AUSTRALIAN NATURAL HISTORY

Published Quarterly by the Australian Museum, College Street, Sydney

Editor: F. H. TALilOT, Ph.D .• F.L.S. Annual ub cri ption, $1.40 po t~d

A sistan t Editor: P. F. Cou IS Single copy, 30c (35c posted)

\'OL. 16, NO. 6 J U E 15. 1969

CONTENTS

P AGL

HO\ 0 AMiLRO S IS THE M ORA Y ELL ?- John £. Ra/1(/a/1 177

THJ: A STRAliAl\ BIRD-BA!'IDJ (, SCJil.MJ D. Purchase 183

TJJF T ALCiAI CRANI UM: T111 YAL 1 01 ARCIII\ I.:S N. W. G. /1/acintosh 1 ~9

BooK RE 11 ws 195

THE A USTRALASIAN SUBA TARCTIC I SLAi\DS (PART 2) J. C. Ya/dll'\'11 196

SOCIAL BIIIAVIOUR A D IT [VOL Tl O'-- Jiro Kikkmm 200

M1 1 UTC MOLLU CA- W . F. Ponder 205

M ECT O UR CONI RIB TORS 20~

e FRO~T COVER: The Wedge-tailed Eagle (Aqui/a audax). of u<; lralia and Ta mania. has a "ing-span of from 6 feet 3 inche to 7 feet 3 inche..., \\ith H Tasmanian pccimen h:ning a record of 9 feet ~ inches. lt \\eighs about 8! pounds. Like it rclathel> the Golden Eagle • it has ah~a~s been accused of taking ~·oung lambs. Thi · problem i no" being ime tig:lled by member of the Wildlife Research Dhision of the CSIRO. They have found that the bird's diet is ' er) varied and may con il>t of young kangaroo!>. ratl>. possums, cro\1 ·, frogmouth , and large lizards. A fcm lambs have been found among its prey, but it is impossible to say whether they were heallby or sick when taken. BACK COVER: The origin of this interesting hark painting in the Australh1n Museum collections is uncertain. At the time of the Melanesian art exhihition in the Art Gallery of New outh Wale in 1966 thi painting and several other in the same tyle were found to be unnumbered and undocumented. However, this di tinctive painting tyle occur only in the area of the Keram Rh·er, a southern tributary of the epik Rh·er, northwestern ~e'' Guinea, and this group of bark!> can safely be attributed to that locality. They \\ere probabl) collected in the 1930' by E. J. Wauchope. \\hO conducted se,·eral expeditions up the epik and bought many uperb artefacts for the Mu cum. The colours in this painting are red, \\hite. yeJIO\\ , and black. [Photo : C. \'. Turner.] HOW DANGEROUS IS THE MORAY EEL?

By JOHN E. RANDALL Marine Biologist, Ha waii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii, and Ichthyologist. Bcrnice P. Bishop M useum. Honolulu, Hawaii, U.S.A.

H E moray eel ha the unenviable T re putati o n o f being gro uped with the sha rk a nd ba rracuda as an extremely d angero us fi sh which ma ke unprovoked a ttacks o n ma n. lt i popularly believed to be reluctant to relea e it grip o nce it ha bitten a diver, thu po es ing the po tentia lity o f ho lding a victim beneath the surface long eno ugh to cause him to dro wn. Further­ more, it bite i o metime rega rded as veno mou . No o ne can do ubt that the moray\ a ppearance alone warrants such notoriety. With its la rge powerful jaws, lo ng needle- harp teeth, and mu cular na ke-like body. it ha a ll the attribute to elicit a fright re pon e. The mere ight o f a large mo ray by a novice diver u ua ll y result in a rapid removal of hi pre ence fro m the eel' vicinity. if no t from the sea altogether. Mo re expe ri enced diver gradually discover tha t they are no t in mo rta l da nger when they encounter a mo ray-at least when the mo ray" view of them i total and no t ju t a clo e-up gli mpse of part o f a n arm o r leg that might be mi taken for a fis h o r octo pu . The collective experience o f many d iver ha s hown that the mo ray' ini ter reputatio n a a man-killer is unde erved (a nd, it might be added. that the threat of the barracuda is The author pulling a mora) eel, Gymnotltorax iavanicus, on two pea rs to the surface at also exaggerated). AI o, the notio n tha t Johnston Island. Only the head end of the big there is a veno m a ociated with the teeth of eel is visible. T he pointed end of one of the morays i fa llacio u . pear can be seen projecting from the lower jaw. [Photo: Alan Banner.] Moray . if they a re een at a ll , a re nearly a lway observed with j u t their head projecting fro m a ho le in coral o r rock, or re ult in con iderable bending o f the spear. while making a brief excur ion fro m one ho le A few adventu rous diver have fed morays to a no ther. When confronted by an under­ by hand, a p ractice which sho uld be dis­ water wimmer, they generally remai n in couraged , for o ne wo uld not expect a hung ry e sentia lly the same po itio n ; they may mo ray to displ ay the be l table manners: emerge slightly. as if curio u , o r they may a Anger might ea ily be included with the withdraw completely. If tapped o n the head pro ffered food . with a pear tip. they retreat. If speared In a n attempt to di pel the much-maligned thro ugh the head , they ma ke a herculean mo ray's evil reputatio n, I do no t want to be effo rt to pull back into their hole whi ch may guilt y of creating a n impre io n tha t thi

June, 1969 Pagt> 177 The head of a 4~-foot specimen of the moray eel Cndwlyna.,,a canina, from M arcus Island (24 N .. 154 !:..). Th1 "eel has slender and omcwhat hook~d ja\\~ with exceptionally long teeth. h "' believed to be among the more aggrcc; 1ve of moray . [Ph olO: Autlwr.] group of li hes is docile and harmle:-, . On Once pulled free of its hole on a spear. the the contrary. the moray is voraciou . and, moray' behaviour i apt to change. l t will when adequately timulated. very aggre · ivc. often bite the pear if able to do o. If it Many diver have been injured by morays: free. it elf from the pear. it may direct it~ I have been bitten four times. early all of vengeance at its tormentor. the pcar­ the e incident fall into two categories. The fh,herman. fir t i:-, the placing of an extremity. u ually a I n generaL a moray that has bitten a man hand. in the proximit) of an eel' head in oon relea e its grip. An analy!> i of the uch a manner that only the hand or foot or dentition of morays will revea l that these portio n thereof i seen. In biting, the fish are not equipped to cut piece · from eel pre!> umabl) mi ·takes the human extremity large- ized prey in the wa) that many harh for a fi h or octopu (an out tretched hand do. When a finger i di covered. attached to could ea ily loo k like an octopu • a favourite a hand, or a hand to a ubstanttal arm. the food of many moray ). The prese nce of a eel seem:. to realize that it ha · not encountered -. peared fish. truggling lobster. or detached a meal. Like a snake. whose evolution of an !> hellfl h will certainly increa e the chance of elongate body. lo of limb • etc., remarkably being bitten. Bardach, Winn, and Menzcl parallel!> that of the eel. the moray u!>ua lly (Copeia. 1959, no. 2) have shown that the wa llow!> it food entire. l t long pointed se nse of !> mell is the principal sense u ed by teeth are adapted for seizing and holding moray for locating food. The econd slippery prey. and the larger canines are category into which moray attack fall is the depres ible inward o that the prey. once re ult of provocation. such a pearing, or firmly ca ptured. can move only toward the being bro ught into a boat_ on hook and line. eel'~ ~ t o mach .

Page 178 Ausrralian 1\arural Hi.1fory Three of my bite were pro bably the resul t ra nge of my left hand. It promptly a nk of morays triking ar what they believed were it teeth into o ne of my fl exed knuckles­ items of food . T he first occurred in ha ll ow a n event which aved the life of the grouper. water a t Kauai, Hawaiian Island . 1 gripped (The grouper is known in Au tra li a as the reef-flat to maintain my positio n a a groper.) wave a pproached , thrusting o me of my fingers into mall ho les. One fi nger was Attack by a giant moray nipped : the pattern of clo e- paced rows of tiny p unctures left li ttle d o ubt that my The e mino r incidents fo rtuna tel y involved diminutive assail ant was a moray. only small eels. When larger eels are provoked by spearing and are in a positjon The econd occasio n wa when to attack, they can produce terrible wound imprudently placed my ha nd over the fro nt which could ea ily be fa ta l. Jn 1948 Verno n of a canno n a t the wreck of an o ld ship o ff E. Brock, now Directo r of the Hawaii Aguadil la, Puerto Ri co. I had not noti ced In titute of Ma rine Bio logy o f the University that the barrel wa occupied by a Purple­ of Hawaii. sighted a n enormo u , brown. mouth M oray (Gymnothorax l'icinus) 2! feet dark-spotted moray eel in 20 feet o f water at in length, which pro mptly eized an index Jo hn to n Island (about 700 mile WSW. of finger. At this mo ment l rea lized more fully Oa hu) after spreading the fi sh poison the ha ple s positio n o f a small fi sh simila rly ro tenone in the area. The eel appeared g rasped by a moray. The bite felt as if it dead from the effect of the roteno ne. Brock were infticted by a pair of pliers studded with speared it instead o f ta king it by hand and stout needles. I had long admonished swam up with it to the surface. The eel. myself to try to refrain from a reflex pulling ho wever, was not dead, and moved up the back of a limb if bitten by a mo ray, to avoid spear toward Brock, who let the spear go evering blood vessels and tendons in the and warn quickly away. He was overta ken lashing wo unds that would re ult. So, fo r by the eel. which seemed intent on attacking perhap a second, J left m y .finger in place. hi head. Brock lifted his arm to p rotect lt wa with relief that I felt the jaws relax hi s face a nd was savagely bitten on the and the teeth being disengaged. Unfortun­ elbow. T he eel soon released the a rm, and ately. befo re the teeth were fully free, the eel Brock swam to the boat, where a to urniquet pulled back into the barrel, and the slashe l was applied to stop the profuse bleeding. so assiduo usly sought to avoid were no ne­ A Navy docto r spent 2t ho urs sewing up the theless inflicted. I reacted in small-boy wo und . Brock was then ft own to Tripler manner by spearing the eel. dragging it Ho pi tal in Ho nolulu, where he co nvalesced ashore. a nd smashing its head. for a mo nth. lt was 3 month befo re he The third incident occurred while I was had a ny reasonable use o f the arm. walking barefoot in o nly 4 inches o f water on Or Leona rd P. Schultz, formerly Curator the o uter reef-flat o f Eniweto k Atoll. M arshall of Fishes at the United States a tiona l Isla nds, in an area where ma ny holes led to Mu cum, de cribed Brock· encounter with urge channels belo w. A very rapid bite a n eel in greater detail in Natural History was inflicted by an unseen mo ray o n the (Ja nuary, 1949). He tho ught the species of inner urfa ce o f my heel; o nly the upper eel may have been Enchelynassa canina o r a jaw came in contact with my foot. A clo e relative, a nd gave the length a a bo ut hemi pherical pattern of even puncture 10 feet. A recent inter view with Brock ha wound re ulted which, when compared with led to the mo re pro bable identificati o n o f the jaws o f mo rays in the collectio n o f the the eel as Gymnotlwrax javanicus and Bisho p Museum, indicated a n eel size of estimatio n of it length a 7 to 8 feet. G. a bout 3 feet. ja1•anicus is the o nly large mo ray that ha The fourth wound falls into the provo­ been ta ken in the ma ny collections made at cation category. L impa led a small mo ray in thi island. Enchelynassa canina ha yet to a Tua mo tua n lagoon on a Ha waiian ling be fo und there (altho ugh it wo uld not be pear. Then, po tting a grouper. J decided surpri ing if it were). to spear it, too, while still reta ining the eel The lo ngest moray recorded fro m Jo hnsto n o n the pear. As l drew back the spear to lsland was 7 feet I 0 i nche (by Step hen , hoot the gro uper, I bro ught the eel within 1963, Sea Frontiers, vol. 9. no. 3). The

June. 1969 Page 179 The head of a large moray eel. Gynmorhorax javanicus, protrudes omino u ly from a coral reef in Bora Bora. French Polvnesia. The two small fi h. close to the moray's head are Cleaner Wrasses ( Labroides ruhrolabiarus), which feed on the crustacean cctoparasites of other fish. [Photo: Erwin Chri tian.]

largest of 639 adult G. javanicus collected by Island in 1965. The man was pearing large personnel of the Hawaii Institute of Marine mo ray for the Marine T oxins Program of Bi ology at Johnsto n during the period 1963 the Hawaii Institute of Marine Bio logy. He to Octo ber, 1968, weighed 48 pounds, wi th a followed a po licy of spearing an eel a nd then length of about 7 feet. T he econd largest returning to the boat for abo ut 15 minutes. weighed 43 pounds and was 5 feet 7 inches During thi waiting period, the eel wa in length (eel of the same length may vary expected to die o r be ufficiently weakened to greatly in weight). Several diver have seen be ea ily pulled free o f it hole a nd afely an individual eel a t the island which they tra n poned to the boat. One good-sized e ti mate mu t weig h about 80 pound ; these eel wa a pparently little affected , for it men have collected G. j avanicus up to 30 or extricated it elf from the spear and bit the 40 pounds and their judgment i to be man in the bo ulder. T he wound was not respected. And so ho uld such an eel ! eriou . a nd he was soon o n duty again.

Many moray in Hawaii I very nearly became the third victim of Gy mnothorax jm•anicus a ttack at J o hnston Gymnothorax jai'Onicus i wide-ranging in Island. La t A ugust three of u were the tro pical Jndo-Pacific regio n, but it doe collecting large moray by etting baited not occur in the Hawaiia n Island . Hawaii trap . Often we encountered eels which had i not lacking for moray , however, as 3 1 been attracted to the vicinity by the bait but pecies a re recorded fro m the a rchipelago. had no t entered the traps. These we including Encltelynassa canina to lengths of endeavoured to pear. One ' UCh eel, ofabout at lea t 5 feet, and Gymnothorax jfaJ•i­ 25 pound . was peared in the head. While rnarginarus a nd G. undulatus to about 4 feet: being towed on the surface to a nearby kiA-. o me specie are unusually abundant. N o r it looped it tai l over the forward part of its i H awa ii lacking in moray-inflicted injuries body to form a knot a nd wrenched itself to man. Guy S. Haywood , M .D .. a urgeon free of the pear. l n tead of swimming from Maui. informed me that he ha averaged back to the bottom, it warn directly at me two case of moray bite per year in hi 2 1 with awe o me jaws agape. I accelerated my years of practice in the island : mo t o f the swimming to the maximum, kicking the sea injuries have been to the hand . A patient into a froth wi th my swim -fin~. The mo ray o f one of hi colleagues wa bitten repeatedly easily overtook me, and I felt its powerful o n the inner thigh by a small eel witho ut body lither acres mine. M iraculously. any apparent provocation. it jaw failed to engage in any part of my Gymnothorax javanicus was re po n ible for anato my. a nd it retired to the botto m without a second attack-thi time on a spear­ making a no ther attack. Afier that incident. fi herman who wa rationed at Jo hn ton eel were all taken with two or more spears.

Page 180 Australian mural History and the larger ones were often ubdued with escaped. IL was estimated to be at lea t a 12-gauge shotgun power head. 7 feet long. Louis S. Mowbray, the Another more recent inci dent in volving Curator of the Government Aquarium at the same pecies is worthy of mention. At Bermuda, has written (personal communica­ Pal myra Island , Line Island , in November, tion, October, 1968) that he has maintained a large eel swam into a mall crevice in li ve a Green Moray as large as 8 feet in the coral beneath my feet. Shortly after, I felt a aquarium, a I though the largest actually tug on one of my black rubber swim-fi ns, measured by him was 7 feet 7 inche and which wa partiall y wedged in the coral. weighed 64 pound . It was pulled free without much effort. The moray eel family (Muraenidae) is Some fresh cratch marks indicated where primari ly a tropical group, bm a few pecie the eel's teeth had scraped the fin. penetrate cooler seas, uch as Gymnotlwrax k idako in Japan and G. mordax of California Green Moray also large and dangerous waters. A number of divers have been Gymnothorax javanicus is not the onl y bi tten by the latter specie , particularly those large eel which has attacked man. Stephen reaching in cracks or crevices in earch of reported, in Sea Frontiers, a erious wo und abalone . to the right wrist of Lt R. Enders, USN, Not a ll morays have long needle-like near Key West, Florida, by the Green teeth . Gymnothorax pictus, a white eel Moray (Gymnothorax funehris) in J 961 . peppered with black specks, which is a Enders spent several weeks in hospital. A common inhabitant of only inche of wa ter few months later, when he was di ving at the or le on reef fiat of tropical Jndo-Pacific ame place, a large moray, which he believed islands, ha short, but till harp, teeth. lt to be the same eel, swam co mpletely out of feeds primarily on crab and ha been its hole toward him . A companion speared observed to actually come at least partly it in the head. but it pulled off the spear and o ut of the water in que t of grapsids. Other

William H ashi moto, of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, taking a gonad ample from o ne of the day's catch of Gy mnothorax javanicus at Johnston Island. A high percentage of eels of this ize ha ve poiso no us fles h at .lo hnsto n Island. [Photo : Autho r.]

June. 1969 Pnge J8l minute . As the fish wa eaten. a cratchy sen ation in the mouth and throat wa noted. About 20 minutes later the men experienced tingling and numb en ation about the lip and tongue. Approximately 30 minutes after the ingestion of the moray, some were unable to talk. The entire group became alarmed and wa · taken to a di pen ary, where each wa given a ga tric lavage. In pite of this. the condition of the men wor ened. Mo t vomited, and by the next day all experienced tingling of their hands and feet. The respiratory che t mu cle showed 1 ' I I I progre sive inability to function . Many of 1 ' ' : ' l I 1' the men had convul ion . Eleven became comato e, and two died. A pecimcn of £('/1idna :ebra, slightly more than 2 feel in length, from the Hawaiian Islands. The cause of ciguatera still remains one Like other members of the genus Echidna. this of the ea' my terie . lt i believed that moray ha blunt. nodular teeth. [Photo: some benthic organi m. perhap. an alga. Author.] produce the toxin (or it precursor ubstance) and this is passed on th rough food chain to fi morays of the genus Echidna have only the larger he that man eats. The worst blunt nodular teeth. Example are the offender are the larger carnivorous fi he . especially those, such a moray , that feed brown and white barred £. zebra and the white E. nebulosa. with black stellate blotches heavily on reeffishe . The toxin accumulates containing one or more bright yel low centre . in the ti ue of the e fi hes; thu the older Limited data indicate that pecies of £chidna they are, the more apt they are to be feed mainly on cru tacean . e pecially crab . poisonous. The li ver and viscera of ciguateric fi hes contain a much higher percentage of toxin than the flesh. Ciguatera Personnel of the Hawaii Institute of Marine ln tropical waters, particularly among Biology have been stud yi ng ciguatera for coral reef of oceanic i land , ome large over 10 years under the direction of D r A. H. moray , when eaten. have caused a seriou Banner. The principal ource of toxin for illnes kn own as ciguatera. It can also be biochemical and pharmacological research produced by inge ting many other fishe has in recent years become Gymnothorax be ide moray eel , but few specie have jaranicus of Johnston I land. The Jn titute con istently produced such severe ymptom pay 40 cents per pound for all moray of as large moray . this pecies I 0 pound or more in weight One of the mo t pecracular erie of ea e (smaller one are u llally nontoxic or only wa reported by Khlentzo (1950, American weakly toxic). Joumal of Tropical Medicine, vol. 30, pp. Recently a study of the biology of G. 785- 793). On 8th May. 1949, Arty-seven javanicus ha been initiated at Johnston Filipino at Saipan in the Mariana Island Island. lt i hoped that knowledge of the at down to a meal of a huge moray eel, aid food habit and aspect of the life-history of to have been about I foot thick. The moray this eel will clari fy some of the complexitie wa fre h and had been cooked for 30 of ciguatera.

Page 182 Australian 1 (l(ural H i.1·tory THE AUSTRALIAN BIRD-BANDING SCHEME

By D. P URC HASE Secretary, Australian Bird-Banding Scheme, CSIRO, Division of Wildlife Rest>arr h, Canberra , A.C.T.

18th September, 1887, a n albatro of 0 undetermined specie. wa found near Trigg Isla nd, We tern Australia, with a tin collar around it neck which carried the following me sage, "l3 na u frages o n t refugies sur le ile Crozet 4 Aout 1887" (thirteen hipwrecked ailor. have taken refuge on the Crozet l land , Augu t 4. 1887). Thi me sage wa telegraphed to the French a uthorities, who de patched the warship La Mew·the from Madagascar to the Crozets. which are in the south Ind ian Ocean, and it wa e Lablished that the me age had been attached to the albatross by the crew of the French ailing hip Tamaris, which wa wrecked in the Crozct on 9th March, 1887. T he unfortunate eamen, however, did no t live to see the uccessful re ult of their experiment in bird­ banding, a they apparently perished in a n ill-fated attempt to reach nearby Pos ession I land, two month before the arrival, o n 2nd December, 1887, of La Meurthe. Although thi episode i fa r removed from the bird-banding method in use today, it i the earlie t a nd most remarkable ea e The Wandering Albatro s ( Diomedea exulans) of a banded bird arriving in Australia from is a familiar sight to sea voyagers in the Southern overseas; the bird had covered a distance of Hemisp here. The large-scale banding o f this 3,027 miles in no more tha n 46 days. pecies in New South Wales coastal waters has res ulted in some spectacular recoveries from Bird-banding today is usually confined to their breeding ites. the systematic marking of wild birds with numbered metal bands. A each band ha countries now have natio nal schemes devoted it own unique number, birds can ub e­ to bird-ba nding. quently be recognized as individuals and data on a variety of aspects may be coll ected Ba nd were first used in Au t ra lia in 191 2 about them. This technique ha become a nd were placed on Short-tailed Shearwater e entia! in tudies of the ecology, behaviour, (Puffinus renuirostris) and White-faced migration, and population dynamics of Storm-pelrels ( Pelagodroma marina) by mem­ birds. bers of the Bird Observer ·Club, Melbourne. and the Royal Austra la ia n Ornithologi ts' T he foundatio ns of modern scientific Unio n. After that the growth of bird­ bird-banding were laid in Denma rk io 1899 banding wa relatively low until 1947, when when Christia n Morten en placed aluminium a joint cheme by the CSlRO and the bands, stamped with numbers. on the leg Tasmanian Fauna Board was initiated for of 162 young tarlings. This technique wa banding Short-tailed Shearwaters. Shortly rapidly ado pted el ewhere and many afterward several Sta tes started independent

June, I 969 Page 183 cheme for the banding of waterfowl. cays and reef in the Co ral Sea, and in Then in 1953 the Au tralian Bird-Banding Antarctica. Band have al o been supplied Scheme wa launched by the CSI RO~ to a Briti h ornithologi. t in Sabah by Divi ion of Wildlife Research. arrangement with th e British Trust for At pre em there are ix banding cheme Ornithology. operating within Au tralia. The Australian The Australian Bi rd-Banding Scheme, a Bird-Banding Scheme, in collaboration with we ll a providing a technical ervice of great the State fau na authoritie , operate through­ importance to the bird inve tigation being out Australia and it terri tories; five schemes carried out by the Divi io n of Wildlife are operated by State Government instru- Research, is enabling non-professional orni­ mentalitie concerned with waterfowl rh ologi t to conduct studies of a high management: Department or Primary cientific calibre. lt ha al o brought Au - lndu 'trie , Queen land ; Department of tralia into line wi th other developed countries Fisheries and Fauna Con ervation. South in the world, many of which po e officially Au tralia ; Tasmanian Fauna Board, Ta - pon ored chemes. mania; Fisherie and Wildlife Department, To many ornithologists, bird-banding i ~ Victoria; and Department or Fi. herie and something of a modern sport, and it draw Fauna, We tern Au tralia. it adherent fro m all walk of life and ages. Unlike the State chemes, which are When the intere t and enthusia m thu undertaking peci fic project connected with generated are directed into worthwhile the management of their waterfowl resources, channel by the careful planning of project , the Australian Bird-Banding Scheme does bi rd-banding become not only an enjoyable not confine it acti vitie to any particular weekend occupati on, but it al o enables group of pecie . and band are made amateur worker to make a va lu able contri­ avai lable to approved ornithologi ts, both bution to Australian ornithology. amateur and profe ional, for u e in projects The rype of banding being undertaken on a wide variety of pecies. Band supplied va rie from the detailed tudy of the by the Australian Bird-Banding Scheme have behaviour of a few birds in a uburban been u ed throughout Au tralia. a well a in garden to the large- cale banding of one Papua, New Guinea, New Britain, Bougain­ pecie in order to obtain record of ville, Lo rd Howe I land, Norfolk I land, migrati on. Another type of banding is in Chri tmas 1 land, Coco -Keeling I land . on the regular operation of permanent banding

A young Superb Lyrcbird (J\1/ en //ro no,•aeho/lontliae) being banded alo ngside its nest. M uch of the work carried out o n the life-history of this species by the Victorian Orni­ thological Research Group, at Sherbrooke Fo re t, Victo ria, and the CSIRO D ivision o f Wild­ life Research, at Tidbinbilla. A.C.T., relics on the o bservation of marked individuals. The knowledge so o btamed is essential fo r the effective conservation of this bird. wh1ch, though in no danger of extinction. is unique to Australia a nd worthy of conservation.

Page 184 Australian 1 at 11ral History , tations, from which data can be obtained funnel entrance . Other birds are imply concerning the easonal fluctuations and banded a ne tli ngs, but the bander mu t be movements of bird populations, especially able to reach the nest o r nesting colo ny. pas enne . This can often be a major challenge, requiring O ver the year , the research programme o f a va riety of kills and equipment, depending the CSIRO Division of Wildlife R e. earch o n whether the nest is ituated on a cliff, in a have benefited greatly from the wider tree, o n a n island, o r in the middle of a ba nding coverage made possible by the wamp. participatio n of a ma teur bander . Example When a bird is banded a record i taken include the wo rk being carried o ut on the of the following: the band number; the Short-tailed Shearwater and on waterfowl, pecie o n which the band has been u ed; ravens, cormorants, pigeo n , and doves. the date a nd place of banding; a nd o ther The band in use a re made from alu­ detail , ~ u c h as age and ex. Thi infor­ minium, aluminium alloy, or monel, and are mation i then fo rwarded to the centra l manufactured in a variety of izes. Each o ffi ce in Canberra, where it i proce ed o species of bird i a llocated a ize which ha:> that it may be referred to again if the bird i. been found by experience to be the mo t recovered, o r if the info rma tion i required uitable for it. In ome ea e bands have for analysi . been pecially de igned to fit particular Since the cheme began in 1953 a to tal of pecies, such a the burrowing shearwater , 780,000 bird of 657 pecies have been penguins, a nd pelica ns. When correctl y banded, o f which 70,500 (9·1 per cent) have applied, the fa tening of one of the e light been ub equently recovered. Many o f the metal band around the leg of a bird eau es birds are recovered on more than o ne little, if any, inconvenience to the bird. occasion, the record being held by an Eastern The technique u ed for obtaining the Si lvereye (Zosterops lateralis), banded in bird which are to be banded depend on the Sydney, that ha been retrapped a total of pecies involved and the type of study being 287 time in 482 days. undertaken. The methods include various More individuals of the Eastern Silvereye types of nets, and a wide variety of wire­ have been ba nded than o f any other pecie , netting cages fitted with either drop d oors or namely, 88,000. Other specie of which

The generalized migration route of the Sho rt-tailed Shearwater (Puffinus tenuirostris) as deduced by Or D . L. Serventy in 1953 from sight records a nd museum specimens. The black d ot indicate the collecting localities of museum specimens. Recoveries of Short-tailed Shearwaters banded in Australia by Or Serventy and members of the Australian B ird-Ba nding Scheme, as indicated on the map by open circles, have supported Or Scrventy's deduction. For the sake of simplicity, recoveries from the east coast of Australia are not hown. [Map after Marshal! and Serventy, 1956.]

June, J 969 Page 185 more than 20,000 have been banded are: underta ken by member of the Australian Silver Gull (Larus novaehollandiae), 76,000; National Antarctic Re earch Expedition on Sho rt-tailed Shearwa ter (Pujjinus renuirostris), M acquarie 1 la nd a nd of the British Antarctic 49,000; Cre ted Tern (Sterna bergii). 45,000; Survey o n South Georgia. Chick ba nded Pied Cormorant (PIIalacrocorax varius), in the cour e of the e tudies are now 33,000; and Yellow-faced Honeyeater (Meli­ returning to hreed, the youngest at 9 years phaga chrysops), 22,000. o ld. The Ea tern Silvereye ha al o provided The Gia nt Petrel (Macronectes giganteus) the largest number of individual which have i another major wanderer and i known been recovered, namely, 11 ,300. Other from banding tudies to ma ke a circumpolar pecie of which mo re tha n 2,000 have been movement during the early years of it life. recovered are: Grey Teal (Anas gibberifrons), Young birds banded o n Macquarie l land 3,800; Black Duck (Anas superciliosa), have been recovered as far afield as Argen­ 3,500 : Black-backed Magpie (Gymnorhina tina, Chile, South-west Africa, Australia, ribicen), 2,900· a nd the Silver Gull. 2,900. New Zeala nd, Fiji, and T ahiti. The ba nding of wader wintering in Over eas migration Australia ha resulted in the recovery of a Over the year informatio n on the move­ Sharp-tailed Sandpiper (Erolia acuminata) in ment of bird between Australia and other Siberia, a n Ea tern Curlew (Numenius mada­ part of the world ha been lowly accumu­ gascariensis) in South Ko rea, a nd a Japane e la ting. The migration ro ute o f the Snipe (Gallinago lzardwickii) in Ja pa n. con­ Short-tailed Shearwater (Ta manian Mutto n­ firming the predicted movements of the e bird), as shown in the map on page 185, wa pecies. The banding of water bird revealed deduced by Dr D. L. Serventy in 1953 from some surpri e and it ha been establi hed sight records and museum pecimen . that the White Ibis (Threskiornis molucca), Following the la rge-scale banding of thi White Egret (Egretra alba), and Little pecie , evidence ba ed o n the recovery of Egret (Egretra gar::eua) wi ll move between ba nded bird ha uppo rted thi hypothe i . Austra lia a nd ew Guinea. a hown in the The two recoverie o far reported for the map o n page 187. Little Egrets banded in Sooty Shea rwater (Puffinus griseus) indicate Australia have a l o been recovered in New that thi specie might also ma ke a migratory Zeala nd and New Britain. circuit of the Pacific Ocean imila r to that of the Short-tailed Shearwater. The F leshy­ Determination of the movements of footcd Shea rwa tcr (Puffin us cameipes) ha waders and water bird· i of practical been banded in large number o n Lord Howe importance, a many of the e specie have I land and recoveries have hown that the been incriminated in the epidemiology of pecie migrates to the Sea of Japan, where in ect-bo rne virus di ease . it appears to pend the winter. Ba nding ha confirmed that the Wedge-tailed Shear­ Movements within Australia water ( Pt~!Jinus pacificus) doe not leave J nformation i accruing on the move­ Au tralian waters. ments of many pecie within Au trali a. The fa miliar ight of a Wa ndering Result from the large-scale banding of Albatross (Diom edea exulans) gliding lire­ Eastern Silvereyes have hown that wh ile e ly behind or alongside a ship in the o me individual from T asmania and Victo ri a Southern Hemi phere alway excites admir­ may winter in ew South Wales. or even ation. The banding of the c bird in ew Queensland. other remain re ident through­ South Wale coastal water by the Albatro out the year. Migratory a nd nomadic Study Group ha resulted in pectacular movement have also been recorded for recoverie from their breeding ites on So uth everal pccie of honeyeater , including the Georgia in the South Atla ntic Ocean, from White-naped Honeyeater (M elithreptus Marion, Po es ion. and Kerguelen I sland ~ lunarus), Yellow-faced H oneyeater (M eli­ in the outh Indian Ocean, a nd from the pliaga c/zrysops), White-plumed Ho neyeater Auckland 1 land in the South Pacific Ocean. (AI. penicil!ata). ew Ho lland H o neyeater Thi study complement the life-histo ry (M eliornis novaehollandiae), Red Wattle-bird studies of the Wandering Albatro s being (Antliocliaera carunculara). Spiny-cheeked

Page 186 Au:.tralian atura/ History ()

LITTLE EGRET

------WHITE EGRET

----- WHITE I BIS

D

Determination of the movements of waders a nd water birds is of practical importance, as man) of these pecies arc involved in the epidemiology of insect-borne vi rus disea e . In this map movement are shown o f the White Egret ( Egrella alba) and White I bi ( Thre.~Kiomis molucca) between Austra lia and New Guinea, and o f the Little Egret(£. gar:eua) from Australia to New Guinea, New Britain. and New Zealand. [Map after Hitchcock, 1966.]

Ho neyeater (Acanrhagenys rt!(ogularis), a nd have also been ·hown to be highly no madic. Little Friarbird ( Phi/emon citreogularis). d i persing widely from their breeding W ith the e tabli hment o f additional co l onie~. banding station o pe ra ting along the route already known to be taken by migrating Some interesting re ult have come from honeyeater , it i ho ped that in the future the banding of bird of prey and it has been the e movement may be documented more hown that the young of these pecie are fully. highly mobile. Some o f the mo re notable record. include: a Swamp Harrier (Circus Result o btained from the banding of approximans), banded at A ntill Po nd . T as­ waterfowl have h own that while o me ma nia. that wa poisoned 13 month· la ter at pecie . uch a the Che tnut Teal (Anas C hat wo rth, .S. W., a di tance of 950 mile : castanea). may be omewhat edentary a nd a Brown G o hawk (Accipiter fasciarus), have regula r breeding eason, , o ther , uch banded near Gcclong. Victoria, that wa. as the Grey Teal (A. gibherifrons). are ho t 7 month later at Brewarrina, N.S. W., completely nomad ic and breed whenever a nd a di tance of 570 mile. ; a Wedge-railed wherever condition prove uitable. Eagle (Aquila audax), ba nded near Canberra. The Straw-necked Lbis (T!Jresk iomis A.C.T .. that wa sho t 8 months later at spinicollis) a nd White l bi (T. mo/ucca) C unningham. Queen la nd. a di tance of 535

June, 1969 Page 187 Although the cheme i still too young for full consideration to be gi en to lo ngevity data . the following are the record. of the lo ngc<;t clap ed time between banding and recovery. in years. for omc ..,pecie..,: Black-bro,\ed Albatros ( Diomedc•a melwwphri.\ ). 13·:! Giant Petrel ( \Jacronectes gigameu\ ). 13 · 1 Wandering Albatro s (DiomedM e\1/lan\), 1:! 6 Blad-backcd Magpie ( Gymnorhina tihicc•n ). I ::! ·0 Crested Tern (Srana hergii). 11 ·7 Wedge-tailed Shearwater ( Puffinu\ pacifu·u.\ ), I I ·0 l31ad Duel-. ( 4nas superciliosa), 11 ·0 Sihcr Gull (Lams nol'aehollandicu•), 10·5 Pied Goose (Anseranas semipalmaw), I 0 ·0 Fuscous Honeyeater (A1eliphaga ftt\ca>. 8·8 Ea tern iherc}e CZosterops la((•ra/i\), R 5 Whitc-brtl\\ed crub-\Hen ( en comi\ {ronwl11 ). 7 0 Superb Blue \ ren C\!alum .\ cyaneu\ ). ·5 ·8 Striated Thornbill ( -lcamhi:a liueata). 5·3 With the exception or the \ andering. Albatrm,.., and ilver Gull. all the abo' e bird-. \\Crc banded a adult bi rd..,. 'IO are in fact older than the longevity data indicate. The Au-.tralian Bird-Banding chcmc ha.., made an important contribution to Au <;tra lia n ornitholog}. and the enthu :. ia ~ ti c upport being gi,cn by individual banders, "ho have mall pa !>erine being banded. The data made thi !-> work po ible, en. ure that the obtained from the banding of these specie at contribution wi ll continue to be made. regularly operated banding station are pro\ iding The knowledge being gained is, apart from valuable information on the sea onal nuctuation and movements of bird populations. it purely cientific value, c entia! for promoting the effective con erva tion of mi le and a Whi tling Kite (1/a/iastur native pecie . the management off ga me­ spltenurus), banded near Tungkillo, South bird , and the control of tho c which arc Au tralia, that wa hot 16 months Inter at pe t~. Brooweena, Queen land. a di tance of 1.020 [Photos in this article are by £cleric Slater.] mile. Many bird ~ of prey are being deliberately F RT H ER READING killed, often by la ndholder , and banding ha Carrick, R. ( 1960): "The Au tralian Bird-Banding given omc idea of the magnitude of thi Scheme, 1953- 60''. Australian 'aturaf History. lo : of 290 Wedge-tailed Eagle. banded, \ ol. 13, pp. 2:!2- 227. 46 (I in 6) have been recovered, of which 33 Hitchcod.. W. B. (1964): "The First Ten Year of are known to have been hot or trapped ; of the A. B. B.S. " , Australian Bird fJander, vol. 2 175 Brown G o

Page 188 .Australian J\ atur(ll 1/tstary The Talgai cranium encrusted with carbonate, as it appeared to the Trustees of the Aus tralian Museum in 1896 and 19 14. [Photo by the late Louis Schaeffer, 3rd September, 1914.]

THE TALGAI CRANIUM: THE VALUE OF ARCHIVES

By N. W. G. MAONTOSH Challis Professor or Anatomy, Univer ity of Sydney (With grateful acknowledgment to Or Alex Ritchie. Curator of Fossils at the Aus tralian Museum)

HE Talgai cranium, one of the earlie t Following the recent revival of intere t in T human remains yet fou nd in Austra lia, the Talgai cranium ome o riginal ea ts were was d iscovered near Dalrymple Creek on the relocated in the Australia n Museum and a outheastern Darling D owns, Queen la nd, subsequent search through old register , ometime in the 1880's. Until about a year correspondence file , curator ' report , a nd ago it was thought that the very fir t com­ Tru tee· minute ha unearthed a wealth of munication made to cienti t about the information concerning a n earlier. and existence of the Talgai cranium and the hitherto unsuspected, chapter in it history. detached crowns of two of it teeth wa a These fi ndings, presented below, illu trate letter dated 1st April, 19 14. That letter, the value of archives and the importance of from Mr E. H. K. Crawford, the owner of their pre ervation. the cranium, to Pro fessor Edgeworth David, On 22nd A ugu t, 1914. the pres reported of the Univer ity of Sydney, asked for a meeting of the British A sociation for the appraisal of it value with a view to selling it. Advancement of Science at which Profe sor

.June, 1969 PMe 189 David and Wi l on exhibited the Talgai of the jaw and palate a nd o Smith's inter­ cranium. Between then and I 925 David pretation of the e needed modification also. wrote frequently to the press and he was The aving comments by Dubois, Burkitt, quoted in pres reports a number of times, and Hellma n that neverthele s the teeth, sometimes incorrectly. Some of the jaw, a nd palate were of a genera li zed primi­ correspondence between David a nd Mr ti ve huma n type, tended to be overlooked or Crawford, who old the cranium to the ignored . The signi fica nce of the cranium U niver ity of Sydney, has survived. Type­ was therefore not only reduced. but reduced script note by David on the ubject exist in exce ively. the Univer ity archives; these notes. although expres ed wi th caution, credit the cra nium To re tore the reputation of the cranium with a geological sta tus which apparently it eemed necessary to give it a genuine was not a ppreciated by Dr S. A . Smith. histo ry, provided, of course, it wa entitled to one. First, every incident relating to jts The e were the only source one could discovery a nd ubsequent adventure needed consult prior to April, 191 8, when Dr S. A. to be ought and totall y ubsta ntiated. Smith' mo nograph on " The Fo sil Huma n Secondly, the locus from which it came Skull found at Talgai'' was publi hed. Smith would have to be rediscovered on the ba is aid (p. 352) that " under the circum tance of David' notes and the stratum tested for of thi discovery. no a bsolutely certain similarity wi th the compo ition and colour evidence exists a to the exact level at which of the cra nium itself and its cru t. lf these the skull was located" a nd (p. 353) " in view proved convincing, ir would be reasonable of the inconclu ive nature of the geological to spend time and effort in reas essing the evidence, the a natomical in vestigati on anatomy of the cranium ; but this would becomes of para mount importa nce". Jn involve taking the cranium apart at its line summing up hi findings, Smith aid (p. 381), of fracture. removing the interve ning crust, " In the palate, jaw and teeth, there a re and rea embling the fragment in edge-to­ concentrated the most primi tive cha racters edge appo itio n- a daunting ta k. found in human kulls in the e region "; and, on p. 382, "the geological evidence of Very briefl y, one can now ay with con- the age of the fo il , though more valuable iderable certainty that geologically the tha n was thought at the time the kull first cranium has a minimum antiquity of 13,000 came under notice, is admittedly imperfect, year B. P. a nd further avenue for testing since it depend o la rgely on a n untrained and perha p elevating this fig ure a re slowly observer's narrative of events a nd con­ becoming available. dition exi ting over thirty year ago. . . . Anatomically. l rather trongly incline to But in the light of the a natomical fact here the view that it has some morphological et forth [i.e., ''certai n character more affinitie with Homo erectus. ape-like than have been observed in a ny livi ng or extinct race, except tha t of T he investigations of what happened to Eoanthropu "], the claim to hi gh geological the craniu m since its d iscovery are too antiquity- the as ignation of this foss il complex to be described now, a nd 1 think to the Pl ei tocene - i very trongly will need to be presented in the form of a supported ...... book at ome future date. A few major ln other word , Smith tres ed doubt as to item a re mentioned here. the geological and historical bona fide of ln 1954 M r S. L. Larnach found in the the cranium. At the same ti me. he claimed Department of Anatomy. University of bona fide fo r the a ntiq uity of the craniu m Sydney, two series of glass plate negati ve , on the ba i of the uniquely primitive features totall ing eighty-five, which pre ent more which he believed he discerned in it pala te, clearl y than can be lea rned from Smjth's jaw, a nd teeth. monograph ju t how a nd in what order work Dubois in 1920. Campbell in 1925 a nd wa. done on the cra nium in I 9 14 1915. Serial 1930. a nd Burkitt in 1927. howed that number from 1367 to 1378 a nd from 1384 Smith' interpretation of the teeth could not to 1447 are inked on the emul ion margin be sustained. Hellman in 1924 howed that of the e plate . The writing i that of Mr Smith failed to take into account fractures Loui SchaefTer. then Chief Laboratory

Page 190 Ausrra/ian atural Hisrory Purcha e of the cra nium was made on 26th October a nd tbe econd erie of glass negati ve ( 1384 o nwa rd ) apparently began that ame day. There a ppear to have been a . en e of urgency in a ll the e event a nd ome of the photographs suffer from this ha te. Pl ate I 384-1387 how guide tape , preparatory for a aw cut to divide the cranium in half.

Through the courte y a nd collabora tion of Mr E. H. K. Crawford' daug .ter, Mr Nell Jenkin , a nd his son, Mr Norman Crawford. l was provided with archival material which indicated that the crown o f one of the detached teetlh wa returned to M r E. H . K . Crawford, being received by him on 29th The cast mould o f the Talgai cranium located at the Australian Museum's Shca·s Creek store in ovember, 1914. Working backwards from May. 1968, by Dr A. Ritchie and Mr R. this, plate 1388- 1390, which are photographs Witchard. o f the Australian Museum, and Or of the detached teeth, were made on 21 st J. Pi~kctt , of the Mining Mu eum, Sydney. Nove mber (there a re letter to upport thi This provided the starting point for the subsequent finding o f five painted casts and deductio n). numcrou archive record in the Australian Mu eum. Abo"e is a vertex view. a nd below r had not the lighte t proof of when a ny is a ba al view. [Photo : C. V. Turner.] of the extant casts had been made, although I uspeeted that the fLr t cast of the encrusted cra nium had been made in conjunction with the first erie of photogra phs, i.e., I 367- 1378. and thi ha now been confirmed ; mould were made between 7th and 13th September ( ee the table below). More importa ntly. the completion of removing the crust, di viding the cranium, drilling o ut the interior. and rea embling the two halves would be c ta blished by the making of the ea t of the cranium after it cleanine:. A will also be een fro m the table below: these moulds were taken in hand by the Au tralian Mu eum on 12th J uly, 1915.

Hence, in brief. the gla plate negati ves recording the technical development a nd A i tant a nd Photographer in the depart­ ectioning of the cra nium a re now dated, and ment. The gla plate. arc not dated and the work itself determined as having been so the problem ha been to fit date to them. done between 26th October. 1914, a nd 12th July, 1915- say 8 month . From data in the Univer ity of Sydney archives it\ a deduced that the fir t eries of Or Ritchie · fir t di. covery wa Mould gla negative ( 1367- 1378) were made o n T . 615 ( ee photo on thi. page), whi ch he 3rd and 4th September, I 914. A letter from located in the Au tralian Museum' Shea's M r E. H . K. Crawford requesting return of Creek to re for excess material. Using thi the cranium had been received on 3rd item a nd its e ntry in the Mould Regi ter as September. and an emergency ru h job of a ~ta rting point, he worked backwards ma king a photographic record produced through the various a rchives and produced the e twelve variou view of the encru tcd information which I have ab tracted and cranium. tabled a fo llows:

June, 1969 MOULDS re TALGAI CASTS re TALGAI

Mon. 7 ept. 1914. Letter by David says that Wilson asked on Sat. night that the cranium and 2 teeth be sent immediately to the Mu cum for ea ting. (Report by C. Hedle> to Etheridge states matter put in hand at once. mould now completed and kull ready to be returned.) un. 13 cpt. 19 14. Minute by Etheridge: Mr. C. Hedlcy informs me kull recei'ved during m) ab ence and dui) put in hand for casting. ept. 19 14. T.509 Waste Mould. T.5 10 Second Waste Mould. 17 'ov. 19 14. L.l096 from T. 509. (Checked by Ken Mayficld 14.5.1956.)

9 .July 19 15. Da,id. at reque t of Smith, asks (No record occur in either Mould or Cast Registers Etheridge to ea ·t the exterior of the developed about either of these products.) cranium: cast of the interior will be done in Dept. of Ana tOm). 12 :July 19 15. Etheridge agree . Will keep a copy of former: ask for a cop) of latter.

la) 19 16. L.J31 } L. IJJ 9 See Moulds T.509- 10. I Cast to Syd. Uni\. 27.5.1916. I Cast to Dr. S. A. Smith. 29.5. 1916.

.July 19 16. T.530. Mould destroyed. 2 c pt. 1916. Letter Etheridgc to D r. Smith, Mi King has finished colouring ea ts for Universit). £4.4.0. L. 1324 After cleaning- for Aust. M us. T L. I 325 After cleaning- for Prof. Smith, · 530 Manchester. ~L L.l326 After cleaning- for Mr. Joynton Smith. L. l327 Before cleaning- Mr. Joynton Smith. T.509- IO L. l32R Before cleaning- Geol. Dept. ~l Syd. Uni. L. l329 After cleaning- Geol. Dept. Syd. T 530 Uni. · L.l330 After cleaning- Anal. Dept. Syd. ~l Uni. June 1928. T.615. (After cleaning) to replace T.615 L 1324 (Stored at Shea's Creek 8 Sept. T.530. 1956.- Ken Mayficld.) Prepared from ea t presented by W. Watkin Brown. (Located by Dr. A. Ritchie. Ma) 1968.)

D r Ritchie then came upon a nother letter David replied o n 6th J uly. 1915: ' ' My from Etheridge to David, dated 5th July, Dear Etheridge. Very many thanks for 191 6. lt ay : "My Dear David, I send end ing me the intere ti ng corrc pondence o me document'> for your peru at, which with E. H. K. Crawford, which T now return. plea e return when d one with. I found the e He never let o n to me that he had placed the when overhauling the o ld paper of 1896. and kull under offer to the A us tra lian altho ugh the occurrence took place within Mu eum ... .'' my Curatorship. the whole affair had Or R itchie. of cour e. could not let thi~ lipped my memory: evidently Mr. Crawford rest. and within a couple of day located the did not obtain the 'opinion of ome Pro­ 1896 correspondence. Thi reveals an epi­ re sor ' ( ee his lnst letter). T he whole ode in the hi tory o f the T algai craniu m a A'air is curious!" which I had never remotely suspected .

Page 192 Australian mural HistorY Etheridge say the whole aiTair i "curio u ··; the Secretary. Minute Book 1896. p. 40 but it i even more curio u than that, becau e Curator's Report, item 9 (ref. C.70f96): Profe ors David and Wil o n are recorded "Fossil Human Skull wa exhibited. lt wa~ as having been pre ent (a Tru tees) at the agreed to inform the pro prietor that the Board meeting of the Museum o n Tuesday, Tru tees are read y to favourably con ider 6th October, J 896, when the T a lgai cra nium the purchase of the kull. but would like to wa examined with a view to purcha e. a know what um i asked for it.'' point which Etheridge either mis ed or 7 Oc1. 1896. S. Sinclair. Secretary Aust. elected not to mentio n. Mu eum. to Messrs. Turner & B ender on, lt eem be t to let the corre po ndence tell H unter St.: "On behalf of the T rustee 1 am ib own tory: to thank you for ubmitting to them the 28 Sept. J 896. R. Etheridge, Curator, to Fo il H uman Skull fo rwarded to them by Mr. K. Crawford , Waterloo, New England : Mr. E. H . Crawford. The Tru tee are ·• 1 ee from the Walcha Wirness that you much intere ted in it & think that the have in your posse io n, a petrified skull Australian Museum would be a most suitable suppo ed to be that of a blackfellow. I have place to deposit it. as it would be then to a k you, on behalf of the Tru tee of the acce ible for public information & cientific Au tralian Mu eum, if you would let me de cription. They would be quite willing have the loan o f it fo r a hort time. for the to purchase it if your friend would be kind purpo e of examining it, or a a gi ft to the enough to na me a price." collection in the Museum if you can see your 8 OCI. 1896. Etheridge to E. H . K. way to do it." C rawford : " On behalf o f the Trustees o f the 2 Ocr. 1896. Mr. E. H . K. Crawford to Australia n Museum, I have the pleasure to the Curator. Austra lian Museum : "Your acknowledge the receipt o f your letter of the communication No. 914 dated 28 in t. duly 2nd in t. re ' kull'. The skull ha been to hand. In reply thereto I desire to inform hown to us by Me r . Turner & H ender o n, you that l have forwarded the 'skull' a lluded who have been a ked to a certain from you to, to Messrs. Turner & Henderson of what value you place o n it.., H unter Street Sydney. It wi ll be on view 11 Ocr. 1896. Crawford to The Curator: there for some time. I have sent it down in " I have the ho no r to acknowledge receipt of o rder to ascertain its value. l am in yr dated 8th inst. being No. 941. And in communication with o me friend in England reply thereto to state that owing to the fact o n the subject and trust oon to hea r their o f my being in communicatio n wi th ome o pinio n. I would not part with it unle I friends in Engla nd a bo ut the Skull, I would got a very tempting offer, a I am ve ry fo nd not Uke to put any value upon it until I of collecting curio and have o me rather again hear from them. l will be probably uncommo n one ... ending it home to a brother of mine who i 3 Oct. 1896. R. Etheridge, C urato r's studyi ng Medicine in Lo ndo n." Report to the Tru tee, Au tralian Museum, 13 Oct. 1896. Sinclair to E. K. Crawford: for Sept. 1896, 40 No. 9. (Submitted to ' 'Your letter o f 11th in t. is to hand, & I note meeting of the Board, 6 Oct. 1896) : p. 6 what you say regarding the ' Fossi l Human Fossil Human Skull: " Messr . Turner & S kull'. We wi ll be glad to hear from you Henderson. the well known stationers, end again when you have decided what to do with for exhi biti on. & ale on behalf of Mr. E. H . it. If you should think of ending it out of C rawford of Waterloo Statio n. near Walcha, the Colony. I wo uld be glad if you would a 'petrified' Aboriginal Skull. I t i from the a ll ow u first to take cast . photograph , a nd Darling Downs. the calcareou sinter cover mea urement , a nd to publi h an account o f leading me to believe that it comes either it. For that purpo e we would be glad to from a swamp or spring depo it. The have details as to where & how it wa found. ender is open to an Offer for i.t purchase". The pecimen having been found in Australia, Tuesday 6th October 1896. Trustees' it i fitting that the fir t descriptio n of it meeting. Present: T he Crown Tru tee ( Dr. sho uld be publi hed in the Co lony. I may Cox)- The Auditor General (Mr. Rennie)­ ay your pecimen is of great intere t to Dr. Beli ario-Dr. o rton- D r. Williams­ Anthropologi ts & Pa laeontologist , but not Prof. David-Prof. Wil o n- the Curator a nd o much so fro m a medical po int of view."

June, 1969 Page J93 31 Oct. 1896. Etheridge to E. D. Craw­ welcome to take photo of it & mea ure­ ford: " [ very much regret to find , on my ments- but not casting . ·· return fro m the Country, how little proba­ 23 Ol'. 1896. Etheridge to E. K . Craw­ bility there i in our acquiring the 'fossil ' ford, Walcha: " I am i.n receipt o f your letter skull sent d own by you to Me r . Turner & of OV. 15th in relatio n to the fo il skull. H enderson. The pecimen ho uld most The value of the pecimen from the Geologi­ unquestionably be deposited in o me o ne of cal standpoint is comparatively ma ll from the Au tra lia n Mu eums. and not ent out the fact tha t it doe not po c what we call of the Co untry. a it very condition fo rbids 'geological hi tory'. Had it been found at it having a nything but a small medical value. a ny depth in alluvial depo it , or in a cave Of cour e. it intrinsic value very much depo it the matter would have been very depends o n whether or no a reli able history of different. It osteological value is still les its discovery, & the details o f the la tter can from the fact o f all the characters being be furnished by you. H owever, l ha ll be concealed by inter. Will you meet us thi glad to learn your fi nal decisio n." far- when you have made up your mind a 30 Oct. 1896. R . Etheridge, Curator· to price. give the Au tralia n Mu eum the Report to the T ru tee . Austra lian Mu eum, first refu al." for Oct. 1896, 44 o. LO. (Submitted The Wa/cha Wimess commenced in 1889. Meeting Board 3 ov. 1896) p. 6- 7 Fossil The Public Library, Sydney. carrie copie Skull: " I regret to ay that the owner o f the only from 1898 to 1906. ln reply to my 'Fossil' Skull (M r. G. D. Crawford) exhibited enquiry Mr E. L. H ogan, edito r o f the at the la t Board cannot be induced to give Walc/w Neii'S, wro te to me o n 28th June, a definite a n wer re the sale o f the specimen." 1968, that the Walcha Witness and the Tues. 3 Ol'. 1896. Trustee ' Meeting. Wa/cha News were both burnt o ut ome Present: The Crown Tru tee (Dr. Cox), 40 year ago: that a a member of the The Auditor General (Mr. Rennie). Dr. Walcha Hi torical Society he had tried to Belisario, Mr. Bradley, Prof. Ha. well , M r. locate early copie . but had had little H ill The Curator a nd the Secretary. Prof. ucce s. David ent a po logy for absence. However, MrS. L. Larnach made a earch Minute Book 1896, p. 43 Curator' Repo rt. for me in the Publi c Library, Sydney, and item 6: " Fo il Human Skull- owner does o n page 744 o f the Sydney Mail, Saturday, not wi h to pa rt with it to mu cum." l Oth October. 1896. found the fo ll owing: 18 Nov. 1896. Crawford to the Curator: "The Week. A curiosity in the form of a ·'tn reply to yours of the 31 t ultimo re petrified kull of a n aboriginal ha been fo sil kull. I de ire to tate that when received by Me srs. Turner & Hender o n ending it to Me sr . Turner & Hender o n. I from o ne o f their cu to mer:. re iding at did o with a view of obtaining (if po ible) Wa lcha. lt wa found ome year ago by a the opinion of ome P rofe or or others boundary-rider at a place called Dalrym ple intere ted in such subjects, a. to its real Creek, o n the Darling Down , Queen land. value. I had been informed that it would be T he kull was in the creek. The form of the considered ve ry valua ble in England, hence skull is well preserved though o n one side the rea o n for writing to my b rother in there i. a hollow, indicating that its owner Lo ndon. I a m orry to ay that up to date had received a blow. \\hich probably killed L have not recehed a ny reliable informatio n him. The specimen i heavy a nd has on the ubject. Therefore I am . till at a lo become a olid mas . Although the teeth as to what to say concerning it. A · to it of the upper jaw are well pre. erved. the histo ry all l can ay is it wa found by M r lower jaw is mi ing. The hape of the George Clark 'of Talgai Statio n Queen land' kull- a p rotruding jaw and low retreating between 15 & 20 years ago in a gully off forehead- indicate a na ture of almost D alrymple Creek near Warwick. He wa exclu ively animal propensi ties. This unique earching for a uitable place to sink fo r relic o f pa t time will be ubmitted to the water when he came upon it laying in the authoritie o f the Mu eum fo r inspection." bed of the gully where it had evidently been I doubt if further evidence about thi 1896 washed by a fl ood. l would ell it provided epi ode will come to li ght. It add to the 1 got it full value. bur not unle - you a re ad venture') undergone by the Ta lgai cranium.

Page 194 Australian atura! Hirtory I have a lready referred to the help of M rs FURTHER READING Nell Jenkins in tracing the location of the Burkitt. A. . ( 1929): .. Further Observatio ns on the cranium over the years; he had told me Talgai Skull, Mo re Especially with Regard to Mr Crawfo rd managed Waterloo Station, the Teeth", 19th meeting of ANZAAS, pp. W alcha, from May, 1895, to D ecember, 366- 71. Campbcll. T . D. ( 1925): Dentition and Palate of J 898, which dovetails precisely with the the Australian Aboriginal, Keith Sheridan Publi ­ archive found by Dr Ritchie. cation. Adelaide. 1930: In Hale, H. M .. and While the e a rchi ves have added to the Tindale. . .B., Records of the Satah Australian Museum, vol. 4, pp. 145-218. tory, they have added another puzzle. Dubois, E. ( 1920): ' The Proto-Australian Fossil The Talgai cra nium in its encrusted state Man of Wadjak". K. Akademie van Weten­ looked like no o ther huma n fossil cranium schappen, Amsterdam, vol. 23, pp. I 013- 5 1. on record. If David and Wilsoo d id see it Hellman, M. (1934): ·'The F orm of the Talgai in 1896, l am certain they would have recog­ Palate''. American Journal of Physical Amhro­ pology", vol. 19, pp. 1- 15. nized it in 19 14 a nd I am satisfied the des­ Macintosh, N. W. G. (1967a): " Fossil Man in cription in the Sydney Mail identifies it as Australia", Australian Journal of Science, vol. 30, the same cranium. Were they, in fact, no t no. 3, pp. 86- 98. 1967b: ''Recent Discoveries of present, although the minutes say they were? Early Australian Man", Annals of the Australian If they did ee it, why remain silent in 1914 ? College of Dental Surgery. vol. J, pp. I 04-J 26. Smith, S. A. (1918): " The F ossil Human Skull One can o nly conclude by saying one get from Talgai. Queensla nd", Philosophical Trans­ u ed to my terie with the Talgai cranium. actions of the Royal Society of London.

BOO/( REVIEWS

ASTRONOMICAL OBJECTS FOR SOUTHERN lighting, and some accessories to assist observatio n. TELESCOPES, by E. J. Hartung; Melbourne A section of half-tone plates shows Professor Har­ University Press; pages x, 238. Price, $6.75. LUng's telescope and observatory a nd thirty of the The lists of objects in this book have been com­ mo re interesting and photogenic objects photo­ piled as a result of many years of experience by graphed at Mount Stromlo O bservatory. Professor Harrung. He has selected just over Observers who wish to extend their knowledge I ,000 o bjects from about 4.000 which have been of the sky and to make the acquaintance of the examined by him in the part of the sky accessible objects about which they may read will find thi to his telescope. A supplementary list of about book a most useful reference.- Harley Wood. eighty objects within 40 of the North Pole has been added to increase the usefulness of the book for northern observers. T he objects are listed first CHILDREN OF THE DESERT, by Phyl a nd Noel in order of right ascension. Here the positions Wallace. Thomas Nelson, Sydney, 1968; 64 pages. are given for 1950 with the variations which enable Price, $2.95. the positions to be found for other years and with brief de cri ption. T hen each object is given a Young children. of course, are " naturals" for the more complete description in lists under constel­ photographer, and Aboriginal children are even lations arranged in a lphabetical order. Some more "nalurar · than most. This book, by a general information on the constellations is included husband and wife from Melbourne who became and the book end with an addendum fo r northern entranced by and deeply involved with the observers. Pitjantjatjara people of Ernabella Mission, Central Some introductory chapters occupy the first forty Australia, is outstanding because the authors really pages of the book. As is logical. these begin with know these chil dren they photograph and write an accoun1 of radiation which provides the means about so ympathetically. fo r transmitting the information from the celestial A handsome layout by Alison Forbes and bodies. Then follow chapters on stars, star excellent colour printing (Hong Ko ng) make this a clusters. galactic nebulae and extra-galactic systems. fi rst-class a nd reasonably priced gift book for a ll of which arc represented in the lists of objects. Australia or overseas. These chapters bring together material to help in the understanding of brief descriptions of the But after browsing a ppreciatively through it, one respective object in the ma in lists. Chapter 6 is is left with the disturbing question: What will o n amateur observing. a nd in it Professor Hartung become of these lively, intelligent, and very gives some very useful information from his long distinctive young persona li ties? Will they be experience as a telescopic observer. This includes enabled to lead constructive and fulfilling lives, or some advice on the choice of an instrument and the will they be condemned to the fringe-dwelling, mounting of it and on the observatory. clothing, outcast situation of their parents ?-D. R . Moore.

June, 1969 Page 195 Macquarie 1 land's main colony of King Penguins (.-lptenodytes paragonica). at Lusitania Bay. T his view shows the steep slopes of the plateau and the tu ock-covered Hats of the outhea tern coast of the island. [Pho to: E. W. Dawson, New Zealand Oceanographic In titute.)

The Australasian Suhantarctic Islands By J . C. Y ALDWYN Assistant Director, Dominion Museum, Wellington, 'ew Zealand Part 2

This is the concluding part of this article. 800 feet high with flat or gently sloping The first part. in our last issue, dealt mainly area and occasional higher hills and ll'ith the Auckland Islands and Campbe/1 dissected valley . There are narrow coastal Island. strip on the east coast and omewhat wider trip on the we t coa t. The northern Macquarie I land tip of the island con ist of an isolated Macquarie l land lies some 350 miles hill eparated from the main part of the to the outhwe t of the Auckland I lands coast by a low and narrow i thmu , across and about 1,400 southea t of Melbourne. parts of which waves can weep during lt i a long narrow island about 21 mile exceptional torm . The A ustralian from north to outh. with a width o f up to National Antarctic Re earch Expedition 3 mjles a nd an area of 46 quare miles. permanent tation is located at the north Though it i a little bigger than Campbell end of thi i thmus. There are a number I land (area about 40 quare mile ), it of mall lake and hallow tarn on the ri es ro a height of only I ,423 feet. plateau. most with outlet leading to the Macquarie con i t largely of an elongated, west coa t. The whole plateau and its hills teep-sided plateau between about 600 and how evidence of former glaciation. o a

Page 196 .-lusrralian Natural History Ha.sselboruugh LardNeLson B cw . Wireless Hill &. St':' f R eer · E~~l(, ion Hut MACQUARIE ·Eagle Ba_y NorUtEast Bay I 0 Miles Scale};200000 or ll:och • 3 ·16 St.a.tulelUles RetghU i.rt f'eet 0qJt.h.s in lallumz-3 Contour• every 200 feet

• • •

C.Toucher

usilania. Bay

Jeffryes IJ09 w.

Thi map i · ba ed on a suney by L R. Blake :tnd wa published in the · f11Hralasian Antarctic £l:pedition 19 11 - 14 Sciemific Report1.

J/11/t', 1969 Page 197 Pleistocene ice-cap i indicated. The land biology. especially in the field of seal and fl o ra and fauna should be considered. ea-bird populations dynamic . then, as entirely po t-glacial. The vegetation of Macquarie Island can The climate of Macquarie I land i be divided into four main types: tussock unexpectedly uniform. with a yearly average gras land is fou nd on coastal flats and on rainfall of about 41 inche and a mean all teep, rea onably protected slopes up annual temperature o f about 40° F. Relative to a height of about 1,000 feet ; ubglacial humidity i high, varying from 90 to 94 herbfield with a ingle dominant Pleuro­ per cent, fogs a re common, and average phyl/um pecie occur in sheltered valley. daily hour of sunshine vary from less than and o n moderately protected coastal flat. half an hour in J une to ju L over 3 hour and lopes up to about 1.200 feet; peat in February. Such a climate is the mo t bog and fen . of variou · types have important ingle factor a ffecting the sub­ developed on coa tal terrace a nd valley antarctic environment. The Jack of a ny floors where the ground is aturated with period of warm temperature . the prevalence water to the urface; and tundra or feldmark of high wind . and the reduced amount of with low. mo -like cu hion plants. which un hine combine to produce a habitat occupie all the area expo ed to high mo t unfavourable for plant growth and wind velocitie - in other words about half oil development. the i land. including the major part of the As o n the o ther islands, the fur seal upland plateau. Gone here i any trace were all but exterminated by about 1820, of the al titudinal vegetation zones of the o that ealer from Sydney. H obart. and type de cribed for the Auckland I land in later New Zealand turned to elephant part I of thi article. G o ne. too, i the floral seal , and finaJly penguins. for oil. With diver ity of the more no rthern ubantarctic o me period of inactivity when seal number i lands (a mentioned before. Macquarie were too low to make return worthwhile. I land ha o nly thirty-eight va cular plant this exploita ti on continued until after the specie. ). First World W ar. The Antarctic explorer Sir Dougla Maw on et up a radio and The bird of the islands meteorological tation on Macquarie I land Seventeen pecies of albarro e , mo lly­ in 1911 during the Australasian Antarctic mawk , and petrel a re recorded a breeding Expedition a nd thi wa occupied at the Auckland I land . Abo ut fifteen of continuou ly until 1915. lt wa during the e al o occur at Campbell Island, but this period that the Commonwealth Fi herie!) almo t certa inly in greatly reduced number lnve tigation Ship Endeavour, well-known compared with form er abundance; nine for its marine biological work a round breed a t Macquarie. On Campbell. heep ea~tern and outhern ~ Au!)tralia. left the have o modified the \egetation and ground i land in a den e fog. after landing tore. urface that burrow-breeding petrel are for the 1914 party. and was never heard confined to remote and mainly inaccessible of again. Mawson vi ited Macquarie again area . The uniform vegetatio n re ulting in 1930 with the British. Australian, and from grazing i probably re ponsible for New Zealand Antarctic Re ear-eh Expedition the high population of Royal Albatros (BANZARE) and was later able to persuade ( Diomedea epomophora) ne ting on the open the Tasmanian Government to termjnate tu ock ·lope at Campbell. A conservative the eating licence and to declare the e timate gives 4.000 pair ne ting in any i land a wildlife sanctuary in 1933. o ne year, but a~ the e la rge albatrosses breed No further cientifk expeditions vi ited only every second year the total breeding Macquarie I land until 1948, when the fir t population of the i land i omewhere Australian National Antarctic Re earch near 16,000 bird . The albatros breeding Expedition (A ARE) party re-e tablished at Macquarie Island i the Wanderer a cientific and meteorological tation at ( Diomedia exulans). This specie · wa killed the northern end of the i land. Thi tation and eaten by the ·eater and there are has been permanently manned ever since only about a dozen pair ne ting each year and ha become one of the most important nowaday . Three penguin breed on centre for re earch in subantarctic Campbell and Auckland Island and four

AuHralian atural History on Macquarie, but only one pecies, the Ada ms Island, in the south of the group. Rockhopper (Eudyptes chrysocome), is is free fro m a ll introduced mammals. There common to these three subantarctic isla nds. are ra bbits of many colours. including Two of the penguins breed in thousands black and ginger, on parts of the Aucklands, o n Macquarie Island, the large King and also on Macquarie, where they are Penguin and the smaller, endemic Royal. still slowl y and destructively spreading. Their crowded colo nies, with no green The Brown Rat is a bundant o n Campbell vegetation surviving amo ng the massed but apparently absent fro m the Aucklands, birds, has been compared to city slums by where mice are a bundant in its pl ace. some o bservers. Sheep, cats, rats, and mice a ll occur wild Land and shore birds are varied, but on M acquarie Island. Fera l dogs have restricted tn number, on the Auckland been repo rted from all these subantarctic Islands. There a re thirty-two breeding islands but do not seem to have survived. species, including some believed exti net, but seven are self-i ntroduced European The islands' future passerines. Macquarie has ten breeding, or What is t he future o f these interesting recently extinct, land and shore birds, o nly islands? Firstly. there is an urgent need three being introduced species. Of special to complete fl o ral and fauna! s urveys, interest are Flightless Duck (Anas auck­ especia lly o n the relatively exteos1ve landica) on Auckla nd and Campbell Isla nds: Auckland l sla nds. Then, as Professor G. A. a snipe o n the Auckla nds; para keets of the Knox, of Canterbury University. recently genus Cyanorhamphus o n the Aucklands a nd said in a published ymposium on the recently extinct on Macquarie, a nd one o r future of the subantarctic islands, the more mo re extinct rails. detailed study of their biology and eco logy can begin in earnest. These islands, with Seals their i o latio n and their surviving plants The New Zealand Fur Seal (Arctocephalus and a nimals, could be ideal open-air f orsteri) is still present in slowl y increa ing laboratories of evo lution. Their paramo unt numbers o n all three subantarctic i lands scientific interest, however, lies in the fact but the bulk of the population is now on that they represent, in part at least, some the southern coasts of the N ew Zealand o f the fe w rema ining i land areas tha t have mainland. H ooker's Sea-lio n (Neophoca avoided the destructive activities of man. hook eri) no longer breeds o utside the two Therefo re, we in Australia a nd New Zealand no rthern subantarctic islands, and its peak have both national and international obliga­ po pulation and d ispersal centre is the tio ns to ma intain and p reserve them intact. Auckland Islands, with the Enderby Island colony being by fa r the largest with about I ,000 a nima ls. T his sea-lio n, and Antarctic FURTHER READING seals such as the Sea-leopa rd and the Weddell Bailey. A. M., and Sorensen, J . H., l962: Seal, are recorded as casual vi ito rs to Subantarctic Campbe/1 Island. ( Denver Museum of Natural H istory Proceedings 10.) A. H. & Macquarie. The huge Elepha nt Seal A. W. Reed, Well ingto n. 305 pages. (Mirounga leonina) breeds at Campbrll Island , but M acquarie is its populatio n Chilton, C. (editor), 1909: The Suba111arctic Islands of New Zealand. Philosophical Institute o f centre in this sector o f the subantarctic. Canterbury, C hristchurch. 848 pages (two vols). There, an estimated 11 0,000 Sea-elephants indicate the spectacul a r recovery of this G ill ham, Mary, 1967: Suh-Antarctic SancTuary: Summertime on Macquarie Island. A. H. & A. W. persecuted species during the last half­ Reed, Wel lington. 223 pages. century. Gressitt, J . L. (editor), 1964: Insects of Campbe/1 Sheep, cattle, goats, a nd cats have been Island. ( Pacific Insect Monograph 7.) Ber nice P. introd uced and have run wi ld o n Auckland Bishop M11seum, H onolulu. 663 pages. and Campbell Lslands. Pigs are widespread Taylo r, B. W., J 955: The Flora, Vegetation and o n the ma in Auckla nd Island but sheep Soils of Macquarie Island. AN ARE R eport, have now been cleared fro m this gro up. Melbourne. 192 pages.

June, 1969 Page 199 A Welcome Swallow feeding its young in the nest. T he nest v. as con- tructed in the darJ... in idc a hut. The mmcmcnt of the ne t caused by the landing of the parent produce gaping respon e in the young. N ote that the young a rc not directing their re pon e towards the parent. [ Photo: uthor.]

SOCIAL BEHA V/OUR AND ITS EVOLUTION

By JlRO K I KKA WA cnior Lecturer in Zoology, Uni\·cr ity of Q ueensland, t Lucia. Brisbane

few year ago. when there wa a very A it i ·uch a unique bird and sought a fter A evere drought. the Univer ity of by many o f the bird-watcher of the world, Queensland pond at St Lucia was o ne of the o rnitho logy students could be pro ud o f the few places a round Brisbane where water wa University of Queen land having a breeding till pre ent, although there it was amo t gro und o f jacana within the campus. One completely covered with a thick layer of pair had three mall chick with them that floating vegetation. lt wa a paradi e for ummer, and we oflen heard the parent·' wamp hen , grebes, and jacana , which a larm call . The chick wo uld react could ancho r their fl oating nest among immediately by running to mother and hiding weed •. well concealed from ea ual observer . under her wing. The mother was alert and The jacana. o metimes called the lo tus bi rd. moved about quickly, then uddenly he is an aberrant member of the wader a nd a wo uld tart to run. On o ne occa io n, when graceful denizen of lakes and po nd in the he topped o me distance away we no ticed tropical a nd ubtro pica l region o f the world. the chicks apparently emerging o ut of her. lt has a body length of about 8 inches and We watched the bi rd m ore carefully the next extremely lo ng toe of mo re than 5 inche time she started to run. A he stopped and fro m front tip to rear. With the e lo ng toe looked at U!> we saw two pair of leg ticking the bird walk on fl oating pla nt , o metime o ut under one of her wing· and o ne pair with uch remarkable speed that carele under the other. She had been carrying ob erver have credited the bird with the three young under her wing ! We aw her a bility to walk o n water. carry the young in thi way everal time ;

Par:e 200 A ll!drclliun Nt1111ral H istory sometimes he would j ust lift them as they of different fields. In fact, the modern hid under the wing and sometimes she tudy of a nima l behavio ur is fast becoming would run to them a nd pick them up by inter-disciplinary. crouching a nd spread ing her wi ngs. Fo r example, we may ask the followi ng N o other bird s a re known to have this questions in the study of social behaviour. habit, b ut many pecies of wader feign How did uch ela bo rate behavio ur as the inj ury to lure enemies away from their nests parental ca re of birds evolve, a nd. more a nd tern continuously attack m ammalia n genera lly, how d id social co-o peratio n a mong predators that intrude into their nesting a nimals. such as societies of a nts a nd bees gro und. There a re, in fact, very ma ny a nd fl ocks and herds o f a nima ls, develop ? elaborate protective behavio ur patterns And how d id our own behavio ur in complex exhibited in the pa rental care o f b irds. societies o riginate? T hese questions cannot These extrao rdinary behaviour patterns be answered by the anthro po mo rphi m and may be described in dull o bjective words teleology fo u nd in the o ld art of bird­ expressing motor patterns involved , o r may watching, whi ch we may ca ll ' ·o rnithetics" to be interpreted in terms o f motivatio n, disting ui sh it fro m scientific ornithology. ho rmo na l distributi on, a nd externa l stimuli. We now must aba nd on anthro po mo rphic When the latter is d o ne, the parental descriptions which sugge t h uman moti ves solicitude, courage, and inte ll igence of birds, and concerns in animals. a nd avoid seemingly so persistent a nd far-sighted , a re teleological interpretatio ns which imply reduced to intricate pa tterns of instinctive untested purposiveness in anima ls. behaviour, inherited fro m generatio n to How, then, d o we study the evolutio n of genera tio n. Strictly speaking, not a ll of social behavio ur? By socia l behavio ur we these behavio ur pa tterns a re inherited and mean individual behavio ur that potentially n ot o ne o f them is inhe ri ted in it entirety. or actually affects the behavio ur of other In o ther wo rds, altho ugh the genera l pattern individ ua ls. In other wo rds, it has to d o of such behaviour is stereotyped within a with mo re than one a nimal, a nd we a re species, there is much variati o n in mino r interested primarily in the m embers of the details which cannot be accounted fo r same species which fo rm a communicato r­ entirely by the genetic compo nents. These recipient system in their social behavio ur. minor deta il s contain some elemen ts of Social systems that result fro m individual learning a nd adj u tment. social behaviour a lso evolve as well as act as selective agents of individual behaviour, but Ethology this aspect will no t be dealt with here. T he study of a nimal behaviour is called T he theory o f evolution, si mply . tated. ethology, and people wh o study it from the attempts to explai n the fol lowing processes: animal' point of view a re identified as ( I) the origin o f genetic vari atio n in a ethologists. Ethologists a re interested in the population, (2) the inheritance of the stored behaviour of whole organism s, whereas variability. a nd (3) the erosion of variation neurophy io logists a re interested in by selecti on a nd erro rs of a mpling (mating). mechanisms of behaviour within o rganisms J ust as great mo rpho logical d iversity of a nd avoid ·'anecdo tes··. If you study anima l o rganisms is produced in thi s way. physio­ behavio ur with a n ul ti mate aim of under­ logical and behavioural properti es emerge sta nding h uman behaviour, you a re a fro m the same processes. T he o nly d ifference psycho logist and not no rma ll y expected to is the greater interaction between the innate know the bio logy of animals beyond hens. and no n-genetic compo nents in the latter. rats, dogs, a nd monkey . Such is, of course, Therefore. depending o n whether the nonsense, a nd yet it is only recently that behavio ur in q uestio n is largely innate or students of a nimal behaviour realized tha t la rgely learned, the mecha nisms of evolutio n these d ivisions a re nor based o n logical to be sought are different. The evolution consequence but on the d ifferent approaches of man's social behavio ur is almost entirely re presenting d ifferent affili atio ns and cultural and, a lthough component patterns t raditions within each discipline. Therefore. may be inherited genetically, cultura l tran - there is much to be gained by examining missio n in the social enviro nment has the themes a nd methods presented by wo rkers generating power of evolutio n. O f course.

J une, 1969 Page 20 1 cultural evolution is not entirely man human keeper or to the fir t relati vely large edifice: higher animal can al o transmit moving o bject they saw. They follow man habit culturally. For example, a local or the e object a they would their parents. population of mu krats in America learned I m printi ng need happen for only a few hours to store Indian corn in winter and thereby or even only a few minute for the young bird . urvived food horlage thro ugh everal to accept a man as its proper a ociate and to winter . However, after one particularly retain him fo r the re t of it li fe. They take cvere drought mo t of the local population to human beings as both parent-companion wa wiped out. T he generation, which and fell ow member of the pecies, and at survived. did not know about the corn and maturity will even direct their e ual so d id not utili ze it. Consequently. they behaviour at man. urTered greater mortality through the I m printi ng produces this " following .. foll owin g winter. Similarly, Japane e res ponse in many species of bird , altho ugh worker have recorded the preading of a th is tendency seems stronger in more :-.ocial potato-wa hing habit among monkeys in a species than in olitary pecies. T he Zebra wi ld population, after a si ngle indi vidual Finch, aver") social specie , could be made to as ociate with human being and not to respond to the behaviour and calls of it own kind. One uch bird even ·ang a courtship song at the ight of a ma n and attempted to copulate with h i~ fingertip and ear lobe . If young bird:-. are reared together they will be imprinted to each other ~o that inl>tinctivc social behaviour ,.., ill be directed at ne t­ mate . The original notion that imprinti ng '" rrictl) li mited in time and direction and i'> not reversible doe not alway hold. In -;ome pecie . at leal>t, the imprintable peri od is much longe r than previously thought, and fu rther. i affected by other forms of learning. such as habi tuati on and conditioning. What nu1 ke it o rigid eem to be that the develop­ ment of a fea r response inhi bi ts the ability of imprinting, which under natural co nditi o n ~ helps youn g bird to be im printed to one ki nd of mO\ ing object- the parent . A hand-reared male Zebra Finch courting a child. [Photo: Author.] However. if overt fear response are reduced by a drug uch a - chl orpro mazene de eloped the habit or copied it from man. the sen iti e period for im printing may be If the ad,antage of uc h habit i per i tent. extended. In the a me way. habituati on their cultural tran mi ion through genera­ may remove the fear re pon e to human tion or any genetic change of be haviour who provide food for the bird in i a lati on. pattern in thi direction will be favoured by As a re ult of frequent feedi ngs, young b ird i~ natural election. may be im pri nted to new fo ter parent and lo e the image of their true parent to which lmprinting they were initial ly imprinted. In the tudy of interaction betwee n e penence and innate social behaviour, ignificance of imprinting ethologi t and p ychologi t have recently Si nce all innate ocial be havio ur requires drawn together to analyse an extraordi nary recognition of fellow member and imprinting fo rm of learning called " imprinting... At seem to contribute much to this functi on, it fi r t ethologi t made ystematic ob ervati on ha great ·ignifi cance in the . tudy of ocial of impri nting. Hei nroth fo und that young maladjustment and mi -orientati on. At the geese reared fro m the egg in i alation same ti me. ince mani fe tation of social produced a ··following .. re pon e to their in ti nct depend. on thi peculiar form of

Page 202 Au.ftralian t'vatural H i.ftorp learning, especially in many higher animals object while they are sti ll fed by parents and with well developed sociality and parental long before they can eat by themselves. The care, the study of imprinting has a promising act of pecking is innate, but when it is first future in revealing the releasing mechanisms elicited it cannot satisfy the biological need of jnnate social behaviour. of the bird. Some American psychologists studied the Moreover, many instincts are matured in infant-mother reaction in the laboratory by a particular order. Animals, like most of depriving new-born rhesus monkeys of their us, cannot d o more than one thing at a time, real mothers a nd providing them with and they are o nl y capable of doing it when substitute mothers made of various materials. in the "mood". They have to be internally These monkeys showed a preference for a "motivated ". Therefore, maturing of soft terry-towelling "mother" over a wire­ instincts means that motivation does not frame "mother"· when offered the choice occur, or is prevented, until an appropriate between the two, even though a milk bottle time. Early motivation is weak or imperfect, was provided on the wire-frame. 1n their although play sometimes fu nctions as an adult life an extraordinary interference with outlet through which its proper act is their instinctive behaviour in reproduction facilitated. In the case of change in the was found. They showed abnormalities in instinctive response to the same stimulus, their responsiveness to the opposite sex, not nervous mechanisms are suddenly altered. only amongst themselves but also to normal Most of the song birds spend about a individuals which were known to mate fortnight in the nest, during which time they successfully in the past. Many of these are imprinted to their parents and develop motherless monkeys did not succeed in fear responses to other moving objects that bearing progeny and those that did turned approach the nest. Up till about 10 days old out to be very poor mothers themselves, their response is to crouch flat and motionless ignoring o r ill-treating their own young. in the nest. After that the same external The innate social behaviour pattern of mating stimulus makes them fly out of the nest. was thus modified by experience. This premature leaving is an innate response as much as crouching. The adaptive Influence of experience significance of the behaviour is not hard to Among wild monkeys o r Zebra Finches appreciate if you think of the chances of the dependent young will not survive if they their survival. While they are still small, are deprived of their parents (they are rarely leaving the nest means certain death and, adopted) a nd natural selection must operate although they may all be killed in the nest, strongly against the inheritance of even a by adhering to the nest there may be a slight slight propensity for abnormal behavio ur in chance that the predator will not take a ll of reproduction. Psychologists have also them or that the parents may return in time demonstrated that many of the variations in to save o ne or two of them. On the other normal sexual behaviour in guinea-pigs are hand, when they are old enough to fly a few genetic and it is possible to establish different feet at a time, the chance of survival is breeds regarding the components of the greater outside the nest than inside when the sexual act. Yet they could also interfere nest is raided by a predator. When the danger is gone the parents wi ll return to call with the no rmal mating behaviour of individual rats by conditioning, and produced them from their hiding places and lead them ho mosexually oriented rats! All this means to safety. Admittedly, life is not easy for is that even such innate social behaviour, so prematurely fledged young, which are to important in the maintenance of species, can suffer increased hazards, but they would be influenced by experience, early experiences still have a better chance of survival than if sometimes r esulting in failure to reproduce. they stayed in the nest at the time of the attack. Needless to say, not all instincts are apparent when animals are born. I n fact, Patterns less rigid many instinctive behaviour patterns required for survival and reproduction are not In social behaviour co-ordinated innate functional until they are ''matured". For patterns are not as rigid as the sudden example, young birds start pecking at various change of the fear response, because the

June, 1969 Page 203 elective fo rce exerted are not rigid and 1n other word , in their ongm the com­ becau e, as in imprinting, the interaction municatory behaviour patterns eem to be between the a ni mal and its social environment borrowed from the insti nct to which they important in urvival and succe ful were in itially exclusive and functional. reproduction. For example, young bird , Fluffing of fea thers, which is normally a after leaving the ne t, stop gaping sooner if re ponse of birds to cold weather, eem they are fed infrequently and given a chance irrelevant when it is produced in front of an to peck at food themselves than if they are aggressive bird, but there are many irreleva nt fed frequently o that they are never strongly acts of this nature in social behaviour. The motivated toward feeding by themselves. male Zebra Finch, during courtship, may Feeding require certain skill which has to be suddenly wipe its beak on a perch: a learned. and thi training is nece ary before depressed girl may uncon ciously go to a they can completely drop their ea rlier dressi ng table, and a puzzled man may scratch instinctive response of gaping. Jt is not hi s head. Such irrelevant activi ti es are often difficult to see the advantage of not having displaced fro m instinctive toileting behaviour the rigid timetable of change-over of instinc­ -care of body surface. Supposing someone tive acts when maturing depend on variable watching you comprehended such an out-of­ environmental condition and parental context act a a ignal and unconsciously re ponses. responded to it with behaviour displaced from some other instinct, would it be Thus the natural selection of innate social appropriate to the si tuati on? lf you can behaviou r is complex, involving interaction imagine uch a ituatio n. it is not hard to between communicators and recipients. both understand the significance of the di placed of which are independently affected by the activity in the evolution of ocial behaviour. maturing proce es of instinctive behaviour We may now ay that di placement activitie and experiences in va rious environmental are probable sources of innate ocial c..:o ndi tions. behaviour. There are other conceivable ources, uch a intention movements which Origin of innate ocial behaYiour co-ordinate group beha iour and ambivalent behaviour which hows conflicting tendencies Let u now consider the origin of uch of different drives. Attempts have been behaviour. We have seen that animal made to ex pl ain the origin of complicated cannot do more than one thing at a time. displays and the parental care of animals in They are, at any give n time, engaged in one terms of the e ource . but the principle of activity whi ch involves only a few different the ritualization of the e derived activit ie movements. For example, they may be are fa r from understood. All we can ay at leeping, drinking, or cha ing other animal this stage i that the tudy of evolution of from the territory, but there are not many ocial behaviour has a trong fou ndation way of sleeping, drin ki ng. or cha ing. They built by ethologi ts and i now beginning to u e certain ba ic motor pattern wh ich may flou rish with contribution from worker. in be varied in different situation . Even in a many different field . monkey the number of a ll behavioural patterns. including ignificant variations, i about 200. The in tinctive acts that produce F RTHER RE D ING in tinctive reaction in other ind ividuals are Broadhurst, P. L., 1963. The Science of Animal not very many. Wh en an inventory of such Behal'iour ( Pelican Original). acts i made fo r any pecie , we find that many component of uch behaviour patterns are Lorenz. K ., 1966. On Aggression. London. almost identical or im il ar to other innate Tinbergen. N .. 1953. Social Behm·iour in Animals. behaviour pattern which are not ocial. Methuen. London.

Page 204 rralian Natural His/Or)' c

Fig. I: A. Lasaea australis; B, the animal o f Lasaea species (the arrows show the direction of water currents); C , Lodderena minima; 0, Crassitoniel/a /lam mea: E, the animal o f Eatoniella o;pecie ; F, otoscrobs (Microfossa) incidata; G , EH ea ulil·acea ; H, head o f Est ea specie ; J, /11/ere/ina cheilostoma. MINUTE MOLLUSCA By W. F. PONDER Curator of Mollusc • Australian M useum

ANY people h ave at some time been picking over the re idue with the aid of a M intere ted in gathering hell . Some hand len o r low-powered micro cope wi ll are enthusia tic coll ector . carefully fo ick­ often reveal a great variety of pecie . ing at every o pportunity for rare and delight­ SubJ ittoral forms may be gathered directly ful mollu c . There are. however, o nly a by dredging or indirectly by orting the fine few collecto r who no tice tho e tiny hell beach drift known a hell and . le s than about 3 mm hi gh, which exi t in The sto rage of micro mo lluscs pre ent few ·uch a profu io n of specie o f inde cribable pro blem ~. Qn,e of the ea ie t a nd chea pe t delicacy a nd form. Frond o f eaweed a nd method · i to u e gla tubing which can be the under urface of to ne may have tiny broken into ho rt length a rter nicking with a ga tropods clinging to them, o r minute file. The pecimen and labels can be placed bivalves ha nging by a few gossamer-fine in the piece of tubing, which a re then threads. plugged with cotton-wool. The la bel sho uld A few minute spent rin ing eaweed o r have the informatio n facing o utward o that bru hing the underside of to ne in a bucket it can be read witho ut having to be removed of water is a mo t pro ductive way of obta ining fro m the tube. It is a l o a good idea to qua ntities o f li ving materia l. Subsequent keep omc li ve-collected material pre erved

June, 1969 Page 205 in 70 per cent alcohol. These specimens extensible snout with which it thru ts it way can a lso be sto red in glass tubing plugged through the sand and detritus as it feed . with cotton-wool a nd the tubes placed in a Tts food consists of foraminiferans and large, wide-necked bottle filled with alcohol. fragments of coralline a lgae which are T he following di cu ion was written with relatively huge in relation to the animals' the New South Wa les fauna in mind. The mouth. The stomach is e pecial ly modified ·tudent of micro mollusc in thi area has a to receive a nd store these large food particles. great advantage over those in o ther States A similar type of stomach a nd feeding because of the excellent publicatio n of the habits a re found in a number of genera of the late Mr Cha rles F. Laseron. Rissoidae (ftg. 2) which are placed in a separate subfa mily. the Rissoininae. Space does not permit even a list of a ll the Anothe r ubfamily. the Anabathro nioae, kinds of minute mollu cs likely to be en­ contains abundant forms like Estea species countered o n the Australia n seasho re. but (fig. I, G ) a nd Notoscrobs (Micro.fossa) brief mention of the most important a nd incidata (fig. I, F). These a re olid, pupate interesting familie will be made. o r conical shells with heavy aperture a nd There a re several families of the Bi valvia are red, brown or yellow in colour. Their that contain mostly sma ll species. Of these, tentacles are characteristi cally sho rt with the superfamily Leptonacea is the most wollen ends (fig. I. H ). This feature helps important and contains the families Lepton­ to di s t~ n g ui s h the Anabathroninae from the idae, Erycioidae, and G aleommatidae. They true rissoids. which have lo ng, parallel-sided are particularly interesting becau e o me tentacle . The true ri s o id (Rissoinae) are species develop commensal or even parasitic not common in Australia, though they a re relatio nships with other animals, usually do mina nt forms in the Northern H emi­ crustaceans, other molluscs, echinoderms, or sphere. The a nimals in these two sub­ worm . The she ll s of many of the species families a re micro herbivore , or microdetritu. are very thin a nd fragile a nd, in a few of the feeders. parasitic forms. have become internal a nd M any species of small mo llusc are able vestigia l. Thus. a sort of bivalve lug has to crawl beneath the surface film but this been developed. Most species, however, are ability i especially ma rked in the rissoids and free living, o ne of the commonest being the the eatoniellids. In addition, they can spin pink Lasaea australis (fig. 1, A), which is threads of mucus which they a re a ble to found nestling in profusion in crevices, under crawl d own. stones, and in compact corall ine weed. If some specimens of Lasaea are placed in a The eato niellids (fig. 1, D , E) are related to di h of seawater, the na rrow foot on which the Litto rinidae, the periwinkle family, they crawl abo ut like gastropods (fig. I, B) whereas the Rissoidae are placed in a can be seen to emerge. ln addition, a short separate su perfamily. T he eatoniell ids, like siphon appears in fro nt through which a the rissoids, a re furnished with special pedal strea m of water is drawn into the mollusc. glands which produce copiou qua ntities of This is unlike tbe conditio n in most bivalve , sticky mucu . This enable them to cling which draw in water behind. Efficient succe fully to eaweeds, even o n surf-beaten mo bility, coupled with temporary by al shore . They feed o n minute plants and fixati on and the anterior inha lent water detritus covering the surface o n which they supply, are characteristics shared by all li ve. Their shells a re smooth a nd conical, leptonaceans, and have been the chief facto rs having all of the feature of simplicity. The which have made possible their uccessful animals of thi fam il y have lo ng tentacles adoptio n of commensalism. (fig. 1, E). which lash up and down as they move about. The o perculum bears a strong The most characteristic minute gastropod peg, to which i attached a powerful retracto r groups living o n southern Australia n hore muscle. A similar structure has been devel­ a re the families Rissoidae and Eato niellidae. o ped independently o n the o percula of several Rissoina, a thick- helled ri oid with a tall other families of minute prosobranchs a nd ' pire a nd peculia r D-shaped a perture, i in o ne gro up of larger mo lluscs, the neritids. probably fami liar to most hell collectors, a the species of this genus are readily o bserv­ The C yclostrematidae have depressed. able by the na ked eye. The a nimal has an u uall y white bells which are variously

Page 206 Australian altlral History Fig. 2: A, Ri~soella ( Heterorissoa) punicea: A B, head of Rissoe1/a species: C, He/isalia lilipuria; D. head of Omalogyra pecies: E. Curveulima species; F, Chemnir::ia species: G. E C:[) F G Osci/la rasmanica. c D scul ptured o r mooth (fig. I, C). Altho ugh parasites. The pyramidell ids, h owever. un­ there a re ma ny pecies and genera reco rded , like the eulimids, show a remarkable diver ity they a re no t u ua lly commonly encountered. of hell form, both in culpture a nd in hape The Yitrinellidae closely re. emble the cyclo­ (fig 2, F, G). They a re, in mo l ea e~. ~ tre m atid but a re allied to the ri . o id. , readily recognized by their peculiar rever ed wherea the latter family is related to the embryoni c whorl a nd plait o n the inner top shells (trochids). Yitrine ll id have o ne part o f the aperture. T hese feature . to­ or two pallial tentacle emerging from the gether with their a natomy, 5.how that they are 'ihell aperture. while the cyclostrematid related to the opi thobranch ga tropod . animal ha the foot fringed with a number of The living animal u ually have their eyes tentacles. The placement of many pecies placed o n the inner side of triangular and genera currently in the ·e two fami l ie~ i tentacle , while the e uli mid a nd the re t of in do ubt becau~e of the genera l similarity o f the pro, obranchs have the eyes o n the o uter their shells, but observation on the living side o f elo ngate tentacle . Mo t of the a nimals would help to rectify this La te of Pyramidellidne also appear to be para itic, affairs. feeding sucto rially. like the e ulimid . on Two intere. ting families that ho w rather ech inoderm . but al o o n worm and uncertain relation hips with the sea slu g mo lluscs, with their lo ng probo ci . The gro up are the Omalogyridae a nd Rissoellidae. hosts of the e parasites are very poorly Neither of the e two familie i included in known in Australa ia a nd any ob ervati on. recent list of Au tralia n mollu. ca, a ltho ugh o n ho t-para ite relatio n. would be valua ble bo th are actually re pre ented in the fauna. info rmatio n. The globose. gla y- helled pecie known a Some fam ilies of which the m ember. a re Heterorissoa (fig. 2, A) belong in the Risso­ typicall y of la rge ize have produced minute ell idae, while the d i coidal, reddish-brown pecie , presuma bly by neoteny. This is a pecie o f Helisalia a re omalogyrids. Both proce in which a juvenile stage becomes genera are commo n living o n eaweed in exually mature and thu retain the ad van­ .S. W. The characteri tic head t;-uctures o f tages of the j uvenile form- in this instance, both of the e familie are hown in fig 2, B, ma ll ize a nd greater mobility. The genera D. Chlamydella a nd Cyclopecten o f the Two gro up of parasitic gastro pods, the Pectinidae ( callops) a nd Cuna in the Eulimidae and the P yramidellidae a re uper­ Crassatell idae are clear-cut examples of this ficial ly similar to o ne another, with their pheno meno n. Some familie have probably tall. pired hell and mall ize. The been derived by neoteny, a n example being Eulimidae, which are true pro obranch , the Condylocardiidae from the bivalve have a gla y, mooth shell (fig. 2, E) and a re family Carditidae. equipped with a lo ng proboscis. They Small ize ena bles many envi ro nment. to u ually feed ucto rially o n pecific host be colo nized that would o therwise be pecie , frequently echinoderm . So me inacce sible to mollu c . C revice , algal form clo ely a llied to the eulimids have lo t turf, the filaments o f fine a lgae, beneath the foot and a re permanently a ttached to the clo ely packed stones, a nd other unlikely ho t, while o ther have become interna l habitat become available to a mall animal.

June. 1969 Page 207 ln addition to enhancing the opportunity for FURTH ER R EAD ING commen. al and parasitic mode. of life, The following paper by C. t- . La eron are otherwi e inacce ible food upplies are among the more important publicatio ns dealing made available. Some sea slugs ha ve even with the cw South Wales rnicromollusca : become member of the inter ti tial faun a ''Re,iew o f the R issoidae of ew outh Wales". and slide between and grains on beacl1e Records of tlte Australian Mu\eum, vol. 22. no. 3. along wi th the other highly- pecialized pp. 257 2 7. 1950. animal of thi environment. Some have "The cv. South Wale. P.} ramidellidae and the lo t all outward mollu can appearances and genu ,\fathilcla". Records of the .-lustralian Museum. re emble minute worm . 'ol. 22. no. 4. pp. 29 -334. 1951 . Much work needs to be done on the "Minute Bi,ahe from ew South Wa le ... ystematic and biology of the mi nute Records of tlte Australian Museum. vol. 23. no. 2. Moll u ea of Au tralia. Reference. are ve ry pp. 33- 53, 1953. scattered and identification of material is " Revision of the Lio tiidae of cw So ulh Wales". greatly hindered by inadequate de cription Australian Zoologist. vol. 12, no. I. pp. 1- 25. 1954. and illu trati on of described pecies. "A Revi ion of the New South Wale Lepto­ [The dra11·ings in this artitle are by the nidac- Mollu ea : Pelccypoda ··• Records of the awhor.] Australian .\lu:.eum. vol. 24. no. 2. pp. 7- 2 1. 1956.

MEET OUR CONTRIBUTORS • • • JlRO KlKKAWA, Senior Lecturer in Zoology ciated with bat-banding. then in it infancy in at the Uni,crsit)' of Queensland. Brisbane, has Australia. He was appointed a biologist with the sen ed SC\eral oversea universities and the Australian a tional Antarctic Research Expedition University of ew England, ev.- South Wales. in 1962. and pent 29 months on Macquarie Island. His contributions to Australian o rnithology include where he carried o ut a long-terrn popula tio n stud) researc h o n the bcha,iour and ecology o f land of the Royal Penguin. Thi · s tudy involved a birds. He has a special interest in birds of the large-scale banding programme. ustra lian rainforest. JOHN E. RANDALL i Marine Biologist at the 1• W . G. M ACI TOSH is Challis Profes or of Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Anatomy at the Uni\ersit) o f Sydney, Chairman of Hawaii. and Ichthyologist at the Bernice P. Bishop the Australian In ti tute of Aboriginal Studies in Museum, Honolulu. At the Institute he i working Canberra, a sociate editor of Archaeology and in the marine to \.in programme. At the Museum Phy ~ical Amltropoloqy in Oceania. and foundatio n he is the curator of the fish collection, a nd is adding and editorial member o f the Au tralian eadem)' 10 it by means of expedition in the Pacific area. of Forensic Science . He led uffield Field Positions that Or Randall ha held in the past Expeditions to central ew Guinea in 1955 and include: Re carch Fellow. University o f Hawaii ; 1957. At the i1Hitation of the Australian Broad­ Research A istant Profe or, Marine Laboratory, casting Commi ion. Profes or Macintosh made Univer it y of Miami : Profe sor. Biology Depart­ a documenta ry colour film. " T he Talgai Skull". ment, University of Puerto Rico; Director. Institute which was recently televised and i now being hown of Marine Biology, Univer ity of Puerto Rico: in Britain and U.S.A. This film received a Gold D irector Oceanic In titute, Hawaii. Award from the 1968 Australian Film Awards Competition. and also the Department of the JOH . Y A LDWYN was born in Wellington. Interior Award. ew Zealand. in 1929. He wa educated at Christ':. College, Chri tchurch, and Victo ria niversity of W lNSTON F. PO D E R joined the staff of the Wellington. where he obtained hi M .Se. and Ph. D. Au tralian M u eum a Curator o f Molluscs in degrees. After holding a Uni,er ity of ew Zealand 1968. H e i a ew Zealander, and graduated at Re earch Fund Fellowship and lecturing in Zoolog} the Universit} of Auckland. Clo·e contact wi th at Victoria niver ity, he spent a )Car at the Allan the malacologi t<; A. W. B. Powell, J. E. Monon. Hancock Foundation. Univcr it) of Southern R. K. Dell, and C. A . Fleming ensured a well­ California, Los A ngeles. under Fulbright and rounded approach 10 his stud ies on Mollusca. Natio nal Science F oundation Grant . H e was Last year O r Ponder was awarded the Hamilton Curato r of C rustacea and Coelentera tes a t the Prize by the Roya I Society of ew Zealand. Australian Mu cum from 1962 to 1968, and then DAVID P U RC HASE has been :.ecretary of the joined the staff of the Dominion Museum, ustralian Bird-Banding Scheme since January. Wellington, as A'> 1stant D irector. Hi main interest 1967. He joined the CSI RO Dh ision of Wildlife are the > tematics and biogeography of Indo­ Research in 1957. and oon became clo ely ao;so- pacitic plant<; and animals.

Page 208 A usrralian i'vt/lural History THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM

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