teats '"~thi~ t h: shcltcung would heartily condemn in any scienti. t, pouch with a flash of mstmctJve encrp;y that it is uorn there. Fina1ly should the which lapses when the goal is reached. and juvenile's m outh bleed npon forcilJle removal to !:>Uppose that they arc bol'll upon the tent~, he rccra0 rcls t he case as sett1<'d. which as in all mammal. are merely a~ o<:J I .. ast year in th e '' Daily T elegntph " :Mr. ated with the Rupply of milk, is a: rea:;onahle A. H. Chisholm outlined the t ruth, and as to suppose that a calf is born upon the kin Messrs. Tom lr<'dalc and G. P. Vlhitl<'y, investigating t he coral t'eefH when conditions zoologists, recently returned from Michael permitte ' I ' ,; ·.. -:;:- ~ ~ > ~of?::!·. - .....:. ~ The Com mon Brown B utterfly (H eter ony m p h a m e rope; , on e of the m ost a bunda nt s pecies occurring in the vicinity or Sydn·ey. It appears to favour g r ass-la nds or the s unlit g la d es in open forest country . During dull w eather s p ecim ens a re rarely seen. The two larger butterflies in t h e a bove illus tra tion a re both fem a les, one bein~ a t r est a nd s how ing t he under surfaces of th e win~s. while the other h as t he w in gs outsprea d dis playing their uppe r s urfaces. T he two s m a ller individua ls ar e m a les a nd d is play t he uppe r a nd lower w ing s urfaces in a s imila r m a nner . Two caterpilla rs m ay be seen upon their food - pla nt. [B eleM Forde, del. THE A U 'TRALIAN l\IU E U~l ~IAGAZINE 393 Some Familiar Butterflies. By THO~IA . G. CA~IPBt~LL. l\IONG t he vast number of indi,7 iduals enclosed in a rough silken c·ocoon. As a rulr, which comprise the ins~c t world. per butterfly chrysalid are quite unprot<.'ctrd. A haps no group commands so much att en I n the pupal st age the young butt<'rtiy tion as the Lepidoptera, t he order which remains quie.cent , t he caterpillar .truchtr'<' includes the butterfli es and moths. The Lepi ha ,-ing entirely rli a ppC'a r<' d. The intrrnal doptera are t hr most familiar a nd easily recog organs are altered cowid<'ra hl y. a nd ma ny nisable of a ll insects, a nd it is in this group of the adult Rtructure-s arc f ormed from t.lw t hat coloration shows t he h ig hest degree of breaking d own of various tissues which C'X specialisation. These insect s have always isted in tlw caterpillar. Tlw pupal stagP is been popular objects f or study. and approxi often t he mo. t lengthy peri od in a butterfly's matPly eighty thousand specie· ha Ye been life hi ·tory, but after a t imc the pupa <' The Tailed Emperor Butterfly (Eulepis pyrrhus, s ubs p. sempronius ), :a h a ndsome species which occurs chiefly in ·the coastal districts of New South Wales and Queens land. The two tails on each hind-wing easily distinguish the species from all other Australian butterflies, while the smooth blue-green larvae have a number of horn-like processes on the head giving them a somewhat strikin)l appearance. The pupa or chrysalis has a very smooth surface and may thus be dis tinguis hed from all other Australian butterfly chrysalids included in the same family. The colouration of the sexes differs but little on both upper and lower surfaces, thou~h the female (above) is usually larger than the male (below). When feeding on plant juices this species is us ually easily captured, but at other times is possessed of strong a nd rapid flight. [Helena Porde, del. THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE 395 THE CO"i\Il\lON BROWN BUTT ~RFLY. colour, with the head somewhat rccldi h _ On the upper surface, a broad dark line runs This species, H ete'ronympha me1·ope, is one almost the full length of thC' bod.v. which ta of the most abundant forms occurring about pers t oward both end . the tail bt'ing bifid_ Sydney. and along t he eastern coast of These caterpillars are sluggiRh creatures and Australi a, the northern limit of its range usually r emain hidden nt>ar the ground. being Gympic in Queensland. lt was secured Their food plants consi t of variouR gra . es. first by Banks and Solander, and specimens Unlike most but terfli es. the pupa of Heler were doubtless secured during their stay at onympha rnerope is t> nclo. ed in a flimsy cocoon Botany Bay, as the only othet' places on the resting upon the ground. In the pupa the coa t where members of the expedition landed thorax and wing-covers arc pale gre<> n, th~ were Bustard H ead and Endeavour River wing cases bearing a nuru bC'r of black spots on the Queensland coast, both of which are along their margins. The specieR occ urs in considerably further north t han the Jimit suitable situations throughout eastrrn Aus of the butterfly's range . H eteronyrnpha tralia, South Australia, and Tasmania. merope was thus one of t he first insects to be collected in Austr alia. This species makes THE TAILED EMPEROR B PTT ~R FLY. its appearance about t he end of October and The Tailed Emperor, E?tlrqJis pyrrlws sub remains until the end of autumn. It is said species sempronius, is a hand om<.> species. that in the early part of the sea on the males which enjoys the distinction of being th<' are much more numerous than t he females, only representative of the Genus Eulepis but as the season progresses the ratio changes, occurring in Australia. N um e ro u~ alli <'d and at its close the females predominate. species are found in Africa. India. and t..h<.' In bright sunny weather t his butterfly ma-y Malay Archipelago, but t he distribution of be seen in gr eat numbers on grassy lands, t he genus is limited in the Pacific, though or fl itting about through the sunlit glades some forms occur jn New Guinea and Fiji_ in open forest country ; during dull weather The Australian sprcies, E ulepis snnproni'us it is rarelv met with. is comparatively rare in the inland parts of The coloration of t he sexes differs some Australia, but is not uncommon in the coa. tal what, and of t he two the male is t he smaller. regions of New South vVal<•s and Queensland. In the male t he upper surfaces of the wings The sexes differ but Jittlt>. and in thr adult th C'" are orange-brown, marked wit h black. At upper surface is creamy-white with black the apex of each forewing is a black spot with markings, while below it is sih•cry-white a white centre, and on each hindwing is an marked with brick-red and black, with a row ocellus or eye-spot. On their under. urfaces of orange spot-s on each hindwing. Occasion the wings arc similar, though some of t he ally specimens of the butterfly may he taken markings near the wing-bases are wanting. feeding on the juices exuded by pl a nts. whil <> In the female the upper surface of each the late Gcorgc Masters once notict>d several f01·ewing is marked by a n orange-brown specimens feeding around the leaky hung of patch, somewhat triangular in outline and a wine barrel. covering about half the wing. The remainder The eggs are laid inf!ly on the upper sur of each forewing is black, marked with orange faces of the leaves of thr food-plants. which, spots, and with an ocellus at its t ip ; the hind in mo~t instances. is t he, 'piny Acacia. The wings are orange-brown marked with black, adult larvre arc bright bluish green. with tht· each bea.ring an ocellus near its hind m.argin. head rather rough in appearance and bearing On their undersurfaccs the forewings are four to six horns which give them a Yery marked ,,·ith orange-brown, black and straw charactcri tic form. Though the Jar\' re arc colorrd areas and bear occHi near their apices. characteristic in appearance. the pur re, The hind wings are grey mottled with yellow have very little to distinguish thcl'n from ish-brown, and each has three small ocelli. other member s of the same family . The When the butterflies a rc settled with the wings pupre are attached to their food-plant by erect, they bear a close resemblance to dead means of the tail only, and hang head-down leavC's. wards. Newly-formed pupre arc usually The larv re or caterpillars of this species green in colour, but aftt"r a time change to a measure about one a nd a half inches in dark-brown hue. The external . urfaces of length, and arc hrownish or dull-green in the pupre are quite smooth. 396 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE The M i ~ratory White Butterfly (Oelias ni ~rina ) which often occurs in cons iderable numbers a l on ~ the eastern coastline of Aus tra lia. T he food -plant of this s pecies is Mis tletoe (Loranthus ) upon the foliage of w hich the caterpillars feed in lar~e communities. The butterfly on the ri ~ht of the above illus tration s hows the upper s urface of the male, while in the top left band corner is the female ; the individual in the centre of the pictu re dis plays the markin~ s on the under s urface of this s pecies, which is t he saiTlle in both the male and fe m a le. '~he larvae and pupae are als o illustrated , the former bearing ha irs and tubercles , while the latter are ar med with s pines on their ex terna l s urfa ces . [ll elena P ordr, clt•l. THE AUSTRALIAN 'MUSE UM MAGAZINE 397 T.he ,Orc hard Swallow Tail B utterfly (Papilio ae~eus 1 , a frequent vis itor to o range ~roves in the coasta l d1s tncts of New South Wales a nd Queensland. In the illus tration the buttc rrly a t res t in the top left ha nd corner is a male, s howin ~ the unders urfaces or the wings, w hile in the t op r i ~ ht ha nd corner is a male wltb the w ings outspread, and whose upper s urfaces a re vis ible. B elow is n female dis pla ying the upper win ~ s urfaces . The diffe rence In the c olour pattern of the sexes is thus s hown. The three cate rpilla rs a re in d iffe r e nt sta~cs of g r owth, a nd ~ i ve s ome indication of their form a nd s ize. 1lel1 •lw Pttrtl••. d~l. r ' :398 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE THE MIGRATORY '\RI TE BUTTERFLY. black, with patches of white at the tips; the hind-wings are also black above, with a central The -Migratory vVhite Butterfly, Delias patch of greenish white and a bright crimson ·nig1·ina., is also very common around. Sydne~, spot near the hind border. On the underside .and often occurs in large flights. It I S plenti the forewings are grey at the tips but other ful along the whole of the eastern coast-line wise very similar to the upper surface. The of Australia, and like H eteronympha me'rope hindwings are black beneath , with red V 'Possesses an historic interest, for it, too, shaped marks and faint bluish patches along was first collected on these shores and brought the hind margin. to England by the naturalists of the " En. The female is larger than t he male and quite .(leavour." It is reasona.ble to suppose that distinct. In the forewings the upper surfaces Delias nigrina was met with in fairly large are dark smoky-brown, the edges being grey numbers at each of the three places visited and marked with white; the hind-wings by Captain Cook. During the time when are mainly dark brown, their central por the " Endeavour " was being repaired, tions being white, while t here are several .after striking a coral reef near where Cook large crimson marks on the outer margins. town now stands, the naturalists of the ex On the undersurfaces the coloration is similar peditionfound time for field-work and collect to that above, but may sometimes be lighter. ing. There they would be likely to meet Between August and May the adult butteT with specimens of Delia..c;; nigrina, for its range flies are on the wing, and ]ate Autumn larv:B extends as far nort h as Thursday Island. pupate during May and do not emerge t ill In the adult insects the upper surfaces the following Spring. The larv~ appear differ somewhat in colour in the two sexes. to be free from parasitic insects, though many The upper surface of t he male is white with are said to be destroyed by Silver Eyes. a black patch at the tip of the forewing, while The eggs are usually to be found on the t he female is darker, with the front border undersurface of the leaves of its food plant., a nd half of the fore wing black in colour. the orange, and the l arv~ hatch after about Both sexes are alike on their undersurfaces, ten days. During the various stages through which are blackish-grey, the tip of t he fore which the larvre pass the colour changes -wing being yellow, while an irregular band very considerably . The fully-grown larvre of carmine marks the hind pair, resembling measure about t wo and a half inches in length in outline three sides of a rectangle. and are olive or pale-green above, while The larvre live in communities upon their below and at t he sides t his color changes food plants (various species of mistletoe), and to a golden or golden olive hue. When when fully grown measure about one and a irritated the larvre emit a disagreea ble odour half inches in length. The bodies of the like that of rotting oranges. The pupre, (}aterpillars are dull-green in colour , the which are somewhat angular in outline, surface being studded with small yellow tuber measure about one and a half inches in length, ~ l es, which bear lo11g white hairs. Each pupa and are green in colour like the stems and ~s attached t o the food-plant by its tail, and foliage to which they are attached. 1s f.urther held in position by a silken girdle Papil,io regeus has a wide range and occurs wh1ch passes around the middle. The pupre throughout east ern Australia and extends to are armed with a rtumber of curved spines . Lord Howe and Norfolk I slands. For those readers of the MusEUM M AGA THE ORCHARD SW ALLOW-TAl L B UTTERFLY. ZINE , who would care t o go more deeply into the subject, I would recommend to them Perhaps one of the most striking and best two useful books ; " The Butterflies of Aus known of all our Sydney butterfli es is the tralia," by G. A. W aterhouse and G. Lyell, Orchard Swallow Tail, Papil1'o regeus. Not and " A Guide to the Study of Australian only is this .insect common, but it is the Butterflies," by W. J . Rainbow, The latter largest butterfly occurring south of the Rich is a useful primer for the beginner, while the mond River district. former gives a scheme of classification em Of the two sexes the male is far more com bracing all the Australian species with their mon in collections than the female. The upper descriptions, as well as a large series of surfaces of the forewings are a rich velvety- plates.