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IMr. of possession the in drawing a of Photograph bach. the at Wellington Mount with Harbour, Hobart A NATURALIST IN TASMANIA GEOFFREY SMITH, M.A. FELLOW OF NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD OXFORD AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1909 I <-1 HENRY FROWDE, M.A. PUBLISHER TO THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD LONDON, EDINBURGH, NEW YORK TORONTO AND MELBOURNE ! vVlrtLCOfi'F P’ ^,'Ti.TF ^ LIP'- 'Y Coli Call No. ^ H PREFACE The following sketches in Tasmanian natural history are the result of a six months’ stay in Tasmania during the spring and summer of 1907-8 ; the expedition was undertaken at the suggestion of Professor G. C. Bourne of Oxford, with the object of studying especially the fresh- water life of Tasmania, and besides the material help which he gave me I am happy to express my indebtedness to the Warden and Fellows of New College for allowing me leave of absence, and to the British Association for a substantial grant. I should also like to acknowledge the assistance which Mrs. Weldon has given me, and if anything in these pages could be thought worthy of being dedicated to the memory of Professor Weldon, to whom I owe so much, my constant aim would be in some measure achieved. It is a delightful experience for the Englishman after travelling for about twelve thousand miles away from home to meet with his fellow country- men at the Antipodes, and to be received with that hospitality which has become almost pro- verbial with us here ; but a special delight is added to the naturalist from home, who can converse with kindred minds in these distant countries, and learn to appreciate the ideas which a2 4 A NATURALIST IN TASMANIA are stimulating the work of fellow naturalists in a land of inexhaustible interest and natural riches. I should be at a loss to say how much in these pages is due to my own observations, and how much to the suggestions which I have gleaned from the conversations and writings of such Australian naturalists as Professor Baldwin Spen- ser of Melbourne, Professor Haswell of Sydney, Mr. Hedley and Mr. Goddard of Sydney, Mr. Twelvetrees of Launceston, and Mr. Rodway of Hobart ; but I am quite certain that I have learnt more from them than I could ever have the wit to put into a book. To Mr. Rodway is due the merit of whatever is sound in my account of the botanical features of Tasmania, and my walks and expeditions with him will always live in my memory as the most pleasant and valuable part of my Australian experiences. Of the many books on Tasmania which I have consulted, I am perhaps most indebted to Mr. Ling Roth’s Aborigines of Tasmania, to Mr. Backhouse Walker’s historical essays entitled Early Tasmania, and published by the Royal Society of Tasmania, to Mr. Rodway’ s Tasmanian Flora, to numerous papers by Mr. Charles Hedley, dealing with the problem of the lost Antarctica, and to Mr. R. M. Johnston’s Geology of Tasmania, In Launceston I received much help from Mr. Scott, Mr. Petterd, and Mr. Alan Slater ; and I must not forget to thank Mr. Wertheimer, the Secretary of the PREFACE 5 Tourist’s Bureau, for his kindness in facilitating my travels, while I can only apologize to my Tasmanian friends that in return for their hospi- tality I have only these imperfect sketches to offer. The illustrations in this book are partly from photographs and drawings of my own, or made under my direction, while many are borrowed from Mr. Beattie of Hobart, who has kindly permitted their reproduction here. The drawing of the Tiger is a composite drawing by Mr. Bayzand of Oxford, partly after Gould and partly from my own suggestions, while that of the Devil by Mr. Goodchild is from a living specimen in the Zoological Society’s Gardens, by permission of Dr. Chalmers Mitchell. CONTENTS CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION page Early Explorers. Tasman. Captain Cook. His account of the natives. French Explorers. La Billardiere and the natives. Flinders and Bass. Founding of Hobart. Early days. Bushranging. The Tasmanian Abori- gines. Their character and final extinction ... 9 CHAPTER II. HOBART AND THE MIDLANDS Hobart and the Derwent River. English appearance of the country. Eucalyptus country. Cultivation and pasturage. Birds. Mount Wellington. Vegetation. The mountain tableland. Scenery. Harz Mountains. Birds. The Mountain Shrimp 36 CHAPTER III. THE LAKE DISTRICT Travelling to the Great Lake. Scenery and life of the shepherds. The Great Lake. Account of its fauna. The wild animals of the bush. Poisonous snakes. Journey to Lake St. Clair. A shepherd’s home. The Tiger and Devil. Lake St. Clair. Lake Sorell . 72 CHAPTER IV. THE NORTH AND THE WEST COAST North and South. Characteristic freshwater fish of the north. Bridport. Burning the forest. Black-fish fishing. Huge Crayfish. The seashore. The West Coast. Physical characters. Myrtle and Pine forests. Characteristic animals. The Land Crab. The moun- tain tops. Peculiar vegetation. Mountain tarns. The Platypus and Echidna 104 CHAPTER V. A GLIMPSE INTO THE PAST The geographical distribution of animals and plants. Sur- vival of ancient types in Australia and Tasmania. The derivation of the Australian fauna. Temperate and Alpine forms. Connexion with South America and New Zealand through an Antarctic continent. Separation . of Tasmania from Australia. Special Tasmanian problems 127 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS FIG. Hobart Harbour, with Mount Wellington at the back Frontispiece 1. View of Adventure Bay, Bruny Island, where Captain Cook landed . To face page 14 2. Trigonia pectinata, picked up on Adven- ture Bay j> 14 3. Tasmanian Aboriginal, Woureddy . „ 23 4. Lanne, or King Billy, the last of the male Tasmanian Aboriginals . „ „ 26 5. Types of Skulls : Australian, Tasmanian, New Guinea, and Andaman . » 28 6. View over the Derwent Estuary, from near the top of Mount Wellington . 36 7. Lake Sorell, with an old Peppermint Gum (Eucalyptus amygdalina) . , „ „ 36 8. A young Wattle (Mimosa) Plantation . „ „ 42 9. Blackwood Tree (Acacia melanoxylon) . „ „ 42 10. Felling . Eucalyptus Trees . „ „ 48 11. Eucalyptus forest on Mount Wellington, after the great fire . Bush . „ „ 50 12. The ‘ Potato-fields ’ on Mount Wellington, consisting of huge Greenstone boulders „ „ 50 13. Sprig of the Bottle-brush (Callistemon), with flowers fruit . and . „ „ 55 14. Sprigs of the Grass-tree (Richea scoparia) . „ „ 55 15. Sprigs of the Waratah (Telopea truncata) . „ „ 55 16. Tree Ferns (Cyathea) in a Gully in the gum forests near Geeveston . „ „ 56 17. Giant Grass-trees (Richea pandanifolia) on the Harz Mountains .... ,> „ 58 18. Anaspides tasmaniae, the Mountain Shrimp „ „ 70 19. Phreatoicus spinosus, from the Great Lake 81 8 A NATURALIST IN TASMANIA FIG. 20. npenm, from the Great Lake . 83 21. Head-scales of Tasmanian Snakes .... 89 22. On the Linda track to Lake St. Clair. The Mount Charles Plains, with Mount Olympus in the distance . .To face page 92 23. The Native Tiger or Thylacine (Thylacinus cynoicephalus) ?> 55 95 24. The Tasmanian Devil {Sarcophilus ursinus) 5 > 55 97 25. Lake St. Clair. Mount Ida (with gum forests) in the distance 55 55 98 26. The Mountain ‘Trout’ (Galaxias truttaceus) from streams and lakes 55 55 106 27. Galaxias attenuatus, the brackish and fresh- ‘ water Trout 55 55 106 28. The Cucumber Herring {Prototroctes maraena) 55 55 106 29. The Black-fish (Gadopsis marmoratus) 55 55 106 30. The Giant Crayfish or Freshwater Lobster of Tasmania (Astacopsis Franklinii) compared with an English Crayfish 55 55 110 31. A Path through the Myrtle forest, near the Magnet Mine, West Coast . 55 55 112 32. In the Horizontal Scrub ; climbing on the Platform 55 55 112 33. A. Celery-topped Pine (Phyllocladus rhom- boTidalts ...... • • 115 B. King William Pine {Athrotaxis laxi- folia) C. Pherosphaera Hookeriana 115 34. Tree Ferns (Dicksonia) and Sassafras forest of the West Coast type . To face page 116 35. D. The Deciduous Beech (Fagus Gunnii) . 121 E. The Myrtle or Evergreen Beech (Fagus Cunninghami) 121 ; CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION Early Explorers. Tasman. Captain Cook. His account of the natives. French Explorers. La Billardiere and the natives. Flinders and Bass. Founding of Hobart. Early days. Bushranging. The Tasmanian Aborigines. Their character and final extinction. At the extreme south of Australia and separated at a distance of about two hundred miles from the mainland by the gradually shelving channel of Bass’s Straits, lies the little island of Tasmania, mountainous, forest-clad, and watered by innu- merable rivers and highland lakes, and about intermediate in size between Wales and Ireland. Although it is structurally and historically a part of Australia, the scenery and climate are both quite distinctive, and if a somewhat sombre monotony, not without its special charm, is the keynote of Australia, Tasmania, small as it is, is a land of variety and bold transition, from flat Eucalyptus-covered tablelands to fantastically rugged mountain ranges, overgrown with virgin forests of southern Pine and evergreen Beech from the calm blue skies of a southern Italian summer to the fierce Antarctic blizzard. And though economically, and from its small population of about 200,000 souls, one of the less important states in the Federation, the island ; 10 A NATURALIST IN TASMANIA ch.