EDITED BY C. ANDERSON, M.A.. D.Sc .
• •
Lord Howe Island-A Natural ist's Paradise ... - A llatt R . McCulloch The Depths oE the Sea • Charus H edley Some Large Non-Venomous Snakes and Their Food - f. Roy Kt'ng-hot n Spid~rs, Poisonous and Other WISe A tzthony M tlsgrave Quaint Crustaceans F. A . McNeill The Welcome Stranger Nugget The E dttor
Vol. I. No. 2. AUGUST, 1921. PRICE ONE SHILLING. THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM College Street, Sydney.
BOARD OF TRUSTEES: President: r. STOBJ.» DrxiON, M.B., Ch.,M., Knight of the order of St. John of Jexuealem in Engl8.lld.
Crown Trustee : J.utES MoKERN.
Official Trustees : His HoNOUR THE CHIEF JusTICE. TH& HoN. mE PRESIDENT OF THE LEGISLATIV.& CouNCIL. THE HoN. THE CoLONIAL SECRETARY. THE HoN. THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL. THE HoN. THE CoLONIAL TREASURER. THll HoN. THE SECBETARY FOR PUBLiC WORKs AND MlNIS'l.'ER roB RAILWAYs. T:aE HoN. THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION. 1'1r.E AUDITOR-GF:NERAL. TH.a PRBSIDENT O)' THs N.S. WALEs MEDICAL Do.ABD ('1'. SroBIE DixsoN, M.B., Ch.M.). TRR SURVEYOR-GENERAL AND CHIEF SURVEYOR. THE CROWN SOLICI~R.
Eleetive Trustees : PBOF. W. A. fuswELL, M.A., D.Sc. F.R.S. , ERNEST WUNDEBLIOH. PRoF. · Sm T. W. E. DAviD, K.B.E., C.M.G., B.A., F.R.S. G. H. ABBOTT, B.A., :M.B., Ch.M. w. H. lURGRAVli:S. J. VERNON. ERIC SrnOLAm, M.D. THE HoN. D. LEVY, LL.B., M.L.A. CoL. THE HoN. Sra JAs. BuRNs, K.C.M.G., M.L.C. J. J. FL:tTOHER, M.A., B.Sc. J. R. M. RoBERTSON, M.D., C.M. G. MoR.Ai1. Director: CHARLES ANDER80N, M.A., D.Se. (MineraZogist) .
Principal Keeper of Colleetiolll : ClLUUJEs HEDLEY, ( Conc'Mwgist).
Scientific Staff: ALLAH R. MoCULLQCH, Zoologist, in charge of Fi8h~. WILLLUI W. THORPE, Ethnologist. R.rsx. W. BRETNALL, Zoologist, i7Jr charge of Lower Invertebrates.
AN'THONY MUSGRAVE1 Entomologist. J. RoY KINGHORN, Zoologist, in chalfge of Birds Reptiles and A n~.-phib i a·ns. ELLI8 LE G. TBOUGHTON, Zoowgi,t, in charge of Mamm~ls aml Skeletons. F. A. MoNEILL, ZofJlogist, i?1 charge of Orustac.ea.
T. HoDGE SlUTH1 _Assistant in Mineralogy. Librarian: Accountant: w. A. RAINBOW. J. A. TRiliPIJE. T a b l e o f C o n t e n t s.
TnE F OHES'T' OF Lo1m HowE ISLAND Frontispiece
LORD HowE l SLAN'D-A P .\R.ADI. E- Allam R . lYl cCulloch .. 31
TKE D EPTH · OF THE SEA-Charles Hedley . . 48
SOME LARGE NON-y ll:N01IOU • SNAKF,S AND Fooo- J . Roy Kinghorn .. 53
SPIDERS, POJ ONOU AKD 0TllERWl E- .dnthony Mus- gra.l e ...... 55
QUAIN1' CRUS'rACFJANS-F. ~ 1. ll1.c1Y ein . . 57
THE WELCO ~\!E STRANGER NuGG E'r-The Editor 6C
•. 30 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE.
The shady paths through the forest of Lord H owe I sland often pass beneath the arching branches of banyans. They are walled in on each side with a dense mass of wa,•ing palm leaYe'S which gli tter in t he sunlight fi ltered through the green canopy OYerhead. Photo-A. R. McCulloch. Published by the AwtTalian llluseum College Street) Sydney. Editor: C. ANDERSON, M.A., D.Sc. Annual Suhscription, Post Free, 4/ 4.
VOL. I. No. 2. AUGUST, 19:21.
Lord Howe Island - A Naturalist's Paradise. BY ALLAN R. :McCULLOCII. If you were to sail straight out east nature one may combine the goou w<..rd from Fort Macquarie, New South things we demanu of more populous -nrales, for three hundred miles, you places-an ideal, evanescent. and fast .would come to two great bills rising out becoming submerged by the strenuous of the ocean depths, with just a little progress of the time . lower lying land around their bases. Its hills rise high upon the horizon But. should )'OU be blown out of your like two blue clouds as one approaches course and pass either to the nortll or from the wide encircling ocean. The south of them, you might then double deep waters so completely isolate it from backward and forward over many thou the rest of the worlcl that even the sea sands of miles in the Tnsman Sea with roaming natives of the Pacific islands, out encountering any other land. Lord who wandered fa,r and wide in their fTail Howe Island, only seven miles long, is canoes, failed to discover it. It is true just a tiny scrap in a huge ocean waste. that a few bleached bones occasionally But what. a wonderful scrap! Covered obtrude from the sands which have coY with a luxuriant \'egetation, which in ered them, but these are of compant cludes many remarkable plants found no tively recent burial, and pe1haps tell of where else in the world, its high and some member of a 'Yhaler's crew or otber precipitous hill afford scenery as seafaring man whose history has been unique as it is beautiful. Tbe pre ence forgotten. of a coral reef and its enclosed lagoon When Lieutenant Liclgbird Ball di - proYides additional 1eaturPs usuall~· rc co,·erell Lord Howe Island in 1788 he sh·icted to tropical climates. found it quite uninhabited by man, while its bird popul<>tiC:l was so ignor~.nt of ".ax ISL.. nm OF DREAM ., the murclerou ways of humans that all Dreams of sunlig·ht, palms and open its members, larg~ and small, wandered spaces, and also of freedom from the up to obserYe what strange intruders cares of this troublous world. And yet. bad come to disturb their seclu-sion. for those whose tastes run to more sub They knew not what fear meant, iHtVWg" stantial thing'S, likewise an island of fas had no enemies other than of their own cinating interest. ~rhere are delightful kind, for there were neither mammals homes with gardens, and charming peo nor reptiles to prey upon them, and ple, and all thm;e things which go to their curiosity led them to approach make civilisation worth while. With all within arm's length. There were lots the enthralling freedom of unsullied of them, too, white birds with scarlet 3i THE AUSTRALIAN l\IUSEU:\I 'i\lAGAZlNE. bills (Xotorni · alba), about the size of the seeds of the so-called ·•K er:tia." a h~n, being ,·ery plentiful. Th<>se couh.t palms. These are peculiar to the~ b not fl y, bnt wandered around fearlessly land, and suppl~· the world with one of just as do the de~cendants of some its most decorati,·e and t'amiliar plants. others of their fellow inhabitants to tln::. A resident born on the i land acquires day. But, alas, their fle h seemed so so nutny ~hares upon attaining his ma good to those who followed in the jorit~·, and thereafter tccei,·es Llis share LicutenaJtt's wake tbal within an in oC both the labours and profits of the credibly short $p a<·c of time this unique company. The younger men have oc and trusting birtl became extinc•t. Savt ca.c:ional work to do "'hi<·h i::: of a ''e1·y for a single skin in the Yienna .Museum arduous and daug·erous nature, but t hey and a few n ote~ in jottrnals recording have long inlen ·als in which ·to enjoy t he org·ies of killing, we know nothing ot many n
mcnted with the brilliant colours and patterns characteristic of those of tropical seas are to be gecn everywhen~, darting in and out of the c·oral crevices. Sea-eggs, crabs, and shell-f:b;h, togetller with their myriad otuer brethren of a c·oral-reef fauna, flaunt their splenrlour before tbe fascinated gaze of the ob server as tbey carry on their allotted Jives within the pre<:inds of , ome shel tered pool.
Thatch palm seeds. Photo-E. ..l. Briggs.
fifty trees1 eaC'h about forty feet hig·h , have to be ascended during tbe clay b~· each seeder to secure his qnota. The seeds are stripped f rom the h·ees upon their stems. and shelled into sacks, each of which holds about two bushels. One. one and a half. or e,·en two sacksful are then carried upon the collector's Climbing for seeds with a strap around the baC'k O'\'er the rong-he!'t of rough tracks, insteps. and down the mountain sides to the PhO!to-E. R. Woite. water's edge, wh e 1 ~e they are boated to the seed-sheds for parking. A long arm, beset with wa,·ing spines and projecting from an unsuspected THE CORAL REEF. crevice, is the limb of a Brittle-star. The coral r eef on tbe eastern side of with its myriad tube feet, extended to the island is the most southern in the capture the food brought to it by the world, and supports an abundance of incoming tide. A shell, mo\'ing across animal life which one scarcely esp ects the reef at n pace unusual for so sluO' to find south of the tropics. Branch g-ish an animal as a mollusc, is found to ing mad1·epores, coloured with deliNlt<: be inhabited by a gorgeous hermit-crab tints, spread their fronds luxuriantly in pa.inted with green. scarlet, and blue: the deep pools which are sheltered f rom and tells of a tragedy by which the for the battering effects of the surf, while mer owner and builder of the shell was the hardier brain corals fl ourish in t>v icted and de,om ed I o make room for more exposed zones. Fishes gaily orna- the new tenant. Sea-eggs are there in 34 THE AUS1'RALIAN MUSEUM :MAGAZlNE.
profusion, some digging· channels for each eight inches across ancl with a hun their seclusion in the coral-limestone, <>r dred waving tentac~es . Every te~tacle even in the hard basalt, othe1·s lying hid is armed with innumerable stinging· cells den in sand with only the tips o.f th~i1· to paralyse the small animals upon hair-like spines protruding, ready to willch the anemones feed. Associated penetrate tile flesh of an incaub0ns with these lowly but beautiful polyps are cert:1in sm aJl fishes, some of the Demoiselles of the genus Amphiprion, wbich have become so specialised in then: mode of living that they are n~ver found apart from their hosts. The anemones 11re sensitive creatu1·es and will retract their tentacles at a touch, yet the move ments of their small fish associates cause them no alarm. As one watches through the glass, one of the fishes may be ob served to dart out from among them to snatch at some ·morsel of food and hastily retreat again to its shelter. The sting'S of its hosts do not a..ffect it, everi its naked eyes coming to no harm, yet they evidently afford it security from the attacks of its enemies. It is gaily Sea-eggs. orna.mented with pearly bands across a Photo-E. R. Waite. enemy or an unwary wader. Still otl1e1·s gather unto themsehes scraps of sea weed and other debris with which ru01:e or less inadequat~ coYering they \\·an der freely a bout tbe coral floor, secun: n1ther by reason of their spiny armour than by the cover they affect. These and thousands more, all occnrri ng· with in New South \Vales, and six LP111ch·er1 miles soutlw.·ard of the Tropic of Capri corn. ~llR01:GH A. WATER GLASS . ..A. water glass. or, as it is scwctimes grandiloquently termed, a water tele scope, is merely a bucket or a billy-can, the bottom of which is replaced by a sheet of glass. Its purpose is to bxeak through the surface ripple and thus pro vjde a window, so that tbrougb the clear water one has an ·uninterrupted Yiew or the sea. floo1·. With its aid, one is cm abled to study the wealth of life in a Collecting on the reef With a water glass. coral pool, each member of ·which car Photo-A. R. McOulloch. ries out its particular acti 'rities regard· less of observation. The water itself scarlet body, as though to advertise its acts as a sort of magnifying agent, ancl presence to all the fish world. But it makes the bottom of a pooL a ppear much is singularly shy and dare not leave its closer than it really is. tentacled friends, becoming so extraor Covering tbe uneven sides of the pool dinarily helpless when they are Temoved is a colony of huge green anemones, that it may be captured in one's hand. THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZrNE. 35
What is the reason for this strange exact, and their disposition is such that association~ Maybe the fi<:;h is ,ju"'t a the crab may sit upright among the uurg·larious intruder into the domain of polyps with its eyes alert for the food the anemones, glad of their shelte1·, hut particles they attract, and yet remain robuing tbem oJ:' tlwir food by stealing ent.ircly unobserved by many prowling it from their mouths. The sedentary fishes which would readily de,~our it polyps being unable to resist their acti,·e were its presence mo1·e ob,·iou . What and unwelcome boarde1·s ha,·e, perhap process of evolution has cle,·eloped such through long suffering, learnt to accept perfect fraud 'I And what tribulation them with good grace. must the coral polyps uffer as each Such queer asf;;oeiations of two widely serap of their bard earned food is con differing animals are by no means rare. fiscated by the eYer watchful crabs, Near by the anemones is a bluish-white, which they are most unwillingly forced soft coral, X e'Yllia, which is a bunch of to provide with board and lodging. This small flower-like polyps crowded upon Caphyra is a swimming crab, its rela one stem. No amount of watching will tives having paddle-like limbs with reveal the presence of a rare swimming which they can swim freely through the crab Gaphyra among the branches of the sea. But such legs are no longer of coral, but, if one combs the soft mass service to this parasite who needs only through the fingers, its bard carapace to secure a firm foothold upon its slip may often be detected. 'fhis crab is of pery host. Therefore its legs have be a bluish-white tint, exactly correspond come pointed with curious tufts of ing with that of its host, but most won bristles which enable it to move with de.rful is the delineation of several of speed and=precision upon a surface the polyps of the Xenia upon its cara which would baffle any other less en pace. The drawing and the colour 1s dowed crustacean.
An overturned coral boulder on the reef reveals a wealth of life. Its under surface is covered with brightly coloured sponges and sea.·mosses, a.nd a brittle star is seen endea.vouring to hide in a crevice. An orange starfish and two black slug-like Beche de Mer are lett exposed on the right. Photo-E. R. Waite. 36 THE At!STRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE.
BECHE DE :MER. coral-brec<•ia which is pilei! up by suc cessi,•e storms, wbere, apparently, they At least one specie of tile Bee-he de Juwe been driven by the competition of Mer or Trcpang, best known to most a burrowing sea-egg. Tbe latter disor people as a delicacy in soup, is com ganises their establishment by burrow mon on the Lord Ho we J sland reefs. ing under their attachments, an~l, as the Extended upon the sandy bottom of a clams appear to be rendered qtllte help pool, it appears a$ a bl~1.ck sluglike crea less when once detached from their bases, ture about tweh·e inches in length, with they have perforce retired to this rather a di c of branching tentacles at one barren zone where the sea-eggs do not end. It engulfs sand, as fast as its im intrude. perfect constitution will all.ow it, with the object of sorting out some nutritive The colours of tLe clams are endless matter tllerefrom, just as do its rela- in variety and, though all appear to be long lo one species, no two individuals are ornamented quite alike. Some baYe mantles. of plain chocolave, others are lighter in tint and pencilled with bro,vn, while opa.leseent streaks and dashes of blue or green upo11 chocolate grounds are quite common. The reason for this variation is not ap parent, the brilliant ornamentation hav- The main road or the island. Carts are scarce, their place being taken by sleighs with smooth runners. ing no obvious Photo-A. R. .McCulloch. value, while the less ornate indi- ti,·e the sea-eggs and tar-fishes. Not ,·iduals do not appear to suffer in con that it resembles either of these, being sequence of their homeliness. far less gra<·efnl, and it has the unplea These clams are wonderfully hardy, sant habit of ('jecting quantities of and able to withstand an amazing sticky white thread ' if it be lifted froru amount of ill-treatment. 'rhough accus its sandy en'"ironment. These threads tomed to the fresh sea-water brought to attach themseh·es to an~·tbing they com~ them by each successive tide, they en in contact with. and serve as anchors tu joy the. glare of the hot sun when left enable the beast to reco,·er its equili exposed; lying with their convoluted brium when o,·erturned by untoward ,·alves ag·ape, they close up with a snap cir<'umstanccs. such as an unduly largP only when alarmed, and at the same time breaker. squirt a jet of 'vater from their gill CL.UI ( Tridacna). chambers. Specimens torn from their On those part of the reef adjoining bases lived at least fifteen hours in the the ''olcanic rock at it~ southern and au·, and opened out freely again when northern ends. one finds many small placed in a tin of sea-water. Efforts clams, eight inches in length, which are to anaesthetise them by means of nap dwarf relatives of the giants whose thalene and fo11:malin were unsuccessful, valves are familiar objects in suburban and some lived in foul water for over gardens. They lie upon the flat sul' two days. Even forty hours out of face of the reef just in front of the their element was not fatal to them, THE AUSTHAL!AN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 37
T
A garden clea.ring in the shelter afforded by a banyan. Photo-E. A. Briggs. tboug·h the.v we1·e almost insensitive af their uo:)t. As the parasite tbri,·e . it ter their long eh-ought. increa e its stranglehold upon tbe sup porting tree, which is gradually em·e ROADS THROUGH THE FOREST. loped in a tangle of root-stems and dies. The shady paths winding over the is The wide-spreading branches of the now land are wonderfully beautiful, and established banyan likewise give off ad here and there present glimpses of the ventitious roots, which unite to form lagoon and the mountains wbich :uc flexible, rope-like stems fifty feet in rare pictur·es of delicate colour and length, and so strong that, wben no charm. Sometimes they pass througb thicker than a finger, they will bear forests of palms which wall them in ou one's weight. If these touch one another each side with a dense g-rowth in every they coalesce and so yru.·y greatl~· in stage, from the fresh young shoots just thicknes , '~·bile, once they have reached appearing above the g-round to the tall and become established in the ground, trees \vhose leaves form a canopy over they increase so rapidly in girth a to head, filtering· the sunlight to gleam on become indistinguishable from the pru· the shining green undergrowth. Ever~ ent trunk. now and again they pass under tbe B~· means of these root- tems, a ban arching limbs of a banyan, whose huge yan is enabled to spread itself o,·er a branches with th~ir queer root-stems in considerable area, which may be a tertwine like mighty serpents, and are couple of acre.:; in extent, and its trunks lost to sight in the scrub. ma~· be counted by the dozen. When its
TRA V"BTJLING TREES. older parts de<·ay and tbeir connecting bran<:he:: become severed, thE> original These Banya.ns grow downwards rather than up·wards as do most trees, tree 1s di ,·i :UOUNTAIX CLD[BlXG. oi hers bear great buuchc of red-ripe seed. T he rich black soil is in places so Two great bills rising abruptl~· from completely hidd.en by masses of the the sea to a beight of nearly 3000 feet. ,rounn· palms that we tread dozens of present imposing pre<~ipices . on e''.ery .r o them underfoot ,,·ith e\'ery step, while side, and fill the onlooker With adroua canes and vines greatly impede our pro tion. Together they form the grea~e.r gress. Great fungi larger than dinner part of the i land. and they ar_e so dlf plates project f rom the tree trunks, and .ficnlt of access that they remam to-da~· orchid.; and ferns cling to the rocky .just as when first seen by Li~ute~ant faces. Walls too steep to climb ba,e to Ball 130 yea1s ago. J\It. Lidgbud IS a be skirted, and a. rope tln·own oYer pro )\.I·amid risin o- hv a sue:c·ession of ter- 1 ._ ' b -. • jecting limbs assists us to scale some races to a razor-ba<·k, :250-:1: feet lll smaller cliffs. A small face, perhaps height. We stood upon its summit with forty feet high, overhung its base so one foot upon its eastern face and the that one climbed on the rope alone, and other upon the west, after a most ex looked down a slope so steep that a slip <'iting climb up its steep sides. would haYe ended in a tttmble seYen Leanng ea1·ly in the morning to hundred feet or more below. More a,·oid the heat, and carrying only our clambering up steep slopes and further tucker, we soon passed through the rock y faces, our bare arms becoming lower palm forest and .forced our way painfully scratched with the sharp tbrouo-h the tangle of dense under sword-grass, and we arrive at last upon growth and over rocky boulders, until the summit, wher e the keen fr esh breeze we attained the summit of the Round temper ed the br illiant sunshine, and Face. This is a wonderful over hanging fiJled us with a sense of utmost exhil precipice, perhaps 1800 feet abo,'e sea aration. level, which faces the setting sun. Ap proaching its edge. we sat down and RARE BIRDS. dangled our legs oYer the great space, As we dispose of our lunch, which bas and looked down between our feet upon perforce to be eaten dry, there being no (he forest far below. All around were water on the razor-back, we bear the impressi,~e cliffs and faces, some below sin ill cries of the rare Big-hill Mutton us and already negotiated, and others Bird:-; ( CEstrelata solanilri), wbich are above still to be climbed. Far dowll now, towards tlle end of 'Mru:cb, mating was the great Yerlic·al wall across tl1e within their bunows. The sound is a fac·e of which nms the ''Lower Road, .. high pitched chatter, somewhat 1·esemb itself 500 feet above sca-le,·el. but nov. ling shrill laughter, and coming from appearing as a gTeen track raised but out of the ea1·th is snggestiYe of moun little abo>e the white <:ombers breaking tain sprites deriding the ill\·aders of upon the reef below. \Ye look out to their solitude. 'Ye shout loudly, and sea upon an unbroken horizon where tbey answer us in all directions, but not e,·en the smoke uf a steamer may be we drag some of them f rom the burrows . ccn, so far are we Ollt of the b usy which a re -everywhere around us, anfl world. Almost below us is tbe southeru rudely dispel the fanc·y. The bunows <'nc1 of the coral-reef enc·losmg a broad are excaYated any"''hcrc on the steep lagoon. eYery rock and shallow of wltic·h slopes, and often e:¥lend se,·eral foot i..; laid out before u as on a map. under a rock or a palm root. \Ye Rose-white Tropic Hi1·ds, Phaeton rubn l'ound two birds in each of the bul'l'ows cuuda, with scarlet tail feather. , soar we investigated, but their sharp booked and wheel about their ne~ts on the gTcat beaks and their savage pec·ks did not c·Jiffs, flying with incredible ease ana encour age one to insert an a1·m into too rapidity in the high wind. many. Tbe birds were also to be seen Ascending again, we struggle through assemblinJ~ a1·ound the mountain tops an almost impenetrable forest of the any afte1 noon as they came in from Umbrella Palm, I/ou·ea ca·nterburya The " Lower Road " overlooks t he sea. breaking o::t the reef 500 feet below it. Photo-A. R.. McOulloch. them down by merely cooeeing to tbem. about 500 feet above the "·ater. ~Inch The sonud attracts their attention, and has been written about the dangers of they drop down to investigate, actu this so-called road, and those carrying ally crawling oYer one while endea,our hea,·y loads acro it must needs pick ing to ascertain its orig·in. Though they their steps carefully lest they losE- their are most plentiful near the mountain balance, and. slipping on the nanow tops, they also nest on the Lower Road greasy lope , fall headlong onto the and i~ a large patch qf sword-grass ou rocks below. If but lightly laden. how the Little Slope, which is almost at sea e,·er, the1·e is but little 1·isk, save from level. But they are restricted to the occasional stones loosened by goats two mountain areas, leaving the remain climbing on the clit't: edge, a thousand der of tlte island to other species. feet aboYe. The menac-e of loose stones THE LOWER ROAD. is not incon iderablc on the steeper To reach Mt. Gower, one must g·o by parts of the mountains, fo1· they not way of a long and rono·h track arouud only jeopardise one's safety by giving the eastern spurs of .l\It. Lidgbird, or way beneath tbe feet, but, tumbling over a picturesque and some,vhat hazar do'lvnwaJ:ds, may injure another of the do~s one, known as the Lower Road, party below. \Ye were f0l'tunate in which crosses the face of a precip)ec escaping an~· injuries from this cause, -!0 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUl\I MAGAZINE. but often watched ~mall boulders loosen the form and colour of its -flat back ed either intentionally or by accident, cause it to closely 11csem ble a small peb as they bounded downwards through tbe ble, it is Yery easily overlooked. As Ily air hundreds of rcet at a time, and menosO?'na lacust,ris) it was first recog crashed tbrough I be vegetation below. nised from Ne''' Ze~l l and. and was re From the time one lca\'es tbe sand garded as of interest chiefly because it stone of the lower-lying parts of the was the only fr-esh-water representative island, the whole journey to the hills of a common marine genus. L ater it and back lies O\'er basalt boulders, "·as reeogni ed f rom land-locked lakes which may be smooth and romHled ~ in Victoria and afterwards from Lord when worn by wnler, or rougll with Ilowe Island and Norfolk Island, to jagged points. trong boot- are all im getuer with its associate, tbe fresh portant, and if their soles be plentifully water shrimp Xiphocatis. ,... scattered 'With heavy nails, one is en How come these two to appear in the abled to secuxe a grip upon the stones, fresh-waters of such widely separated which is surprising lo those unused to localities? It might be supposed·. that such heaYy footwear. they spend some of their earlier stage::; The site chosen for our camp between in the sea, as do tbe eels, and that odd the Hills was near the bank of a ' 1run'' individuals have occasionally ch·ifted which either tric·kles or 1·ages down the from one locali~.f to another; but this Erskine \alley. according to the state suggestion is discounted by the fact that of the weather. It drops nearly a they occur in land-locked lakes and on thousand feet during its short rocky the top of Mt. Gower, to which access course of about half a mile, and tum from the sea is impossible. To suggest bles over faces some fifty feet high and that the crab and the shrimp ar.e sur so precipitous that we could not scale vivors of an ancien t fauna which passed them; occasionall~· it runs underground from one place to another by means of out of sight. Yet every pool in its old land-connections, long since disap course is the home of numbers of a peared, is equally unsatisfactory, for small shrimp (Xiphocaris). some tiny who can suppose that Norfolk Island crabs (Hymenosonta), and small eels and Yictoria, for example, have ever (Anguilla). How they eYer reached the been connected by even the most tor height of our camp, about 700 feet up, tuous of land bridges? That the eggs i a mystery. 'l'he eels perhaps utilised have been transported upon the feet of opportunitie to . kirt the faces af wading-bn'ds is open to the same objec forded by extra wet weather. when tion as the proposition that they have 'Water nms O\'er mo. t of the steeply been wind-born-e, an objection based sloping hill-sides. \\e bad e,·idence of upon tbe belief that such eggs would be their powers of travelling o,·er the land come drJ and wither during theu· pass when collec6ng some on the lower le,els; age. But this is mere conjecture, and when tlu·own out onto the bank of a whatever be the explanation of the oc creek, they wriggled throngh the dry currence of these two cr ustaceans in grass and fallen leaves as effective ] ~.. as fresh-waters so widely separated, it will would any snake. But tbe shrimps and form a chapter of fascinating interest. crabs could scarcely tra,•el in this way, and they could not possibly have so THE SUM:U:IT OF :1\IOUNT GOWER. reached the streams upon the top of Tbe top of Mount Gower is very dif :Mount Gower where we found them. ferent from that of l\Iount Lidgbird, be ing a comparatively flat area several FR'ESH-,L\TER CRt\B {JJymenOSO'Ina) . hunclred acres in extent. Two ''runs" 'l'his tiny crab is one of the most mys coo verge and disappear over the sheer t rious residents of the island. It lives cliffs, falling perhaps a thousand feet under the stones in the se,·eral streams into the Erskine V alley, the water trick anywhere from ea-level, as in the Big ling down them being supp!ied direct Creek. to the mountain tops. It plays from the clouds which so commonly en "possum" when di turhed, and as both velop the mountain tops. This area -TilE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 41 From the summit of Mt. Gower, one looks across the Erskine Valley to the precipitous faces of Mt. Lidgbird, and then over the lower lyine parts of the island. Nearly 3,000 feet below is the broad lagoon with its surf·capped reefs facing the west, while away to the north is the little group of islets known as the Admiralties. Photo-.\. R. l\!cCulloch. has been aptly described as covered sky, yet but sixty chains long at its base. wi tb a "Moss Forest." ~losses, lichens, Its upper slopes remain terra incog and climbing ferns of many kinds coYer· nita, none but a few su1Teyors ba\·ing the trunks of almost all the trees, while ever landed upon the roeks around its the ground is completely bidden under base. It is of mysterion origin, its a ~hick growth of sphag·num, except past history being difficult of compre where it has been cleared by wild pigs. hension, while mystery ,·eils its present, Looking downward over the sloping none knowing what may liYe upon the table-land from a central peak, one higher levels of its wincl-s,Yept fast sees a forest of tree-fer11s co,·ering nesses. ·we saw it again later after many acr.es, tbei1· feathery tops domin leaving the isfand. its jagged profile be ating all tbe other Yegetation. The ing clearly silhouetted with~~ the circle whole conjures up a mental picture of a of a rising moon, and the sight left us forest of the coal ag·es, ferns, mosses, pondering upon its obscurity. and palms, everywhere dripping with moisture direct from the d ouds which M.AGPIE~ . commonly cover them. While among the mountains we were Ftom a tree-top, 2840 feet above the cllarroed with the antics of a number of sea, one peers over a cliff to see the magp1es ( Strepera c r is .~a.lio) , which dis surf breaking upon Gower Islet, the covered us to be objects of great inte southernmost portion of the island. rest. First one and then another espied The lower portion of this cliff, known as us clambering laboriously up the steep the Big Slope, supports an abundance faces while the~- flew swiftly over the of palms from which seed is collected forest. Turning· sharply on their course in favourable weather, but its gTeate1· witb wonderful Yolplanes and di,·es, 'POrtion is inaccessible. Out in the they. settled in trees close by. , and, after oc~an , eighteen miles to the southward, eyeing· us intently "·ith their heads ~nd b1·illiantly illumir.ated in the morn cocked to one side. soon called up two mg sun, is a rocky cathechal-like spire or three more from the neighbourhood. known as 'Ball's P\'l'amid-a ninnacle We were often surrctm<~ed by small rising eighteen hundred feet i~to the parties of them, all absurdly curious 42 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. and often perched so close to us tba~ lous as they settled down fo1· the night. we might ha,·e knocked them over with Each one appeared to have something stitks. to say, and said it with a remarkable Occasionally we made nooses out of Yariety of notes, so that the '"hole val the roidribs ~f young palm leaYes, fas ley resounded with their melodious tening them to the ends of sticks a few squawks and gurgles. This was m feet in length. ·with these ''"e snared happy contrast to the pathetic silence mngpies and other birds h~· simply prevailing oYer the remainder of the pas~ing the noose over their heads. island, where the birds, once so numer while they pecked at it and expressed no ous. are now pnH'tically extinct. alarm until it pulled them from their perdu~s . \\e sometimes offered tlleu1 WOOD-HENS. a dead rat upon a stic•k. They ac cepted the gift with alacrity, perelnng The rare and unique Rails, known on upon lbc upheld stick and. sagaciously the island as \Yood-ltens ( Ocyd·romus proved to be equally cur pecking at. and loosening the strands .:>f syl,vest ris), ious, and came Lmrrying· out of the palm fibre we had tied around the bod,v. forest to investigate the cause of such Jtirst one and then another would tnke noises a · the tapping of two stones to gether, or the notes of a mouth-organ. Our first warning of their presence in the undergrowth was generally a tattled cry, somewhat resembling that of the common Guinea-fowl, which was apparently intended as a warning to all in the neighbourhood of the presence of strange beings. Picking up pebbles and tapping them upon tree-trunks or rocks, we soon saw the birds hastening towards us. E spying us within thirty yards or so, they advanced more cau tiously, but, if we remained still, ap proached sufficiently close to be snared with a palm-leaf noose. I tetheTed one by the leg to a stone in order to take its photogTaph, and its efforts to es cape atl racted tbe attention of anotber, which endeavoured to assist the captive Before they were destroyed by rats the birds were so tame that they could be snared with a by grasping its neck with its own long p.Um leaf noose upon the end of a short stick. bill an cl pulling with all its· strengtlJ. Photo-A. R. :UcCulloch. ~Iy presence with the camera within a tharge of it. each pursued by the rest: few feet caused them no concern, and but It" weight preYented them from car when the string· slipped from the stone, rying it far, which indicated that they they moved away without undue baste, will be inc·onsiderable as enemies of th~ perhaps discussing their strange ad rats whith ha,·e 1 ccently become suth a Yenture. plag-ue upon the i land. The yapping The woodhen's wings are so · small of a mall terrier lmnting ratf: at that it C'annot fly, but its strong legs tracted magpies from all arotmd. and ha,·e enabled it to ascend even the they chattered melodiously among them steep face'S of Mount Lidgbird, on tbe seh·es, regarcllel'l of the noise caused summit of which we found it. Its hy several enthusiasts, who ''erith sticks plumag·e is of a brown colour tinged and stones, assisted in dislodging the with green, which harmonises well with quarry. the dark brown earth and the green About sundown the magpies around fo1iage of the palm scrnb in which it our camp became particularly garru- wanders about, turning over leaves and THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 43 pebbles with its long grey bill in search fuscus), made tlle1r apvearance in the of food. garden clearing'S in hundreds e,·ery 'Ve saw several of its nests which e,·ening, and with the fantails (Rhipi were placed in sheltered crences among dura), even wandered througl.J the rocks or under trunks of fallen banyans. houses in search of insects and crumbs. They were composed of palm fibre with Cuggermerucks (Merula), and Sih·er a few leaves as lining, but none con eyes (Zosterops), played havoc m the tained eggs. W oodhens once roamed fruit trees, 'vhile Thickheads (Pachy plentifully over the whole island, but aephala), and a dozen others added to they have been steadily destroyed by the general chorus. Tlley were un cats and dogs, until they are now found molested save by each other, the resi only on the upper parts of the two dents o.f the island rarely distm·bing mountains auu in such inaccessible their harmony. To-day, however, the places as the Big and Little Slopes be ravag·es o.f rats, the worst enemy of neath the southern cliffs of Mount mankind, which have been accidf'ntally Gower. lt is very probable that they introduced, have made the note of a will not last even the1~e much longer bu·d rare, and the sight of one, save the owing to the ravages of the rats upon strong-billed .Magpie and the King their eggs, and it would seem that they fisher (Halcyon), e,•en t·arer. Within may well suffer the fate which has o"'er two years this paradise of birds has be taken most of the other land birds of come a 'vilderness, and tbe quiet of the island. death reigns where all was melody. One THE TRAGEDY. cannot see how the happy conditions are to be restored. The v~...~·y few birds re But two years ago the forest of Lord maining are unable to breE-d, being H owe Island was joyous with the notes either de,;troyed upon tbeir nests OT of myriads of birds, large and small driven from them by the rats, anrl the1r and of many kinds. Doves wandered eggs eaten. One can scarcely iiNtgine a fearlessly around one's feet on the main greater calamity in the bu:d world than roads, and the bush resounded witb this tragedy which has overt!lken tb~:: their cooing. Doctor Birds (Aplornis · OW:. ,.. · a\·ifauna 0f Lord Howe Island. The tangle of vegetation covering the greater part of the island has become the home of myriads of rats, which dnd in it an abundance of food and a sa.fe retreat from man and dogs. Photo-A. R. McOulloch. THE A UR'l'HALIAN M USEUM MAGA ZINE. \Yith the birds gone, inju1·ious insed indignation at our intn1sion, an d ever luwe increased unchecked, and are de dipping and snapp ing their sharp bills stroying the produce of tbe dand gar about our ears. At our feet thei1· brown dens. 11~ruit flie· ha\"e l'ULlCd u1e mottled e•,.e:soo la\'. in p rofusion e\er y - pc~H·hes, and <·aterpillar of many kind· where, whi le newly hatched chickenlS ~u·e stripping I he lea,·es ~rom shrubs anrl scuttled away in thousands into holes trees. The rat:. also eat the corn ere it or under the stunted bushes. tumbling 1 ipcns and extract tbe pulp from ban O\"Cr themseh·es and each other in t heir anas, pomegranates, and other fruits excitement. They \\·ere so n umerou s while they are hanging on the trees. that we found it difficult to walk Xothing is safe from their rapac·it~· . 311<1 without treading upon them, while lht! dire distress threaten the r esidents un slnill cries of then· par ents in t he air les· some un nspectecl eau e brings were almo t, deafening. L ooking about a reduction of the rats and an in ar ound, each member of the party co·uld crease of the insectivorous birds. be located by the thousando of birds abo\·e him, which, so soon as he had THE AD~!lR.\L'l'l: I LETS. passed, alighted again to seek out their On the nodh-ea tern side of the is eggs or young. 'fhis la!,t would seem land i a group of r o('ky i lets known to p re ent in uperable difficulties be as th~ Achniralhts. These are rugged, cause the eggs are seattered indiscrim1- The Admiralty I slets, from Ned's Beae diliicult of approach except m Yery na tely c,·erywhere, while t he squeak iu g c·alm weatuer, and of curiously fantastic chickens had become hopelessly con form, a great ca,·ern penetrating the f used in the scramble to a void us. Yet largest islet from side to side. The Ad each of the p arent birds app eared t u miralties are ,.i ited annually by count find either its own or some equally sat Ies · myriads of seabirds, which find isfactory offsp ring, gradually sorting thei1· i olation and inaccessibility excel tbem out of the con f usion, an d settling lent for the rearing of their yo•m g. down with them so soon as quiet wa~ Yisiting the islets in December, we regained. saw ('irc·ling and screeching about their The eggs of the Wideawakes (Sterna) nests innumerable birds, which became and tbe Mutton Birds (Puf!inus) , are more numerous and more excited as we gather ed in grea t ()uantities by the resi approached. Upon landing uod climb dents of the island, being excellent f or ing the low c·liffs, we were greeted by a the table, without a ny of that sti:ong <:loud of \Videawake Terns above our fl avour whieh commonly characterises heacl., all streaming and chattering wit11 !'t'abirds' eggs. It is said that a ny hird ~'HE AUS.rrRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 45 se deprived of its egg pTorlnces a se deep through the loose sand into t!Jeir ('ond, and the fact that some birds are excavations. much later than others in rearing their Y eru· after year these strange birds young, is thus accounted for. return to these pa1'ticular portions of Conspicuous among the numerous the island, and dig out afresh the deep birds are tbe Gannets (S,ula), whose burrows in which to lay their eggs. \Ve large white fo1·ms are to be descried were assured by some residents of the island that the same burrows are ex cavated annually, even though all traces of them be remon!d between the breeding seasons. Should one be ex cavated in a position where it is not wanted, as for example, in the centre of a vegetable garden, it is said to be necessary to destroy the parent birds which excavate it to ensure its final elimination. Strange as this suggestioii may seem, there is much c,·idence to support it. For example, I he grotmds are sharply defined, whet her tbey be A Gannet and its young. in the palm forest, in open grass, iu Photo-E. R. Waite. the undergrowth of ''ines, or among sword-grass. There is no unifo;·mity of everywhere. They exhibited but little conditions, yet the same sites are Hlgn coucern at our presence, though if dis larly inhabited by tbe birds as eacb turbed they readily show-ed fight with breeding season approac·bes. They eri their powerful beak~. At such times dently Teturn to nest in the localitie::; t.b.ey t: od c:. uelly upon their poor half with wbich they are familiar, and per fledged young, whicb abo praYed well baps the young birch follow the oldel' capahle of defending tbemse l ve~ . Some times ~be parent biHls would su:·prise ns by clisgol'ging one or e,·en two lmlf djgested :fiying·-:fisb or macke1·el, wh1Qh, as they were about a foot long, made us wondei· whel'e they had been stowed. Graceful little Blne-billie::; nested Oil the cliffs, while such low "sJU'ubs and sticks as existed wel'e ::;eized upon by the Noddies for the support of their grassy nests. To seaward ·we obsen ·etl a long· black ribbon of Mutton Bil'ds, spending the daylight hours eollecting food for themselves and their hungry young-which set us wondering how many tons o£ fisb and drift-life mnst be consumed daily to support the myriad inhabitants of the Admiralties and the Boatswain Birds a.nd Blue-billies nest in main island. thousands on the high cli1fs of the North Ridge. Photo-.\.. R. Mc0u1loch. "'IU'rTON BIRDS. In the seclusion of the dt'nse palm ones when their breeding- time ap forest on the eastern side of the main proaches; and they are doubtless not island arc the "Mutton-bu·d Grounds," averse to utilising an old burrow if tbey where th-e burrows 0 e t·hese bircls are so finll it vacant, in _ p1·efe1,·ence to the numerous that one cannot walk amon2.' labour of excaYatirig new ones for them them without constantly sinking knee- selves. 46 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSE UM 1\"IkGAZ'LNE. The burrows of the Mutton Birds riddle the sandy soil beneath a for est of palms and banyans so dense that it has been named the Valley of t he Shadow of D ~tb . Photo-A. R. McCulloch. \\e paid a visit to one of the :Mutton sen·ed that the birds often approached bird ground one eYening to watch the as though to alight, and then sueerec. birds come in from the sea to feed off again a'S they observed us. As the their young. Arriving about an hour light waned, bowe,·er, I he.v became less after sunset. we observed them wheel timicl, and soon ch·opped down into the ing and circling in hundreds over the gra_s nearby. Upon first coming to palm forest. They were perhaps iden ca1th, they squatted down as though tifying the locations of their particular their legs were too weak to support bunows, a we obsen·ed one to swoop them, but soon turned in the direction downwards e\'ery few moments and elLs of their burrows and floundered clum appear among the maze of branches. sily off towards them, fluttering their 1'hough there was but little light, the wings and waddling with their short birds could bC' clearly seen against the leg~ . Through the dense sword-grass or moonlit ~ky. 'J'hey uttererl no sound a-; along well beaten tracks they were in they new, .but tbe -swish of their motion tent only upon reaching· their nests. less wing:01 through the air when they \V e chancerl to be in the ·way of several swooped close over our heads, recalled which waddled and fluttered up to ns, the whir of aeroplanes. We had sta squatting every few yards as though un tioned ourselves at an open area where certain about such unusual obstacles in burrows were plentiful, ancl we ob- their path. We remainNl c;fill. hnw- THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 4'7 ever, and they either floundered arotmd How does a Mutton-bird find its owti us, or even tried to pass between us. particular nest? Even when circling Soon they reached their burrows, and rapidly over the palm forest each must we heard out of the darkness the most surely find some little difficulty in locat beart.-rending· cries and wailings as ing· the particular area in which its though a lmndred lost souls were be burrow is situated, and after dropping moaning their fate. We were told tbat down into the pitchy darkness, it must this is merely the mother bird's invtta have trouble in clistinguishing its own tion to her offspring to come out of th<; burrow from the others everywhere bul'l'O\\' to be fed, and certainly th<' around. The observation of em·iron wailing wa-:; often rudely intenuptetl, ment and sense of direction must be as though the baby birds had forced perfectly developed m these birds. their hungry bills deep down into their When we remember that they spend motiJcrf'' tln·oats. But tbere was not the day in the glaring sunshine on the light enough to see what was happen, open ocean, feeding and eollecting food ing, and only the awful cries of the for their young, and know that they birds everywhere iu the scrub indicatt'd find their way after darK through th~ their presence aH around us. On the thickest forest to their nests, we can only seaward sides of these e>..-tensive breed marvel at the g1·eatly developed faculties lDO' oTounds we observed "runs'' tbroubo-b which enable them to carry out both -'=' b tbe grass and undergrowth \vhich led equally well. to slopes from which the birds take Having· fed their young, the parent flight. As their long wings prevent birds are supposed to rest during the them from rising from the g1·ound, tbey night and make off to sea again at ba,·e to spring from a sloping face into dawn, the young being generally, if not the air. All such slopes are therefort always, left alone during the day. rsached by well defined tracks formed by About April, the young birds are cover the constant passage of the birds froru ed with a wealth of bluish-grey down. the forest to the sea. Such tracks may which is so plentiful as to make them be tram pled clear of all growths for a appear larger than their parents. At distance of twenty yards or more, and this time they become very fat, and they encl abruptly at the taking-off many are collected by the residents for point. table purposes. Standing upon Ma.labar H ead, one l ooks sout h ward over t he greater par t of Lord Howe I sland. Photo-A. R. MoCullocb. 48 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. The Depths of the Sea. BY CHARLES HEDLEY. To a man vie\'ling the open ocean for who cannot see, nmst feel hls way, so the .first time probably its roost strik naYigators feel their way to tbe depths ing feature would ue tile le,·el of its of the sea with !)Ounding line and ther wide expanse. And when he tl10ught mometer. of t!Je land that lies under that water Before the impulse of tile hade be might naturally imagine the bed of '"inds the surface ot the sea is pushed the sea as expanding in a plain like .away f rom the equator and is driven on the surface. to form i'reat warm currents lil blind for want of light to see by, the bottom, his corpse is probably others have acquired great !:!taring eyes crushed by the tremendous pressure to to use the least glimmer of lig·bt. It the size and semblance of a folded um follows that in the remotest ocean brella. A popular error supposes that depths some kind of light exists for the force of gravity is inert at the bot the use of the gog·gle-eyed fishes, and tom of the sea, that ships, men, and this is probably phosphorescent. When guns can sink only to a certain depth, animals are drawn in a trawl from where they are su ·pencled each at its deep water to the surface, they glo\" particular sh·atum of density. But brilliantly. It may be that t.beir J1ome reaJly e,·erything that is dropped into on the sea floor is as brightly illumi the sea from a feather to an anchor nated as a city street 0 11 a holiday sinks at last, some in a few minutes, night, that the1·e th~ prawns twinkle others in a few dayfi, to the bottom of like stars, great fish flame like torches the sea. Only by slow degreeR, lasting und medusre g·low like arc lights. over many generations, can any kind Three conditions in which the depths of animal migrate to or f rom the of the sea differ from the world of dry abyss. An i11diYidual that passed up- As a. dweller in the abyss this fish has acquired the folloWing notable features; large staring eyes for peering into perpetual gloom; long needle teeth useless for biting or fighting but used to guide helpless prey down its throat; a small, weak tall that is deficent in propulsive power, though strong enough for the gentle life of the great depths. Urawm~-A. lt. McUuHoch. land are tbe cold, the darkness and the wards would burst, and one that passed pressure. Both cold and darkness can downward would be cru hed. Still, be readily imagined from human ex when any species of animal has at last perience, but pressure is a factor whose grown accustomed to t he pressure, it features cannot be so easily r~alised. is probably less inconvenienced by it It has been calculated that the pres~ than by the cold ot· by the darkness. A sure in ocean d epths, from the weight fish drawn in a net f rom the abyss to of the water aboYe, is more than two the surface is a sorry sight; by de and a half tons to the square inch, a compression it has been, as it were, ex greater pressure than there is in the ploded, the eyes are blown out of the boiler of a steam engine. When the head, the Yiscera burst from the mouth, body of a sailor buried at sea reaches and the body is inflated like an air its final 1·esting place in the ooze at cushion. Its flesh is loose and flabby, 50 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE . but when it was alive, under tbe pres forcing gas into it under pressure; sure from which it was so sucldenl_y 1·e· when the soda \Vater is poured out, the least-d, its ti ·sue may have beE>n as gas, being suddenly r&leased from pres fit·m and den e as a piece of rope. sure, effervesces violently. In a similar The·e deep-water fishe are liable to a way when a tliYer descends, gases strange and paradoxieal fate; they from the air he breathes, at a pressure alone of all things in the world may ronesponding to the depth reached, eome to their death by tumbling up are foreed into his blood. When he wards. By expansion and contraction ascends, the pressure ciiminishes, and of their swim bladder, fi h control their the released gases tend to effervesce meYemeuts and balance. If an abyssal as in the case of the soda-water dis fish should chanC'e to mount too high charged from the siphon; should a bub in pursuit of g·ame. the swim bladder ble thus burst from the blood into the may expand beyond control of the mus brain or spinal cord, paralysis at once cles; then its fate is sealed. for the O('CUTS. Fra.<>tical divers treat paralysis helpless creature, swollen to bursting, hy repacking the sufferer in his dress, is carried higher and higher, even lowering him to his for mer depth, hop through miles of water, to the surface. ing thus to r<'dnce the bubbles, and drawing him np again very gradually. A prudent diver ascends from great depths slowly and rests at various stages. It is considered, but this is a point not yet decided, that the animals of the sea li,·e either about the m·face, or on and near the bottom, and that the in termediate spac·e, whieh may be mile~ deep, is almost batTen of life. The pelagic fauna is that which floats at, or near the surfac-e, and is totally different from either that which lives on the sea floor, or that which inhabits the beach. A Filh that has suftered ''decompression.'' A gla.uce over the oeean from the deck After being drawn suddenly from a great depth of a ship might conn?y the imp ression t o the surface, the body was burst by release of pressure, so that the entrails protrude from that the sea is indeed the "waste ot the mouth, the eyes start out from the head, wate1·s" that it has been ralled, that, and the belly is much distended. From Perriel' 's "L<>s Explor:ll ions sous mn.rins." but for an ocrasional albatt·oss or por poise, it is a lifeless desert. But the The 6rst of the deep-sea fauna seen by presence of such Yoracious animals as naturalists consisted of such deeom porpoises and albatr-<> ses are indica pres ed fish found stranded on the tions of an ample food supply. Though beacb or 'floating on the surface. myriads of m1imals are always afloat on It is pressure that makes diving so the surface of the sea. they fail tv dangerous an occupation. Some of the catch the eye of the traveller, for. smartest of the South Sea Islanders either they are Yery ~ma ll , or trans are said to swim down for seventv or parent, or disguised by their blue col eighty feet, and di\'ing in a ch-ess --with our. In rain or hot sunshine some of an air pump has with great care been the pelagic fauna may ·ink a little dis successfully accomplished down to two tance for shelter beneath the surface. hundred feet. But the divers who, B ut after dark no one would make tempted by great reward, ,·enture much the mistake of calling the sea lifeless. past a depth of 20 fathoms are liable An approach by night to a big city is to be pulled up in a paralysed <'Ondi marked by the appearance of a long tion. The clanger lies not in the de anay of l ig-hts; since ea<>h individual scent, as would be anticipated, but in light is evidence of the care of a bumart the ascent. In the familiar soda-water band, every sparkle in the dark repre siphon, the water has been cbargecl by sents a life. H ad some pestilence sud- THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 51 clcnly destroyed tLe citizens no light among ,·ast masse of floating seaweed would shine there. At sea there an.: in what is now known as the Sargasso few nig·hts when phosphorescent lights Sea. Either Columbns exaggerated bis do not glow nnd g-limmer where tbe adventme, or he was unlueky in en \Ya ve rolls back from the ship's stem countering an unusual pack, for modcn~ and in the city of the sea each light al~ seamen IJave not found tLe weed to ex so counts for a life. Sometimes, tend so continuously as he repoTted, or though rarely, the whole sea may be to constitute a real impediment to na•~ seen ablaze with phosphorescence, and gation. Each branch of this floating the waves rolling in a broad sheet of weed provides a home for a swar.m {).i: golden light. crabs, pHtwns, fub, and molluscs. At Most of the animals that shine thus rest and clinging to the w·eed these eau by night are transparent creatures look scarcely be detected ; w ben disturbed they ing like little lumps of jelly. How aucl may make temporary mistakes in ht.UT)ing why this light is produced is not fully back to shelter, so that a white-cllt understood. Since fish avoid a net quel·ed crab may eroucb on a dark baCJt smeared with phosphorescence, it may gronnd. But after a few minutes' peace be that the owner of a phosphorescent they sort tbemsel ''es iuto their proper torch thus makes a sign threatening biding places and again become invis predatory animals that it can sting, Ol' ible. has some other disagreeable or un These surface animals have been no "·bolesome quality. ticed at some length heeause of their Even in daylight and at a di!:itancc the pelagic life sometimes ma~1 be seen plainly, in the form of long streaks of scum or discoloured wate1·; such are known to sailors as "whale food.'' Tht:: Red Sea and the Yellow Sea were so named from the ch'ifts of coloured srum seen the1·e by early explorers. If some of the stuff be fished up with a bucket and magnified with a microscope, it is seen to c01isist largely of a sea weed called Trichodesma, looking like little bundles of chopped hay. A multitude of tiny creatures subsist upon thi~ T·richodesma and similar plants, the growth of which is extremely rapit1, and upon such animalculre the larger animals feast in their turn. Even the whale, that monster of the deep, comes to enjoy the bounteous spread. Whales are divided into twv great groups, the toothed whales ancl the whale-bone whales; the toothed wh~les, the least of which are Jrnown as porpoises, tear their prey in t heh powerful jaws, as wolves or tige1·s do on land. But the whale-bone whales are not adapted for hunting, they feed more leisurely by gulping great mouth fuls of floating· stuff, straining out the water through their whale-bone filte1·, An abyssal Sponge. Delicate meshes of glassy and swallowing the solids left. spicules constitute a. skeleton supporting the When Chl'istopher Columbus sailed soft tissues of the animal, and the mop of 1lowing fibres serves as a root to anchor it in on his famous voyage of discovery to the mud. America, his ship became entangled From Perrier's ''Les ExJ>\oratlons sous marins. '' 52 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. importance to the fauna in the depths direct!~, for the ,·egetarian eat the of the sea. On land, plant occur al plants and the carnivores eat the vege mo t eYerywbere and support the ani tarians. Now plants cannot exist with mal population either directly or in- out lig·ht, so that, where the sea is dark from depth, there vegetation fails com pletely. But for the surface fauna and flora the creatures on the sea floor would stan·e when they passed the limit. of plant growth. The abyssal fauna is, howe,er, abundantly fed, as the wandering hosts of Israel were fed by a daily rain of manna. V\Then the whales, the fish, the crabs, and tiny things innumerable have lived their lives in the sunshine above, theu· carcasses sink fast or slowly to the floor of the sea, and provide bounteous meal~ for the exiles in the dismal, freez ing depths belo'W. Food here literally -. drops into the mouths of the eaters, here are neither hunters nor hunted, bere is abundance of space .and susten acee for all. Life at the bottom of the sea if dreary is at any rate peaceful. The clash of war, the fierce struggle for ~.xistence is unheanl, unfelt in these clllm depths. In the abyss tbere is n~ need to hide nor are there any hiding A Sea.·Lily. These llower·animals of the ocean place . Defenceless creature~ could not grow in dense fields on the door of the deep here find any sheltering· tufts of weed, sea; their roots are fixed in the ooze, above which the slender, jointed stalks rear for any nooks or crannie!;l in the rock. Nor about two feet, and spread into graceful petals. These wave about seeking for victims to en in the darkness is there any need for fold and devour. In marble slabs are often those quaint disguises or mimicry by seen the fossil stems of encrin.ites, simUa.r creatures that lived in past geological ages. whi<'lt snrface animals escape their From Perrier' s • 'Le~> ExJ>Iorations sous marins.'' foes. ·I A "BROODY'' RABBIT.-'l'he best trying another hatching· operation. way to neutralise a pest is to utilise it, They have placed two bantam's eg·gs and a new way to turn our harmful, in the same nest. The same rabbit unnecessary rabbit to good account has taken to these eggs, and only leaves the eggs to take its food, return will be of interest to the man on the ing at once to the ne t." Now all that land. The strange beha,•iour of a rab is necessary is to carefully select a bit described in Kature, of Jst l\Iarch, number of mbbits with the hatching 1900, may point the way to a new habit well developed and segregate avenue of usefulness for the rabbit. them; after a few rabbit generations "Last year, in an aviary in one of have come and gone, a company could the wards of the Caterha~ Asylum, a be formed to supply poultry farmers wild rabbit turned a dove off its nest with rabbit incubator!'. 'rhe incident and sat on two do,·e's eggs until they is curious, if true, and, as Mark Twairi were hatched. This .vear the nurses are would say, it is curious anyway. THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 53 Some Large Non-Venomous Snakes and their F ood. J. RoY KINGIIORK. It is well known that snakes can hornet." lts weight was so much that swallow large animals, but a photo he was compelled to leave his rifle am- graph of such an event is rare indeed, muruhon. . and several kangaroo 'skins and it is through the kindness of the under a bush until morning, but even editor of the "North Queensland Regis then it was not without many rests ter," and the "World's News,'' and the that he at last reached his destination, photographer, Mr. W. E. Stirling·, that where be placed the snake in position I am able to reproduce the accompany and took a photograph with ti.Je result ing illustration of a Queensland rock shown in the illustration below. When python which !Jad just made a meal of cut open its stomach was found to con a wallaby. Mr. Stirling informed me tain a wallaby quite as large as a full -.. North Queensland Python (Python amethystinus) after having swallowed a wallaby. Photo--W. .t:. Stirlmg. that while he was out shooting kanga grown sheep dog; it was squeezed into roos in the roug·h country which forms a very compact mass and was quite portion of Ranger's Valley Station, fresh, having evidently been eaten only Kymna, Queensland, he noticed.. the a day or so ...w:eviousl:y. There were no head and neck of a snake protruding gases present, and the bulge shown in from a hollow among some large boul the picture was entirely filled by the ders. He was using a powerful .44 wallaby.,., \Yhen measured, the python Winchester at the · time, and one ··Shdt · was found to '6e a little over 12 feet in through the reptile's neck qt1ickly de length, and I might add that, although spatched it, after which he proceeded large, its size is by uo fucans out of the to drag it out into the open, where he ordinary, as this ~"Pec-ies has been rt:: found it to be distended to an enOl· corded up to a length of nearly 20 feet, mous size as the result of a banquet. while a cast in the 1\fuseum reptile gal Mr. Stirling· quickly decided that a lery measures 17 feet 2 inches. photograph would be both interesting The question immediately arises as to and necessary as a permanent record of bow snakes manage to swallow such his find, and, as his camera was at camp lal'ge animals, a.nd the answer will be almost a mile away and the daylight found in the following lines. fading, he had to make a swag of his When a python catches its prey if prize and "take the mountain to Ma- kills it by strangulation or constrictim •. 54 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. This the snake accomplishes by throw I believe that they di<>d soon after ing successive coils of its body rouno wards. the Yictim and constricting its muscles; It may be interesting to note antl this action reduces the victim to a com compare the lengths of some of the parati,,ely soft mass. which the snake best known snakes, and the following commences to swallow, almost in,·ari are authentic rec01·ds c.f the measur~ ably commencing with the head. as. ir ments of the five largest species, to swallowed tail f01·emost, the hair of a gether with the boa constrictor and the mammal, or the feathers of a bird would diamond and carpet snake. cause considerable impediment during R-egal or Retieulated Python (Py the passage down the throat. The pro thon reticulatus) ...... 30ft. cess of swallowing is necessarily shw, Indian Python (Python molur- and would be much ~l ower were it not us) ...... 25ft. for the great quantity of saliYa that is Anaconda (Eunectes murinus) . . 22ft. excreted OYer the body of a victim, and Afriean Python (Python sebae) . . 18ft. for the fact that the teeth, which art N. An ·tralian Rork Python (Py- sharp and numerous, are curved down thon am.gth ystin·us) ...... 19ft. wards and backwards, their points be Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor) 13ft. ing directed down the throat. After a Carpet Snake (Python .spilotes v a•r. large meal such as the one shown in the va riegata) . . 11ft. ar(·ompan;ving illn tration. a python re- Diamond Snake (Python spilotes) 9ft. Carpet Snake (Python spilotes var. va.riegatus) . Photo-J. h Kmglwrn. mains in a state of semi-torpor fo1· The unofficial record of the length o·f- an many days, not re-awakening again to anaconda is 33 feet. active life until digestion has been com- All these snakes are non-venomous, pleted. They can exist for periods of and kill their prey by strangulation; se\'eral months between meals, and this their food is variable, mammals, birds, no doubt is a very valuable asset, e:s- or 1·eptiles being included in the menu pecially in times of famine. as the occasion offers. The London, Adelaide, an.tl. "'l\fel- - The carpet snake and tbe diamond bourne Zoos can each boast of a python snake are very well known in A.ustra which swallowed its bed. In the latter. lia, more especially in the eastern por one winter a few years ago, a blanket tions of the continent, and they are both was put into a large python's cage to very closely allied to tbe ··Queensland keep it warm, but e\idently the snake species. was ignorant of the method of domestic Notwithstanding· the fact that most bed making, and, instead of wrapping people look upon all snakes as enerrues, itself up in the blanket, it reversed the the carpet and tbe diamond snakes are p1·ocess and wrapped itself round the the friend~ of the farmer throughout blanket, and I believe that it is sti11 tbe country as their food consists living-although its digestion must mainly of t·abbits and rats, and it is for have been ruined. I am not certain as this r~ason that the writer would .a.dvo to the fate of the other two !makes, but cate protection for them. As a matter THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 55 of fact it is not ,·ery long since the far Poultry-eating snakes an: ln<'kily rare, ~:t:s of a certain district on the N ortb and they generally pay tne penalty. l Coast of New South Wales applied for know of one diamond :'nake wbich en a period of protection to be proclaimed tered a poultry xun near Sydney, and, for these two snakes, as it was proYed after eating a plump fowl, found that beyond doubt that they kept tlie rabbit pest well under. These snakes are sel it added proportion would not allow dom found doing damage around settlea it to escape tlnough the wire netting; parts when wild game is available, but, in the morning it wa found coiled up when they do trespass, it is only natu asleep, and the farmer made sure that ral that the poultry yard suffers. it would neYer wake again. Spiders, Poisonous and Otherwise. BY A~THONY M csGRA ,.E. The Huntsman Spider1 l soped.a vil ing guard O\~er its white egg-sac, it Josa, or, as it is mo1·e popularly called, sometimes invades house on the ap the "triantelope," is a creature familiar proach of wet weather, and its giant to all Australians. Though usually and hairy form causes trepidation fotmd lurking under the bark of trees, amongst the feminine oc<·npants there where it may frequently be seen mount- of. Certainly one can hardly help be b·aying an involuntary shudder at the tboug·ht of such a repulsive looking creature falling clown the back of one's neck. 'Yith crab-like gait, it ascends the walls and explores the ceiling in search of flies, and, if unmolested, does good work in ridding the house of these noxious insects. Though the "triante lope,'' like alt other spide1·s, is equipped with poison glands, there is little likelihood that the smaU amount of venom it ec1·ete- in order to kill its prey could seriously ati<>c·t a human be ing. The similarity of the name ''t rian telope" to those of the well known aru mals tarantula and antelope suggests that this spider is a hybrid between the two, in which case, it is, like the ma jority of Australian vernacular names, grossly misleading. N ear l ~· all la1·ge spiders are dignified with tbe name tarantula. and are credited \nth those poisonous qualities which ha,·e made the European species renowned in story and legend. The true tarantula does not occur in Australia, howeYer, nor does it belong to the same family as the triantelope, though its genus Lycosa.J is well r epre sented here. The south of Europe, par Tria.ntelope (l soped a villoea) with egg sac on ticularly the ru·ea bordering the Medi a piece or b ark. p),olo-C. Clutton. terranean, is the honie of the tarantula, 56 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM NIAGAZINE. and it is from tbe town of Taranto in tbe effect of working tbe poison out of Southern Italy, where it commonly o<.: his system. This choreographic re curs, that the spider has deri,·ed its medy ga,·e rise to the dancing mania popular name. Like the h·ap doo} known as Tarantism, which spread like spiclers it liYeS in an tmderground tun an epidemic o,·er Europe during tbe nel, to which, boweYer, it does not at Middle Age~ , and finds its parallel in tac·h a lid or trap door. The tunnel i the jazz craze of the present day. The lined with silk, and there the tarantuln tarantella. a dan(•e performed by the awaits the insects unfortunate enough people of Southern Italy, is said to be to walk into its parlour. Its dwelling a relic of that which gave relief to the thus differs from that of tbe triante victims of the tarantula's bite. lope, the home of which is usually be, The widely distributed Red Backed neath the bark of trees. The tarantula Spider (Latrodectus hasseltii), though is certainly poisonous, though the toxic small in size, is certainly harmful, and qualities of its poison have probably we may reg·ard it at> our most poisonous been exaggerated. It is, howeYer, said species. The bite of this spider causes to be capable o£ inflicting a seYere great suffering, and some weeks may bite, and among the superstitious Latin elapse before the "ictim quite re peru ants it was regarded with ch·ead. coYers from its toxic effect~. Up to the They believed that if a person was present, no death has been reco1·ded as bitten by a tarantula, his nervous a result of its bite, and Dr. Frank system was rendered abnormally Tid well, after a number of experiments sensitiYE' by the po1son, and he conducted at the Board of Health, Syd ank into a lethargy~ from which he ney, writes "The results may . . . be could only be aroused by the playin~ taken as indicating the improbability of of music. This caused him to execute a fatal issue from poisoning by Latro a wild and fn•nzied dance, '"hich bad cl.gctus has eltii." - Profe sor W. K. Gregory and .M:r. ing everything possible to save the H. C. Raven, of the American Museum unique animals of Australia from ex of Natural History, New York, are at tinction, aucl during his short stay in present in Aush·alia with the object of Sydney, Prof~ssor Gregory found time stu<.l~·ing our fauna and sectui.ng ma to deliver in our Lecture Hall a de terial for the projected Australian Hall lightful address on "The Australian in that great museum. Tbey are mak marsupials, and why they are worth ing this museum their b~adquarters, protecting," a subject on which he also and with characteristic enero-yo. ba,·e es- addressed an influential audience m ~ablished a collecting camp near Ebor, Brisbane, under the auspices of the lD the N'ew England dish·ict, where ~fr. Field Naturalists' Club. "\\e hope to Ra,·en will remain for about two publish the substance of bis lecture in months. Profcs or H. F. Osborn, Pre our next number. Professor Gregory sident of the American Museum. wbo has now gone to Tasmania, and intends is deeply interested in questions of to pay short visits to l\1elboume and fauna! conservation, instructed our Adelaide, returning to Sydney towards vi. itors to impress upon the Austra the end of August, prior to his depar lian public the great desirability of do- ttue for the States. THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. 57 Quaint Crustaceans. BY F. A. McNETLL. Among the less highly organised Sargasso or Gulf-weed Crab and try to members of the various groups of ani throw some light on this subject. As mals we will often find curious and its name (Planes) implies, it is essen wonderful adaptations, whilst deeds of tially a wanderer, being fotmd in all great perseverance are of no less fre warm and temperate seas, associating it quent occurrence. Many of the crab!S self with fioating inanimate objects, and is often found on the carapace or shell of large marine turtles. It never approaches land except as the result of misadventure, when it is often unfor tunate enough to be cast asho1·e by heavy seas, and is not uncommonly found on the beaches near Sydney, to gether with the barnacle-covered beam~:> or driftwood which it had selected as its ocean residence. At the mercy of the currents in the open ocean, one in di,·idual of this small species may, in all p1·obability, circumna,;gate tbe globe, rivalling any repre entative of its kind in the extent of its b·a,·els. It is re corded that the strictly pelagic habits ot the Sargas o Crab decei,·ed Columbus during the .first voyage he made on i.he discovery of the West Indies, by con "incing him that its presence on the rargasso Crab on ftoating weed. Sargasso weed (Sm·gasso bacciferu,nt) Photo-(). (Jlutton. floating on the sea denoted the proxim ity of land. It is probable, boweve:t, are highly specialised in these directions, that the great discoverer utilised the and some cases are quoted below. crab's preRence as an argument to en As an instance of how far some crab!:> courage his despairing sailo1·s, and it travel, and to what extent they wander, was not quite so much to the point as we can take the distribution of the little the sailo1· appear to haYe thought it. ---- 3 2 The Marsupial Crab; fig. 1, is a dorsal view of the female, 2; times natural size; fig. 2 is a side view of the female, showing the pouch-like abdomen filled with eggs; fig. 3, ventral view of female to show the great lateral exp a.nsion of the abdomen; fig. 4, dorsal view of .male, 4i times natural size. Drawmg--.1:<'. A. Mc.NeiJI. 58 THE AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM MAGAZINE. Columbus had other and more satisfac growths intermingled with the branches, tory reasons for his own confidence. inside of each of which may be found On account of its oceanic life, one imprisoned a female crab. '!'he males, might suppose this little creatm·e to be on the other hand, are comparatively one of the swimming crabs, which have minute, but are active and free-living. specially adapted paddle-shaped limbs. They may often be seen clinging· to the This is not so; but the Sargasso Crab is branches of the coral if this latter is withdrawn quickly from the water. ln tlleir younger stages the female Mar supial Crabs, like tile males, are free living; but they soon settle down upon some coral colony, and so irri~ate the living polyps that they gTow abnor mally, and produce the extraordinary structm·e which thenceforward forms the home of the crab. Its formation is largely controlled by means of certain complicated water currents set up by the breathing of the crab. By this means a 3afe retreat is provided for the crusta~ean, though the gall also be comes .its prison, for the eoral grows completely 1·ound it and leaves only small , openings through which the water currents pass. These c·arry both food and oxygen to tbe imprisoned crab, which remains for the rest of its life within the gall. The males, however~ Gall on a coral colony; this is caused on account of their small size, are en by the irritation set up by the female marsu pial crab, which becomes enclosed in the gall. abled to gain access to the females by 1Jraw1ng- .\. R. 1\icCulloch. passing in and out of the openings of tbe galls. The young· hkewise escape ne,•ertheless enabled to move freely through the same apertures. throug·h the water from one object to another by means Qf closely-packed: SHELL-CASTING IX CHUS'l'ACEANS. rows of fine hairs or ciliae arranged 1\Iany people know that a crustacean along each border of tLe limbs. Another casts its shell, but few are aware of the adaptation is seen in the sh·ucture of process by which this is accomplished. the terminal joint o~ each walking leg. Further, it will be news to those wh<> This is triangular in shape, and il1 ba\·e not thought on the subject, that armed with hooked spines, giYing the this so-called shell represents the ani nab a foothold from which it is not mal's skeleton, w l!ich, unlike tbe skele <>a siiY di~lodged. tons of most other animals of our ac quaintance, is mainly external, and en MARSUPIAL CRAB. closes the soft holly of the cnntacean. One of the most curious adaptations This skeleton is composed of a hard anrl one of the strangest places of abode substance ealled chitin, which resembles i:.; ~<>en iu the case of the Marsupial horn, and is deposited in the outer C' rab (Hapalocarcinus marsupialis), Jaye1· of the skin, whe-..e it forms a whieh deri,·es its name f rom the likeness firm armour to protect the body, eyes,. it.;; abdomen bears to a pouch. This antennae and legs. With a little ima 11ighly specialised crustacean occurs on gination, we can liken this covering to the reefs off many parts of the tropical the jointed armour WOl'U by the knights Queensland coast, assoCiating itself of olden times, co n si~tin~· as it rloes of with delicate-limbed corals. Its pre a number of plates moulded to the form sence on the coral colonies is indicated of the wearer's body, and unitecl With b~· the occ-urrence of basket-like bulbous one another by flexible joints. Bnt if THE AUSTR""~LIAN MUSEUM :MAGAZINE. 59 a. knight had beeu placed in arm..Ju,· a.; discarded one, hardens sufficiently to a baby, be woultl ilave had to cilang The Welcome Stranger Nugget. BY THE EDI'l'OR. 1'he article entitled "The Lure of tbe to11 g h p Jle of box, <1nd witl1 a migbly Big "'ugget," wlticl1 appeared in t be heave the boulder was t urned o\·er on la t issue of this magazine, attracted its back and the n.;tonished men saw the attention of .Mr. A I fred Argles, who that its under . m·face was a mass of wa ~ present when the nugget wa un gold. For some time D eason and Oates earthed, and in a most interesting let were so stunned that they wer e i ncap ter he has r~:woured us with a. detailed able of s peech. accotmt o[ its fimling. At that time he B ut their troubles wer e uot y et over, wa ~ a boy of ten, and for some time for they had not pegged ou t tbe g roun d, prior to tl!e great event be had been aml their miner's rig·bts bad h1psed employed '·to driYe the bor e and turn and the.v bad n o m on ey for renewal. I he horse Hery time the bucket cam(' ln their dilemma they ::;ought a rl vice up. until the horse would le~rn to tum from Mrs. Arg-le . mother of Alfred, himself:'." \\hen lunch lime came who kepl a small ehemist's shop in t be young Alfre