tasnat 1928 vol2 no4 pp10-15 linton autumnplains

7/28/2019 TasNat 1928 Vol2 No4 Pp10-15 Linton AutumnPlains

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.IO THE TASl\JANIAN NATUR.,LlST

on land !!nails. Thi!! mail sel'Vesas the home o f the LiverFluke (which is so deStructive to sheep) during part of i ts I i f e ~and therefore the more plover the less water snails, with acorresponding falling of f in l iver fluke and an increased returnto the farmer.

The Liver Fluke {Distomum hepa.ticum} has a complicatecllife history. Commencing with the ovum o r egg !!tage, incubat ion take!! from three to six week!! in the summer. The minuteembryo, when i t emerges, is covered with small hairs {cilia}.I t is necessary for the embryo to obtain the shelter of a hostwithin thir ty hours, o r i t dies. I t therefore seeks out a watersnail. and bores i n t ~i t by means of a curious boring porcess atthe anterior end or base of its elongated triangular form. With

in the mantle of the water snail several changes take p1ace, andeventually numerous tadpole-like forms emerge from the snailand spend some t ime as free living forms in damp situations.They anchor themselves by their tails to blades of grass, andare thus transferred to the stomach of the sheep. Here fur therchanges take place, and the immature fluke in its final form isreleased, and enters first the duodenum and then the l i v e r ~where it grows, and produces countle!!s number!! of eggs, .whichare shed far and wide by the sheep, which animal!! in somelocalities, particularly in wet seasons, suffer severely from fluke.On purely economic grounds alone there is every reason forthe protection of the Plover in Tasmania, and what has beenproved in the case of th e Plover is also true of many other ofour native birds. The more our brids are studied the more welearn of their value in the great scheme of Nature, a n ~withwider knowledge will come wider protection for many species.

C.L.

Autumn by the PlainsBy Mrs.E. H. Linton, Springfield, N.B. Tas.

The mild, bright days of early autumn are nowhere plea.santer than among the spurs and foothills that intersect thePlains. The warm ,sunlight genially transforms the long beltso f dark-hued trees to inviting groves; the ripening b e r n e s a n dseeds of grass and herbs are a summons to innumerable birds.These, flitting and calling or warbl!ing in the soft undertones o fautumn songs, provide life, of animated movements and sound.to the pleasant open scene.


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THE TAS Mr n lAN NATUltALIST. 11

NQwis Dlore apparent the p;resence o f other animate life!Wombat and wallllby feed openly in the wild meads, or bask onwarm slopes; little wild mice venture boldly from covered runways and dart OVer the ground or rustle b e t w e ~ nthe drifts ofdry lea"es. The marsupial mice, hunting their insect prey, takelittle heed of a quiet and solitary observer. At all times theyare more oblivious or pre.occupied than the seed-eatingMuridae. The bright eyes of the lat ter are alert for any strangepresence or movement, the mere suspicion of which sends themwith a jump and long leaps to any cover, although soon theyemerge and hunt busily for the ripe seed-head or openingcapsule, or i t may be for the crumbs or other goodies whichdrop near their haunts. The small pouched mice shed theirseeming indifference if anything of the kind come,s their way,and very quickly show an eager and confident expectancywhich other little creatures are slow to manifest. Amongst thestones and weatherworn rubble on a slight elevation, my friendSminthropsis has his un:Iawfully-acquired dwelling, which isbeing refurnished and touched-up in readiness for six smalltailless babies.- As yet the tiny mice are affixed firmly (mousefashion) to their mother, and are scarcely visible between thepouch openings, for, as in the case with the Larger Dasuridae,the pouch.young are not deposited in the nesting. chamber

until late in autumn or early winter. But then, when so deposited, the mother apparently retires with them, becomingtorpid, . and only occasionally releasing herself from their persistent attentions, or adherence, to find food or to attend totheir necessities.

As yet they are on:Iy very lightly clad on the upper surfacewith exceedingly short and very fine hair. Beneath they appearto be naked, but no t unbl'l lahingly so. As there is a rosy Hushon the small bodies, that may be due to embarraesment. Until

the snow-white hair thickly clothes the under parts, themother carries them on her back, a phalangeristic method oftransportation not often resorted to by their larger congeners,the Phascogales: I t appears that Mr . Sminthropsis is not allowednow inside the nest-chamber; the tables are turned since hewould not allow Mrs. Sminthropsis to even look outside. Sometimes he is hustled and hurried ignominiously out of the

,.general dwelling. Mrs. Sminthropsis is presuming on his latelyacquired meekness, and she is not even graciO


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12 THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST.

Farther back on the Plail1B on the sumiy. slope of a h i ~ h e relevation, and alSlO among stones, is the dwelling of the LOngtailed Rat (Pseudomys higginsij, who perhaps is the architectand mechanic of the castle now held by the small brigand,

Sminthropsis. The lat ter 's nest, when bui l t by his own hands,is a very different affair to that fashioned by Pseudomys, whosesagacious and skilful engineering we have watched w ~ t bmuchadmiration. He is 8 0 painstaking and resourceful, especiallyover the removal or transference of stones. H they are in theway he burrows or scrapes nearby, unt i l the stone slides, o rrolls, or is pushed into the depression. Small stones, if loose,are scratched or shouldered away, or i f near the entrance arearranged on the edge of the orifice, perhaps to prevent itsbreaking down, or the loose ear th from falling in. Largerones, which he uses to give stability to the rustic-work are bui l tup to stay the spreading of the roof. He carries them betweenchin and chest and forelegs, ei ther pushing laboriously forwardo r slewing round, proceeding backward as the jumping ant does.And more than once, when struggling with an awkwardly roundor smooth stone, we have seen the mouse drop the stone andcoil about it, clasping i t with l imbs and curved body. In thishold, in which claws, digits and l imbs alJl take part, they involuntarily revert to the infantine habi t of so clinging to themother? We have noticed i t with the swamp rats when carryingsticks. I t seems the remembrance recurs to the little animalswhen trying to convey a large substance into which i ts teethcannot penetrate. Instinctively, the Iimhs twine and the bodycoils about it. Of course, in this position se1f-locomotion is notpossible, and, i f the other mouse does not perceive the situation,

. the struggling navigator, after .some desperate rotary movements, abandons his hold and sits up with an amusingly be-wildered air. B ut i f the mate sees the prostrate one, i t racesover, and after trying to take the same attitude, or fussing

about for another hold, it, as an afte .. thought, grips the recumbent holder in the most convenient place, and summarily proceeds to drag i t and stone away. Sometimes" i t is by the tail,sometimes by the skin of the neck, back, o r l imb tha t the tuggrapples. H pulled by the tai l the tug proceeds backward withlitt le jerking pulls, but i f by the neck he marches eyes front,with head upraised, as a cat with heavy game, the loaded onebumping along between the wide-stepping forelegs. Occasionally an amusing altercation takes place i f the grip is a painfulone; o n a tender ear perhaps, or a too decided meeting of teeththrough a delicate surface. An expostulating squea.k warnshim to release i t and take a fresh hold on another p an . H thatalso is too tender the carried squeaks again, and may ei ther kickoonvulsively or, sitting up in a passion, retort in kind. Then i f


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14 THE TASMANtAN' N'ArtritALIST.

Leaving the open outskirts. of the Plj(w! If'e .p888 on, alwaysascending un,til we reach tha t part of the h i l t where the stoneb ~ o o m e sshale. Every foot of ground here is familiar, and 8 0 isthe forest-filled gully below. In this locality we ha'Vehunted for weeks, diligently exploring, arid narrowly searchingfor the various "hor.ee-hair" fungus, of which Captain I.owthertold us. He found i t on a Musk tree, and 8 0 we have intentlyscanned every Olearia of various species we have come acrose,and all other likely trees too, for that matter, and have mademany most interesting finds, and, to us, new discoveries, b ut theMycocna is pu t down at last among the unfindables, and w esurmise that some day when not hunting for it we shall stumbleon it. For in such fashion most of our discoveries are

accomplished. Many of them, too, until 8 0 found, were unknwn and unheard of by us, and they had to be despatched to, or information obtained, from scientific friends.The hil l of shaley rock is thinly clothed with growths of plants.peculiar to such soil-formation, as they will grow here whereothers fail, for there is not apparently much nutr iment in thesoil, which is grey in oolour, and poor and dusty. The rockand broken stone are what the bush man calls "rotten." I t isof splitting tendency, brittle in texture, l ight and thin, the "exoskeleton" of stone, so to say, without its solidity of inner filling.Perhaps i t is an indication of oil below the surface; becausesometimes a scum, as of kerosene or petrol, gives to seepedwater that has conected a greasy iridescence that gleams prismatical lyon the dark surface.

Small slender rods of Horizontal are .here, the realAristoteleia pedunculatus, of the unspotted flowers, with largeblack berries full of purple juicy pulp. There are one or twobushes of a coprosma with light green crinkled leaves, havingwaved margins and spine-pointed apices; having also brightalmost transparent red berries, large ~ a small morello. Andthere are long, lank bushes of Zieria, the vernacularappellation of which we utterly refuse to use, althoughacknowledging its justice. By-the-way, the pretty boroniashaped blossoms--which are dark purple on outside and of palelavender on the inner face of the petals. They have no appreciable perfume, except towards noon or when the sun has shonefulily on them, when they have an agreable fragrance. In strongdistinction leaves, bark, wood and roots have, i f touched orstirred by wind, a powerful and lasting odour. I t is most unpleasant, and i t soon becomes overpowering. In these respects,i.e., the flowers of sweet but evavescent fragrance, and thestrong and horrible odour of all other parts, there is a resemblance to some other shrubs exotics totally unallied, as ChoisyaMelianthus, Habrothamuns, etc., etc. '


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THE TASMANINNNATUItALIST. 15

There are a few of the sPecies of . h i ~ ~ t o p p e dStringyhark, called Bastard Gum. and one or two Red-leafed gums(Eucalyptus acervula), the retWish-hroWil- hark: amd thin, shining-surfaced leaves having a red light, o r re!ect'ioll, on the outermasses of foliage in dark.hued contrast to the other guIDS.Even more scattered, in scanty numbers, are the White .Pepperomints fE. linearis}. their young leaves glaueous, almost white,with powdery bloom. Ifuw strange i t is that these leaV'e8 thatare rank with the bi t ter essential oil, and most scarifying, i fhitten, to our l ips and tongues, are the leaves preferred as foodabove all others by the Phalangers? The Ringtail devourssuch quantities that the odour permeates' his flesh and minglesmost unpleasantly with his own furry and mossy animal odour;

the "Flying.'poSsum"a1ls0

passes all others to eat these stronglyperfumed, burning-flavoured leaves, which apparently have nomore unpleasant effect than have the jitty berries of theDrimys t o the Jays.

And this brings us to another kind of mouse, for lowerdown the slopes, where a water course nourishes fullervegetation, we found the Little Dormouse Phalanger (Dromicealepida) , entering on his winter slumber, the hibernaculumbeing merely a fissure, concealed by the bark in a weather

worn old Blackwood. We caught the gleam of fur tips standing.out like filaments of mould, and prised the bark back a little,enough to see the surprised occupant who blinked his prominent eyes--such large and pretty eyes! as he gazed sleepily;the large mouse-like ears moving and quivering enquiringly.

The otTer of a piece of apple was met by a contemptuoushiss as the little fellow curled himself more snugly and tightly,seemingly oblivious to a gently stroking finger. We noticed thetail was no t incrass8ted, as in Dromicia na,na, and that the head

was narrower, comparatively, although its smaller appearancemay have heen caused by the immensely large ears. These ears~ s o thinly covered with fine, short and whitish hairs as toappear naked and pinkly transparent, have the appearance ofheing 1JcX) large, and the extra fulness pleated on to the base. Inc o i t i n ~himself the Dormouse (of either kind) tucks in feet,nose and taU, and so curls into a ball with all extremities def-ended. It ' is tightly wedged in narrow quarters that perhapshelp to preserve the vital hea t that must dwell in his smallframe. Both sexes retire in this solitary winter seclusion intoexceedingly narrow cells. Qu}te different are the small andat first shallow nests where Mrs. Dromicia deposits her smallhrood when they can relinquish the teats. They are in evidencebefore building begins, and 8 0 are born, we suppose, in winter,as are most of the Marsupial infants.

tasnat 1928 vol2 no4 pp10-15 linton autumnplains

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