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THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST.nects the lagoon witb the ocean, and
by,setting nets aeros:'; this ma,ny,fish maybe caught, wherea,s in
Daniel's Bay,where the ca,mp was, fish were veryfew. At th e
lighthouse th e partywas hospitably received by Superin.tendent
Hawkins, who is in chargethere, and who showed the members over the
buildings, which werekept in praiseworthy condition. In
convfrsation, Mr. Hawkins 'Stated that theweather would easily Lave
allowed theboat to l'and our party in Great Taylor'sBay on 'the
Thursday n j g ~ l t , when takendirect to Franklin. Other trips
weremade to AdlV'e1uture (Bay, MOlllnt Bruni,and elsewhere, which
were enjoyable, butthere W3!S little scope for natural
historyresearch. Between Cloudy Bay and thelagoon a long arm
stretches, having afine beach on the ocea,u side, wl.ere shellsare
to be found af'ter a storm, but fewshells were seen during our
visit. Manygulls, terns, and cormora,nts were flyingabout 'tbe
lagoon, and as the water isvery shallow over most of it s area,
itmust be an easy matter for themto catch the fish. Out in the
middlewere some black swans, and ducksof different kinds were also
observed. A large flock of white-frontedherons was there too ,and
sooty andwhite-brewstpd oyster-catchers occasionally.flew in from
the sea. On th'e hillsthe chief birds seen were blackcockatoos,
green parrakeets, and wa'ttlebirds. Two summer birds and a few
swallows were seen, showing tbat tbeseh/ld :not then Left the
IIliO'rth. 'N'ea.rDaniel's Bay the numbers of small birl1swere
remarka'ble; three of th e rO'binsscarlet and fiame-brea'sted and
dusky-were continually in sight. The spinebill, crescen't, New
Holland, yellowtbroatd, and black-beaded honey-eaterswere common,
and showed by their numbers tha t the pea rifle was
practicallyunknown there. Quail and ground birds(Cinclosoma,
punctatum) were also seen.'Whilst fishing in Little Taylor's Bay
ourattention was at'tracted by the hawk-likecackling cries of a
Caspian tern.which was trying to take a fisb from asmaller species,
th e latter probably being the white-fronted tern. At
differenttimes one or tw o s
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QuailGamePropagation
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THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST,and bask in the sun; but a hawk, like
abolt from tlbe blue, swoops down andpicks one up in his talons,
then leism:elyflies to the rreare.st u'ee to enjoy his
meal,Learning sense as the days go by, theyemea'ge from their cover
only ea.rly ill,bhe morning 011' late at evening, thus'escaping the
sharp-eyed birds of prey.A worse enemy, however, has heard
thewhistle of th e cock bird as he caUs hischildren to their
evening meal, and thearch-enemy of all feather game, th e domestic
cat, sneaks along th e fence, andwith one swift spring nduces the
bevyto seven. New l'oogings ar,'e sought with(lut delay, and th e
young birds grow andwax fat. On thefi.rst of May there arrives on
th e sce-ne one of the 101'ds ofcreation, at'tended by a faithful s
e . r v a n ~in the shape of a keen-nosed pointer, whostands
statu(>-like some twenty yardsfrom where our bevy is concealed.
Theyhear the command, "Hi, boy! put themup!" The dog advances two
yards, when"up they ri.se with whirling wings, and altesaluted with
two snarp ('eports. A braceis stowed away in the spacious gamebag,
and the res t are followed frompaddock to pa
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THE TASMANIAN NATURAlIST.The feeding oOf the c h i c k ~ Is the
all-important item, and I ,shall at ali timesbe pleased to renc.2r
any Ilsslst"nce and3!dvice to anyone desir1ng the same, feeling
confident that the pleasure ho willderive from watching the h a n '
~ S 0 m e s tand finest game bird the worid knowsgro\l' up Ull[12l"
his hand will a lllpiy repayhim for the trouble he has taken to
reoarthem. ::\lany of us hope to see thephensant amongst our game
birds withinthe next few years. Another bird thatwarrants our
'attention is the Virginianquail, or Bob ~ W h i t e ; it is the
game birdof America, and has been introduced intoJapan, Jamaica,
Holland, Itnd New Zea-
bnd, in each of wbich places it has established itself. In New
Zealand i t isdoing remarkably well. I t is la.rgerthan any of our
native quail, a swifterflier, is more p r o l i f i , ~ , and
pos,sesses one'splendid trait ensuring 'Its protection ifOI1)(;e
esLlblishec', here-wuim disturbedfrom the stubbles whNe it feeds it
seeksshelter in the nearest scrub, and onewho has hunted. our brown
birds underthese 1C0nditions knows how i t is an almost imposs'lble
task to find them again:in coyer of this descriptIon. A
fewimmigrants of this class woulitl be welcomed to Tasmania by all
sportsmen.
:Fl ~ a r a s i t e upon J!lies.By H. M. NICHOLL.s (Garden
Island Creek).
T'his curious little creature first cameunder my notice wbile
Iwa,s engaged inpreparing the proboscils of a March fiy(Tabanus
sp.) ior mounting. Happening 'Lo look at it under a
dissectingmicroscope, there seemed to be a llum'ber of little bhek
sped:;s sticking to t:heps-eudo-h'acheal tu\}e,s-a very
uniamiliara.ppe:amnee. In picking t,hem off withneedles, in nearly
every case a portion0' the tube they were attached to cameaway
wi'th them. This led me to examine t b : ~ 1 l l more carefully,
when I foundthey were pnrasites of a very unusualnature. Later on,
I found precisely the,same t ~ , i n g upon the probo,seis of
'tInecommon blow-fly, and more extended inv.es,tigations showed
thwt It was hy nomeans uncommon upon both 'blow-fliesand
::\Iarcb-flie,s, in thi,s part of 'the country ut ' l e a ~ t .
Upon showing spedmensto our abl" Go,Ycrnment Entomologist,Mr. M.
Lea, I found that it wa,s un'known to bim, and no references
toanytJhing like it were to be found in any'scien'ific work
aV1ailable. This li'ttlecreature is very remarkable in manyways. I
t is less than the 130th of aninch in length, hardly bigger
than,some O'f the rotifers, but it possesses a
~ \ l r d flhitino'l1s exo-skeleton, ? ~ : J . d it.slabdominal
'portion is divided into ,segments, jus'L as that of a fie:J is.
Thehead a'ppeflrs 'to be merged with t,he:thorax, ,a,s is the ease
wHh spiderls, and;tbere are a pair of powerful1hooked mandibles,
which the little crea,ture drives.througi, the pse.ud'0-tme;)eal
t'Ulbes of its.boOst, and 'tlhus mmgs on. Thtere are novisible
signs of any locomo.tiye organs,such as legs or wings, nor any
antennae:to be ,seen. There is a very curiousbood"like arrangement
situated upon the
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anterior end of the head, and just oyert,lle hooked jaws. Tb1s
fits dO'Wll overthe pseudo-trachea of the host, when theparnsi'te
is in posit,ion, and co;r21e,telycovers up the jaws and mou:bh
part,s. Ins'ome specimens there can be seen wchatappear to be eyes,
in the sh'1pe of unpigmented lenses, one on each side, justthe eyes
of some fleas are situated. Justbelow the base of th e hooked
jawsthere is a little tube-like arrangementwhich suggests
:J:lucking appamtus. I t
a p p e a r ~ to be so sitlULted that when theparasite has
fastened on to the proboscisof the /DS'L it would project into
thepseuclo-traeheal tube through one of thehorseshoe-s,ha.ped
openings In th e latter.The oppning of the little tu'i.le is
divideda t the anterior end by a septum, whicl:.gives it something
of 'the appearance O'fthe muzzle of "vlery minute doublebarrelled
gun. Thjs would suggest thatthe parasHe only feed,s upon t;he
foodmatte,r that the host has collected for it..,self as i't passes
U ~ , r o u g h the pseudotrachea on it s way to the main
tube,which carries it t,o the stoma(Jh. Th8"parasites are nemly
always found uponthe 'p3eu{lo-t11l1c:h'eae, and .ne'\-er in
anyca,se that I have seen are they very faraway from them; so it
tbnefore appears'to be rather a partial parasite of an unusual
nature than true parasite. Thehooked jaws seem simply to serve
the
p u r p o ~ e oi holding un, While the l i t t l e ~sucking tube
takes a share of the dinnerthat the blow or March fly ha,s
procured,for i t s ~ e l f . Wlwn detached from thebos't these
little creature,s have n slightpower of movement, bending their
taiLsfeebly from side to side, as many
