TasNat 1907 Vol1 No3 WholeIssue

7/30/2019 TasNat 1907 Vol1 No3 WholeIssue

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, \ ~ ~ \ \ ~ ~ ' A N N 4 t l J ~~ THE]::: THE ~ ~ ~ ;Tosmonion Field Noturolists' Club.Vol. 1 . D E C E M B E R , I907. No. 3.

Some Jmplements of toe 1.9asmanian:Jlborigines.BY FRITZ XOE].1LTIXG, );1.A., Ph.D.

vVhenever f.n old camp is carefully examined, a number OIf more or less rounded stones, most of which arf', however,in nbroken. all(} frr.gmentary cond'ltion,Ican be picked up. Complete specimensare very rare, llnd. wben in a preservedcondition they exhi-bit quite pewliar features. Alway'." one, but mostly the two,0PFo,;ite fiat sides show in the centre arough sl1ght 1y cone:\ ,'e i l ~ ' p r e s ~ I i o n , produced by repeatpd blows. On closer examination, i t will be seen that frequentlythe edge alw shows strong trulee" of u s ~ .Little attention il"S so farbe('n paid tothese remari


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THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST.which, fo r want of a ,better tei'm, wemay designate ,the upper side. shows fldia,tly concave rath'ilr rough depression of4cl;.in. by 4in. dlameter. I f a ruler isplaced on tile top, , i t ~ deepesL part isa'bout lin. below the ruler's ~ d g e , but asit is fair to assume that the 'original ,surface was not a,bsoluDely flat, it is proba'ble that a lenticular part o'f the pe,bb!e,mea'Buring 4!in. ,by 4in., and ,having agreatest thickness of !in., has been 'removed. The surface is rough; but it isalso unquestionable that the originalroughnes's has been smoothed downby rubbing or grinding. The op posite lower side is, slightly convex, and in i t s centre there is anirregularly shaped, very rough markof about 2:l:in. diamilter. This mark cleflrly shows that it. has been produced bynumerous blows applied to this part ofthe surface. Th';) peripheral ed'ge io:!rounded and smooth. Specimen I Jepres,sion of a'bout !in. diaometer, ani) aroundthe 'Surface is nic'illy polished andsmooth. Exactly c has 'been most elaboratelypolished and ground. Th-e g r j n d ~ T i g haseven been extelloled to the per;pheral'part. and a fine edge has heen produceCJ.When held in foavoura,ble light, threerough marks can be seen cross'lng obliquely; it is probwble tilutthese are parts of th'il original surface,whidl have been preserved dl1riFlg thegr-lnding. The specimen is well preserved,exc'ept for a large fragment broken 'offfrom the margin. The a'bove are only afew of the specimens I have eJCamine'tJ,but th,ey serve as good illustrations ofth'e type"'! met with, and We flfC now ableto draw a few general eon


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THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST.lCharacter. This compressed shape speaks.rather against the US'tl as a ham:ner-stone,!:IS it can easily be proved by experimentthat one' of the more globular boulderswould ssrve thi" purpose m11ch betterthan a ' flat specimen, as i t re"ts much'ootter in ,the hand than the latter. Thesize was aJ.so 1mmaterial. The iargestspEcimen iiitherto found m e ~ ,ures Sain.jn length and weighed! 7lb. 5-oz.; but therearc numerous specimen" which aril muchsmaller; apparently the most procurablesize was about; I) to 6 inches in length.

~ r h e s e flat pebb.les had the1r naturalLysmooth surface improved by polishing.As to that th'cre cannot be tile s.'ghtestdoubt. Perhapol this view might bequestioned with regard to specimens Fig;1, Fig. 3, and Fig. 4, though the tracesof polish'lng are very conspicuou.s in Fig.4 ; 'but there


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STONE IMPL}


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STONE I M P L E M E N T ~ OF TASMANT A ARORIGINE'l. showinj!that the original inhabitantifof the Island understood the art of grinding B t o n e ~ . Probahly associated with religious ceremonies.2B-Quartzitic Sandstone, f ! in diameter, found near Kempton.3 -5 inches in length Crystalline Diabas, found at South Arm.4 -7 inches long, made out of a flat pebble, found. at Pontville.5-Peculiar Oval Pebble. found at the famous Old Beach Camp by Mr. Anthony.

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THE TASMANIAN NATURALlST.sp dmen has been badly damaged, i tcoU'ld IlJt ,be ,broken. There is hardlyany spedmeIl w h ~ ( h has come under mynotice vhat more ,clearly proves the two. facts-(a) Careful production by grinding the two tlat surface." with th" tworougll central depression!;: (b) subset ] lwnt a tte,mpt, of destruction by meansof blows. 111 other specimens it is,lHH\e\'er, ill1pos:;ible to aSS'llIIl! that they,\\'ere slll';h;lleJ ltnlt broken by blows. The. specimen,s, notahly Fig. 2, shows no trucesthat they have been ..ubject, d to suchrough treatment. The fractures areclean and even, and t'his suggests onlyone way of destruction, namdy, \)y fire,The sp,',cimens were heated first, andafterw;Lrds water wa" poured over them,nnt! t:lis must naturally result in a par

t i ~ 1 or total destl'Uction. This vLw isborne out by a further obtiervation. Someof th,) diabas pehbles exhibit peculiarlycuned face:; of fraction, such as wouldrt'sult '\vihen flukes Iby 'meaM 'of :hea'Lmgand sudlleu cooling are "plintered ott,but \\-ilich could not be produced if tilefiakp, had been broken off bv blo'\\'8. Wekn'Jw now t h a ~ t'ill'se htbOI:ioLlslv manufaC"tlll\ d stones were purposely "de..,troye


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THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST.

:Rnnual :frleeting.Thp annual meeting of the club washeld in the Masonic Hall on T'hursdayevening, :September 216, , } I r . S. Clemes

presiding.The following new members were

elected:--Rev. H. B. Atkinson (of Evandalel, ~ l e s s r , ; . VV. A. Weymouth, G. J.William", and A. O. Green (of Hobart) .}:xhihition of ~ p e c i m e n s . - - - ' A "handfish," of the genus Antennarius, \vas forwllrdrd by ~ I r . A. E. Brent, having beentaken in the Derwent. Mr. A. M. Leaexhibiteo tw o cases of walking-stick inseet,.;, praying mantis, gmsshoppers, crickets. and earwigs, and niade interestingremark" on them. Mr. W. N. Atkinsshowp

Professor T. W. Kirk, Biologist to theNew Zealand Department of Agriculture,was introuuced by the chairman as beinga visitor to Ho'bart and a leading scientist in Xew Zealand.The secretary read a letter from t,he

new .,"urator of the Museum ( 1 ~ 1 r . RobertHall), in which the wish was expressedthat members would assist in building upthe ~ I u s e u m .The following nine members wereelected:---4}1isses O. Barnard and N_111'h.ay; }lessrs. C. Harrison, F. Hey

wood, L. Dechaineux, A. J. Tal'lor, W. E_Masters, A . . Honey, and A. E. Russell_This brings the club's total membershipup to over 100.The exhibition of s p e c i m e n ~ was as

follow,,: - Fern impressions from 'theSandfiy coal measures, by E. ,s. Anthony;(7)

nest and eggs of summer bird, by A. L.Butler; case of lady .birds, by A. M. Lea.;and photos of cuckoos (taken by Mr.Kinane, of ~ l e l b o u r n e l , by E. A. Elliott;and book of pressed ferns of ~ e w Zealand, by J. \V. Tarleton.'Mr. L. Rodway, Government Botanist,then gave informwtion as to the collection of plants and .how to pres'erve themwhen collected. He advised members tocOllled only in dry weather, otherwisethe .plants would become mildewed. Inmounting them i t was best to 'havesheets of paper of a regular or uniformsize. They may be gummed on to thesesheets, though with most plant,s it wasbetter to fasten them with small tags ofsheet lead passed through the paper andbent over. FUll data .should be writtenon the papers with all specimens..;.r. A. L. Butler showed how to bloweggs through only one small hole on theside. In this way the egg was not disfigured a t all. Different kinds of drills,


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THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST.blow pipes, and other apparatus wereshown, and practical demonstrationswere given on two starlings' eggs, whichoperations were successfully and quicklydone.

Mr. 'A. :\1. Lea (Government Entomologist) also showed l lOW to set out andmount butterfiies, moths, and other in-

sects. The wings of the former werestretched out and fastened down withlittle strips of p"per, 'the legs were putinto proper po'sition, and kept in placewith many pins, which could be takenaway when the specimen dried.The meeting then resolved itself intoa conversazione.

November :JIieeting.'rhe monthly meeting was held on the28th of this month a t th e Masonic Hall.

The Chall"lllan ( ~ l r . L. Rodway) presided,and there was an excellent attendance.The following new members were>ele'c'ted:---4.\feB!S'fs. G. iW. Is/milth \Jx!fordUniversity) and C. J. Large; as juniors,!Masters E. Lines. and CIaude Bryan.Exnibition of Speeimens.-'Mrs. H. L.Rollerts showed a fine stuffed specimenolf th.1l welige-'tailed eagle (Urol1etusaudax), also eggs of several kinds ofpheasants, and of the Californian quail,laid by her birds at Beaumaris. Mr. A.L. Butler showed a skin of the bluebanded parrakeet, and also its eggs, andthree sets of eggs of the white-frontedchat (.Epthianura albifrons), showing.great difference in lllarkings. Mr. Rodway exhihited and described a fungusdisease on 11 specimen of Bass'ioea cinerea. Mr. E. A. Elliott showed a stuffedyoung cormorant (.PluiIacrocorax leucogas,ter) and several sets of eggs of thesame kind, taken a t Bruny Island; alsoegg,; of wedge-t,tiled eagle, forwardedhim by M.1'. ,T. \V. :Mellor, of South ,Australia. .:Mr. F. L. Brownell showedsome peculiar geologieal specimens fromthe Brisei" tin mines. Mr. G. \V.Smith ('Xilih,tt'


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THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST.In Soui'h A-f.ic,l. it occurs on manvmountains at a considerable altitudoe. 1;1the no.rth i t has a v>erv wide ran"e fromthe Arctic regiollsS:outh, Ibu't e whereit spreads to ,w',',mner P'11'ts it re tre,,'ts 'to the mountain top ;, wherei t is f O l l l l l ~ as far ' south ag C}lexico,W'e,st lndi'e,s, Abyssini;l, and the Rimalaya,s. On the Himalayas i t ascends to,an altitud,e of 16,000 f'eet. I t is a 'small,clelicaite plant, finding it., home fOI' prefel1ence in the crevice.,'of rocks. Of atuned ha,hit, it makes a pt'etty little

~ r e e n h ( ) U I : ~ ' e fern. T.he le:a.ves vary considerably in shape, and many s p e ~ L , s orva,rietie.:-;, il-cC'onlillg' t.o the bia,g -of student.s. h,,,'c hcen madp of it . Tb", leaves,.;emO'.n1 rea!ch ,,'ix il1!cheBin length, andare divided into primary and usuallySconda.ry pinna.e, the ultimate divi'sion,s:OC'ing' bonl'el'ed by 10!J.e.g or /lcute teeth.'J.1hespol'angia are of the tl'Lle polypodiaceous type, namely, s-tal'k,ed with a welldoaveJoped vertical annulus. T h ~ spo.c-an:gia. a l ' ~ arramged in littLe round 80rion .the back o'r the ultimate ,.egmentsnt ~ o m p tli8talh'P from the 'margin,and: arisp 'fi'om t,hoe end of nlolteral ",pin. Iu the youllIg sta'tefhe .-;orus is JlTot,ect.ed ohy n delicatemembra,ne 01' indllsium that arisp.s b.elowit, and for same time appe,aos a,s a cupO'r concave OO'Vft ope,ning abov'e. Asthe sorus m a t u r e . ~ that membrane is bent'hack, and is (lommonly compll'tely hidden. The sporangia Hri,slC 'With theindn.,ium from t.h-e sur:f:lce lavm' of t.heleaf, but as development p T o ~ e e ( l s theyare borne on to the hase oof the indusiumitself, and appeal' M ll,ullciJ.edto thatorg'llu inst-esd of to tlbeteaf. This iN il11-podant as ' a distingni;;ihing mark. dividin g CYNtopteri,s from DlVallia. The ap''Pearance of the young indusium ha;; gain

~ d for the plant the popular name ofBladdel' F ie l '11. 'CYTOPTEHIS FRAGILTS BERN.

Notes on a 'l9asmanian eucalyptus.(e. gunnii of J. ~ . :XooRer.)

BY L. RODWAY (Government Botanist).

In the year 1844 Sir ,Toseph Hookerdescrihp.d in the "London ,Tournal of'Botany" a eucalypt, and named i t "Eucalyptus gunnii." In his grea.t work,' ' 'Flora Ta.smaniae," puhlished ahout the'same time, also appears a description of:the tree, accompanied with a very re-

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liahle plate. The plant descrihed wasfrom Tasmanian material, and accuratelyrepresents the tree so common in someparts of our Midlands, from Mount Fieldto Ironstone Range, and known iocallyas the cider gum. Like most othereucalypts, the tree varies, and i t is a


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THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST.

EUCALYPTUS GUNNH H.

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THE TASMANIAN NATURAlIST.matter of individual opinion haw ftlr thename shall cover varieties, and whereanother name shall be used. Hotanistsha ve long given up the idea of immutah!lit,v, and recognise that exceptin fa voured cases 'U specific namei" only a convenient but arbitrary appellation for a poorly circumscribed group of varying forms. Biologists, in order to avoid confusion, de-cribe a particular being under a ~ e r t a i nname. That form, whether well or illchosen, becomes for all time the typebearing t.hat name, and all related formsare compared with it. The elder gumoil' ll'aSlmaniRhs ,tlhe itylpe I f o ~ m of '"Jjhl'cal-yptus gunnii" of Hooker. Any personswho endeavour tu shift this .uuk com-mit an offence against the laws of botanical nomenclature, They not only ro bthe first person of his little bit of sponsorial conceit, but raise up confusion inth e work to be done by subsequent students. Ther" has been no botanist sogreat that by his ipse dixit he could,with certainty, change a name. Von

~ f u e l l e r , great as he was, failed IJ l mostinstances where he tried it_ He triedi t in 1&30 with Hooker's "Eucalyptusgunnii," only to bear the unfortunate re-sult that to-day few Australian botanistsrefer to th e same form when they ust'the name, aud men, when they sendorder" t o . ~ u s ~ t r a l j ' , L :for seed: OIf "IE'U'0aly:p-

tUB gunnii" sometimes get what theywant, but they generally do not. Thetypical tree has a smooth, white bark;alternate, sblked, oblong, equal-sidedleaves of rather thick texture, seldom ornever pointed. Flowers are small, shortlystalked, and three together in axillaryu)llbels. 'rhe operculum varies fromshortly hemispheritl to nearly conical.'rhe fruit is small oblong to hemispheric,about two to three lines diameter, witha thin rim, and sunk capsule. EvenHooker was guilty of an error. We havea tree common on lowlands closely related to cider gum. I t has somewhatdifferent bark and leaves, more fiowersin the umbel, different fruit, all different in degree, but not essentially.Hooker described this as "Eucalyptusacervuhj, of' fSleber, which it certainlyi,s no't. 'Muelle'r, Tefcognis,ing ".le errorHooker had made tried to remedy it bymaking a worse one. He suppressed thename "acervula," and adopted the plantgO described as the type form of "eucalyptus gunnii" Hooker. I t appears assuch in his "Eucalyptographia," with a.little bit of the original form appearingas an interesting variety. The platewhich appears in this number is a photograph of a sprig of the type plant. I tis not a very good spedmen, but was th e!les't lLntilahle. The ,piece with I)J'oad.pale

' l e l l n " ~ is t 1w jlH'PlI'ile e(1'n'.lit-ion of the piant

exeursions.On :-;atmday, Odober 5, the first ex-cursion of the session was held, th e ob-ject of study being botany, and theleader 'sfI', [.. :Roaway, Iwho 'took theparty to Bellerive and thence along theRokeby-roatl. After walking about amile a large lowlying piece of groundwas met with, and here were foundmany fiourishing shrubs, and in spring i tlooks' quite gay wi,th the f,ollowingplants: -Saeckia diffusa, Aotis villo.sa,Pimelia Iinifolia, Leucopogon ericoides,Epacris impress'U, several acacias, and

many other kinds. Club moss was alsofound growing freely.

in the bird line was a large nest in aeucalypt, which was probably that of a.g08-hawk, as this bird. was seen fiying.high overhead with something in itsclaw. \Vedge-tajled eagles had a nestnear the summit of this mountain formany years, and the Stewarts, of RisdonFerry, have said they had been there for30 years. Young birds were reared forthe last time in 1J.006. The tree theybuilt ,in was an exceedingly hard one to,climb, and few, if any, ever reached thenest. The tree blew down in July orAugust of this year, and scat,tered ,thenest amongst the scrub.

A geologica:J excursion to Sandy Baywas held ori November 16, with Dr. F.~ o e t l i n g as leader. The Cliffs on theroadside were first examined, and a clearaccount of their formation was given by,the leader. CoUectors obtained fossils'pecimens of leaf impressions, e,tc., fromthe sedimentary deposits here. A visitwas also paid to One Tree Point, wherethe strata of volcanic and sedimentart


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THE TASMANIANrocks were examined, and clearly explained by Dr. Noetling. Numerousques,tions were replied to by the leader,and members expressed themselves aswell plea-sed with the information imparted. This excursion was highly succe.sfu!.

A general collecting outing was helda t South Arm on November 30 ,per motor

NATURALIST.launch. Members separated immediate

~ y o n !a-llIding, s'o'me dredge'CL !a- sma1:l la goon for ent.omnstraca.; others collectedpla.nts or insects, while a few went overto the roc'ks towards the Derwent l ight.house and found some little penguinsnesting. The lncality, however, wasnot a good collecting one, ,thoug'l thetrip proved most enjoyable.

'l96e fBandieoot.BY P. LOIC1(JWOOD, F.L.S. (X.S.W.)

.During Ill,}' ' ~ - h o r t hut vcry p r o f i : t l l i h ~ estay of 'fifteen UlO'nths in th,e Patersoniadi"tr.it:t-w,h,j('h i, situated on theScot.bllaJcwa,l, H,t the foot of :\IountArth.ur, :lnJ about I i miles frolll L::tllnces ton-l bel'i1llle in't-erest,ed in the!potl-Clhed llla-tllLUai..; fouwi in that loea-lity,{:m! lIone seemed llIor,e interesting toTIle ti.Hlll the U:lll:licoot. The 'imntlicoot!belongs to the ol'ller 1Ia[, ,upalia and thej'enns l 'erameies, of which Tasmaniapoor;eso;e,,, ,t wo ,pedes o l l l y ~ P e r a l 1 1 e : l e sohesula and Pem.nH'les guuui-but thereare >lib-out a llozen different species ranging o\"


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THE TASMANIANi t lack,,:[ something which nature had'prodded fo r these iO\\'lv creattLl'e,;-thebUl'rowing in th(' earth. ,. I often accom.[,anied lily little pet out in the o-pen, andi t W 'H most ple'15ing to observe th e won(!erful a"la.ptability with which its pigJikp ';!lout ',vould loe forced under th et 'arth. J WHiI ven ' S01T\' to find thu.t11 fter :1 week 01 ' t w ~ m,v p ~ o r gunni grewduller 11 nel weaker, and one morning t,he'little 011e was foumi to be quite l i f e h ~ 5 s ;he i.., no w i l l a r a r ~ e of Taslnaniun n la l l l ,ma],; in tll" La:lIlce"ton }luseulll. Somelittle time after I had the pleasure ofn,reh'ing a pr'2,ent 0; tw o very tiny lic.tlegllnni. wllwh hat! not IYeen clothed verylong, tl l . mother having got into on e oftho . b:lI'barO'lls spring traps which coun,t,],y boys are eo fond of setting, and t,hu"' torturing many illnocent Eves. All thatwas possible was done fo r these"ba,by bandies," but they pined away,and also form case specimens in

NATURALIST.the Launceston :MuseuID. I amsU!'e my friends of the Tasmanian

~ , a t u r a h s t s ' Club will ag'l'"e witb me insaying that we c,Ln learn lllany a valuable le'5wn from suell lowlv creatures ofour fOTest, s,hollld pIe-dge onrseive.,to protect our native fauna in e\'ery pos,;ible way, and put down very firmly ,thecow,arelly crnclty that our poor dumbfriends have to ".utfer fl'O-lll th,e \vantonhands of t,houg"ltle"" perwlls. ' ' 'henwe learn to stuu v th e wom['edul life 'lIdha,bits of the 10\;'e1' creatures we can reciproca te tile ",entiments of the poetess-1 wis:l voucould. have se,en tll'em there .It did my spirit goodTo see the small things God had ma,deThus eating in t:he wood.I hope later on to forward i t f.ew morcremarks on other little animals I had thepleaslIl"> of b ~ c o m i n g acquainted with,

eamp-out of toe 'l.9asmanian '3ield :/Yaturalistson fBruny Island.lilY ICILLVE E. LORD.

Tt ,wu,s uedde'd to ,ho.}d .the 80vembercamp of the dUll> at Po 'd :Bay, BI'unyJ,"hnti. Th'i" 'ba v is on Ithe ,ch:annel sideo,f th e bLml, a Ifttle ,to the ne>l"t'h ,of It,hei5.th,:lhl'''; bet,w,cpn XOl,bh un'd , ~ O U t l l l 'Bl'uny._l 1',lIlding was lHa'.le IOn I:'h:burdwy,theHell, and 'bl' :t':lc,tillle 'lJlivrkne:ss Illa'a ,ialUeut he Wilt, , ' were piltc:1H'd am I elvel"y;thinglVas sl!;IP-.,1 1:I'l"". A'Hel' teu, Ip-la,nti 'wel'.ed.i;!l'u'sspj, all,l IV


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THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST.; J)[)se. rrillis Wl l S 'l,ry IPrtlcaJuUons againsta(lhlents. De"pite "uhe latencSls of the;E'I:l';;O!L sever,\,1 c11\1bc'he,s olf elg'&i'I ,werewere procured. I t was aSltonishinitincl l1O


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THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST.~ d from above; legs entirely conceaJedfrom above; ,two basal joints of tarsismall, third elongate.,To -examine all parts earefully wouldneed very careful disseetion, and as thehead of the largest s i > " c ~ e s before me isless than one two-hundredth part of aninoh in length, I have been unable to. properly dissect it; th e antennae mayreally be elevenjointed; but if so, thejoint I am unable to see must be concealed by the overlapping portion of the head.The genus, however, is so remark!l!bly dist inct by the characiers, which are readily observed under the micros'oope without dissection, that no confusion islikely to arise from this cause. I am unable to eount the segments of the abd{)men. The outer margins (seen whenthe lower surface is examined) appearto be formed of a thin, continuous fiap,

/I-Outline of Rodwayia Minuta.R. Ovata. 3 -0 f R. Occidentalis.

of which that por.tion formed by the prothorax is the deepest, and tha;t ' bythe'head is the finest. The prolongationbackwards of the hind angles of the prothfrrax IS much more apparent from theunder than the upper surface. The iniercoxRI process of the mesosternum iswide, Rnd more parallel,sided than in thefigure 0 given of Limulodes; the middlecoxae are ':wliso :'Wide;!", lal'ger, and mOil"ed'isltant. Both 'the iprooess and !Coxaehfrwever, RTe entirely conceRled by theoverlapping prosternal process.

*I n Matthew's main figure on plate 16,the scutellum appears as being absent,but on plate 23, fig. 13, a distinct seutellum is shown, and in the generic description ,i,t ~ said it,o !be ''brevi.sJsitrrmm,la issimum, tnanguIRre."

2-Intercoxal Process of Prosternum of4 -0 f R. Orienblis. 5 -0 f R. Minuta.

~ o d w a y i a Ovata, n. Ip.Pale red'd1sh ICa:staneous, B.rppen'tfugSand ti p of abdomen paler, clasely coveredwith shart sericeous pubescence.Head abaut twice as wide as long.Prothorax very large, almost half totaJlength, rather strongly convex, sidesfeebly rounded, e'xcept towards ,the apex,where they are strongly rounded; lengthof sides almost equal to greatest width.Elytra at the bas'e narrower than, andclasped by bRse of, pro horax, sides

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gently deereasing in width from base tonear apex, apices widely and separatelyrounded. Intercoxal process of prosternum slightly produced 'on to metasternum and entirely eoncealing middle ofmesosternum; apices widely rounded.apex .of abdomen notched. Femora wide;length # 1mIn.H a , b . ~ T a s m a n i a : Ho,bart; in nests ofa faIrly large black stingless ant 'und'erstones (over 40 specimens were taken


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THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST.-from one nes't). 'fhe outline is almos,tperfectly oval. In this and all the otherspecies the derm is ,g,hining, but some-what obscured by th e p u b e s c e n ~ e , andthis bejng par'tiall.y absent from the in-,tercoxal process of the prosternum thatportion appears to be highly polished.'All th e species are remarkably s,imilar ingenpral appearance, differing, eX'cept asto ,the apices of ,the prosternal p r o ~ e s ' s ,in little more ,than size, slightly incolour, and in one species in colour ofpubescence. The sculpture of the prothorax and elytra is so o;bscured by ,theclo,thing that 'i t cannot be satisfactorily

seen, but it appears in all. thes'pecies to-consist .of dense punctures arrangedtransversely or a t right angles ,to thedisposition of the clothing. In fact, fromsome directions :there appear to benumerous 'fine ridges, be'hind which areplaced the 'punctures, the ridges be'ingmore or less parallel with eacn other, orslightly undulating . The back of thehead also, when removed 'from the prothorax, appears to be similarly sculp-tured. The under surface in all thespecies appears to have fine, but moreor less concealed, punctures;

:R.odwayia C}eeidentalis, n. Sp.Reddish castaneous; prothorax (especi:ally at base) some,what dar,,;:er thanel.}"tra; abdomen and appendages palertllan elytra. Closely covered with shortsericeous pubescence.Head scarcely twice as wide as long.Prothorax (in proportion) slightly larger,and with more strongly rounde.d sidesthan in ovata; the elytra with sidesrather more rapidly dimIni!;lhing in widthtoa:pex, and hind ape'x of intercoxal process of prosternum more dee1ply incised.

Acbdomen apparently composed of six

segments, its apex widely and obtuselynutched. [Femora wide and compressed,.dik.tt',d 'in the miulUe Ipogteriorly; ,ti;bia-erather thm, apparently p a r a l l e l - , s i d e d ~Lerugt'h, mm.H a b . ~ W . Austra'lia: Swan River; in

n e s t ~ of a fairly large s;tingless ",sugar"alJJt under s,tones.Alt'hongh :the colour is not very dark,.i t is darker than that of any otherspecies here described, and the' prothorax.often appears to be faintly infuscated in

the middle.

:R.odwayia C}rientalis, n. Sp.Pale reddish castaneous, appendagesstill paler, Closely ,covered with ,short.sericeoml pubescence.Outlines much as in occidentalis.

~ o t c l t at hind apex ofproSlternal procesi>deeper ,than in o'ccideutalis, and muchdeeper tha.1l in ovata. Abdomen obtuselynokhed at apex. Femora wide and comIpressed. iLe'ngth, mm.

H n . b . - ~ . S . 'Vales: Sydney; Tasmania:Launceston. In nests of the same smallant that harbours the following s,pecies;

in th e nests of a very minute red ant,.anU. int:hose of a ratner small "greenhead" stinging ant; all undtr stonesIn one specimen th e maxillary palpiare not concea1ed, and in shape appearlike the 'figure E, given of Limulodes.But this specimen h broken, and inothers thepa1pi are apparently invis;ible.Un the elytm, es:pecially to,wards thebase, there usually 'appears, in ;!;lomelights, a bluish or greenish opales,cence;lmt this may be due to the clothing.

:J{odwayia:Minuta, n. Sp.Very pale reddish casitaneous; appendages paler. CloselY covered withs,hor,t.

w.d

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TasNat 1907 Vol1 No3 WholeIssue