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GATHERINGS OF A NATURALIST
IN
AUSTRALASIA:
BEING
OBSERVATIONS PRINCIPALLY ON THE
ANIMAL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS
OF
NEW SOUTH WALES, NEW ZEALAND,
AND SOME OF THE
AUSTRAL ISLANDS.
BY
GEORGE BENNETT , M.D., F.L.S., F.Z.S.,
FELLOW OF THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF SURGEONS OF ENGLAND;
MEMBER OF THE MEDICAL FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY, NEW SOUTH WALES;
AND
AUTHOR OF "WANDERINGS IN NEW SOUTH WALES, SINGAPORE, AND CHINA."
LONDON:
JOHN VAN VOORST, PATERNOSTER ROW.
MDCCCLX.
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PRINTED BY TAYLOR AND FRANCIS,
RED LION COURT, FLEET STREET.
[PREFACE]
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PREFACE.
IN the present day, no apology is necessary for offering to the public some practical information with regard to the productions of Australia and its dependencies. It is not long since Australia was looked upon as a country capable only of producing wool; its trees were described as arid and unpicturesque in character and growth, and useless as timber; the aborigines were almost regarded as a link between Man and the Apes; and the whole territory was considered as formed from the debris of other portions of the globe. Although these crude and imperfect notions have, to a certain extent, given way, as the labours of travellers and naturalists have furnished a truer picture of the great Australian region, it is still a matter of surprise to the colonist, on his arrival in the mother country, to find so much ignorance prevailing there respecting regions now peopled by hundreds of thousands of Englishmen. With some of the productions of Australia, the merchant is certainly familiar, but the public generally are quite unacquainted with the capabilities of the colony for the production of other valuable exports.
Australia is a vast region, which, whether we consider the peculiarity and variety of its indigenous plants and animals, the value of its products, or the fertility of its soil, must be interesting alike to the naturalist, the merchant, and the agriculturist. The mineral wealth of this vast continent has been, as yet, by no means adequately explored. The Australian coal-fields promise, at no distant period, to yield results, of which, at present, we can form no conception; in some districts copper is found in large quan-
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tities; and, among the precious metals, gold is abundant. 1 But notwithstanding the large supplies of these metals which have been sent to Europe of late years, there can be little doubt that further researches will reveal the existence of stores of minerals of which we have now no suspicion, and the influence of which upon the future development of the Australian colonies must prove incalculably great.
At present also the pastoral capabilities of Australia far exceed the agricultural; but the time has arrived when, in consequence of our extended knowledge of agricultural chemistry, and the increased supply of labour resulting from the discovery of gold, agriculture must become far more widely diffused over the country, and thus add greatly to its wealth. In a region so extensive, every diversity of climate necessarily occurs, suitable for the cultivation of the vegetable productions, and the acclimatization of the valuable and useful animals of all other parts of the world, which thrive there most luxuriantly. The sunny climes of Spain and Italy do not produce Oranges, and other fruits of the Citron tribe, in greater perfection than the northern parts of the Australian continent. The Tea-plant of China, the Cotton-tree, Coffee-tree, Sugar-cane, and other tropical productions, the Firs of Canada, and the English Oak, thrive equally well, mingled with the trees of America and the vegetable products of India.
Scarcely more than seventy years have elapsed since Botany Bay (a name highly suggestive of the fertility
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of the soil), then only known from the explorations of Captain Cook, and stigmatized as a penal settlement fit only for the reception of expatriated felons, and inhabited by wild and naked savages, offered little to awaken the curiosity of a people so remote as ourselves. A voyage to the Antipodes was then no easy matter. A fact was history here when it became first known in those distant regions; and now, how striking, how impressive the change, when, by the overland journey through Egypt, the European is enabled to exchange visits with his friends or relatives in various parts of Australia and in the remoter colony of New Zealand, --when the London newspapers are delivered in Sydney (a distance of 18,000 miles) fifty-five days after date, with as much regularity as in Edinburgh or Dublin; nay, when it has been calculated that, by the Panama route, news may reach England from Sydney in the brief space of from thirty-five to forty days! As a necessary consequence of such facility of intercourse, the relations existing between Great Britain and the Australian colonies are becoming every day more important; commerce is rapidly extending its friendly network of alliance between the parent country and her vigorous progeny, which is able to make an abundant return for the fostering care whereby it has been raised to its present prosperous condition. Education for all classes has been particularly attended to, in the establishment of national, denominational, grammar, and other schools; and by the endowment of Universities, both in the cities of Sydney and Melbourne, to which Her Majesty has, by her recent gracious act, granted that, under Letters Patent, the Degrees of those Universities shall be entitled to the same rank, precedence, and consideration throughout
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the British dominions, as the Degrees granted by any University in the United Kingdom.
Under these circumstances, the information which the Author has been able to collect regarding the distribution and economic value of many of the useful productions of the Australian colonies, will, he hopes, prove interesting. Considerations of a very different kind have induced him to give a somewhat extended account of several of the indigenous Australian animals, with whose habits he has made himself familiar, and the history of some of which he has had the good fortune to have been the first to make known to the scientific world. Many of the Australian quadrupeds and birds are not only peculiar to that country, but are, even there, of comparatively rare occurrence; and such has been the war of extermination recklessly waged against them, that they are in a fair way of becoming extinct. Even in our own time, several have been exterminated; and unless the hand of man be stayed from their destruction, the Ornithorhynchus and the Echidna, the Emeu and the Megapodius, like the Dodo, Moa, and Notornis, will shortly exist only in the pages of the naturalist. The Author hopes that what he has been induced to say with reference to this important subject will not be without weight to every thoughtful colonist.
The drawings, with a few exceptions, are from the accurate pencil of Mr. G. F. Angas, well known for his correct delineations of subjects of Natural History, and the author of three splendid works illustrative of the scenery and natives of New Zealand, South Australia, and Southern Africa.
Athenaeum Club, Pall Mall, June 1860.
[CONTENTS]
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CONTENTS.
CHAPTER I.
General Features of the Australian Continent.--Characteristic Vegetation.--Birds.--Mammalia.--Marine Productions.--Physalia pelagica.--Flying-fish...............1
CHAPTER II.
Dolphin.--Bonito.--Distoma clavatum.--Albicore.--Caranx, or Rudder-fish.--Sword-fish (Tetrapturus).--Sharks.--White Shark.--Pilot-fish (Naucrates ductor).--Port Jackson Shark (Cestracion Philippii).--Carcharias of Port Jackson.--Watt's or Tiger-Shark (Squalus barbatus). -Sucking-fish (Echeneis remora)...............20
CHAPTER III.
Sargasso Weed.--Rare Cephalopods.--Cranchia scabra. - Loligo laticeps. - Octopus semipalmatus. - Spirula.--Sea Leaf-insects (Phyllosoma).--Smerdis.--Glaucus, or Sea Lizard. --Hyalaea trident ata.--Cleodora.--Porpita chrysocoma.--Velella scaphidea.--Janthina fragilis, or Violet Shell.--Carinaria vitrea.--Leptocephalus, or Glass Eel................37
CHAPTER IV.
Luminosity of the Ocean.--Phosphorescent Animals.--Phosphorescent Vegetables.--Luminous Agaric.--Noctiluca.--Salpae--Pyrosoma.--Luminous Medusae.--Various Facts connected with the Phenomenon of Phosphorescence of the Ocean.--Luminous Sharks (Squalus fulgens).................58
CHAPTER V.
Albatroses.--Frigate Birds.--Tropic Birds.--Cape Petrel (Daption Capensis)...................70
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CHAPTER VI.
Entrance into Port Jackson.--Sydney.--General Features of the Country.--Platypus, or Water-Mole (Ornithorhynchus paradoxus)....................92
CHAPTER VII.
Porcupine Ant-eater (Echidna hystrix).--Long-tailed Flying Opossum (Belideus flaviventris).--Flying Fox (Pteropus Edwardsii).--Australian Sperm Whale (Catodon Australis).--Euphysetes Grayii. - Dugong (Halicore Australis).............147
CHAPTER VIII.
Migration and Acclimatization of Birds.--Laughing Kingfisher.--Mountain Pheasant or Lyre Bird (Menura superba).--Menura Alberti. - Pheasant's Mother (Orthonyx spinicaudatus). - Black-backed Porphyrio or Red-bill.--Mandarin Duck.--Variegated Bee-eater.--Orange-winged Nuthatch (Sitella chrysoptera).. . 168
CHAPTER IX.
Jabiru.--Pink Lotus.--Hornbill Cuckoo.--Fan-tailed Flycatcher and Cuckoo.--Eastern Black Cuckoo (Eudynamys Flindersii).--Dragoon Bird.--Reed or Swamp Warbler.--Coach-whip Honey-eater.--Razor-grinder Bird.--Bell Bird.--Dwarf Acanthiza.--Emeu Wren.--Phillip Island Parrot (Nestor productus).--Rifle Bird.--Regent Bird.--Dollar Bird.--Emeu.--Native Companion.--Piping Crow.....................195
CHAPTER X.
Parrots.--Canary Parrot (Melopsittacus undulatus). -Honey-suckers.--Honey-sucking Parrots.--Satin Bird.--Bower Bird (Chlamydera maculata).--Black Swan.--Semipalmated Goose.--Australian Storm Petrels.--Gulls.--Terns.............227
CHAPTER XI.
The Mooruk or Cassowary of New Britain, South Pacific Ocean (Casuarius Bennetti)................243
CHAPTER XII.
Lemon-scented Gum-tree.--Paropsis.--Saw-Fly (Perga Scottii).--Web-spinning Insect.--Tree-Hopper or Locust (Tettigonia).--Greek-lettered, Tuberculated, and Diamond Beetles................265
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CHAPTER XIII.
Saurians.--Black Snake.--Brown Snake.--Tree-Snake.--Diamond-Snake.--Carpet-Snake.--Sea-Snakes.--Death Adder.--Yellow Snake.--Treatment of Snake-Bites.................274
CHAPTER XIV.
Penrith.--Nepean River.--Vallisneria.--Australian Shrike (Vanga destructor).--Lance-wood.--Darters or Snake Birds.--Acacias.--Cormorants.--Wallaby Kangaroo.--Blue Mountains.--Larvae eaten by the Blacks.--Boomerang.................281
CHAPTER XV.
Australian and African Adansonia (Adansonia digitata and A. Gregorii).--Gigantic Nettle (Urtica gigas).--Rice-Paper Tree (Aralia papyrifera)...................292
CHAPTER XVI.
The Orange-tree in Australia.--Its Cultivation.--Commercial Importance.--Mr. R. Hill's Orangery.--Cultivated Varieties.--Soil.--Manuring.--Insects.--Orange-Locust.--Annual Crops.--Pruning, Grafting, and Budding.--Value of Orange and other Flowers for Perfumery..................303
CHAPTER XVII.
Moreton-Bay Chestnut.--Casuarinas.--Christmas-tree (Ceratopetalum gummiferum).--Bunya-Bunya.--White Cedar-tree.--Lillipilly-trees (Acmena).--Silky Oak (Grevillea robusta).--Aloe.--Bamboo.--Banana.--Oleander.--Castor-Oil Tree.--Weeping Willow.--Loquat.--Guava.--Cherimoya...................322
CHAPTER XVIII.
Botanic Garden.--Acacias.--Gigantic Lily (Doryanthes excelsa).--Woolly Butt Gum-tree.--Candle-nut Tree (Aleurites triloba).--Tauna Figs.--Norfolk-Island Pines.--Pampas Grass.--Fire-tree (Nuytsia floribunda).--Blood-wood Tree.--Karaka-tree.--Lemon Grass.--Dammaras of Australasia.--Flame-tree.--Combretum.--Ficus stipulata.................334
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CHAPTER XIX.
Waratah or Tulip-tree.--Seasons in Australia.--Satin- or Velvet-flower.--Eucalypti or Gum-trees.--Iron-Bark.--Stringy-Bark.--Manna-tree.--Black Plum (Cargillia Australis).--Currijong.--Cabbage Palm.--Eupomatia laurina.--Yellow Gum- or Grass-tree.--Quandong (Fusanus acuminatus).--Banksia or Honeysuckles.--Sweet Tea-plant.--Macrozamia.--Bulrushes (Typha)...............357
CHAPTER XX.
Species of Nautilus.--Their Range.--Rumphius's Account.--Discovery at Erromanga.--Structure of the Animal.--Shells as Ornaments.--Used as Food.--Native Method of Capture...............374
CHAPTER XXI.
Vegetable Productions of the Austral Islands.--Tamanu (Calophyllum inophyllum).--Pandanus.--Sago-Palm.--Arrow-root.--Turmeric.--Kava.--Bread-Fruit Tree.--Sugar-Cane.--Taro.--Banana and Fehi or Mountain Plantain.--Ferns.--Physic-nut (Jatropha cvrcas).--Upas-tree (Antiaris)..................386
CHAPTER XXII.
Medicinal Remedies in Polynesia.--New Zealand Coprosma.--Aralia crassifolia.--Asplenium lucidum.--New Zealand Flax.--Wine-berry Shrub (Coriaria sarmentosa).--New Zealand Pines.--Tree Ferns.--Trees of the Sandwich Islands.--Spurious Sandal-wood (Myoporum tenuifolium).--Apu Fern (Cibotium Chamissoi)....................404
CHAPTER XXIII.
Overland Route from Sydney to Southampton...................422
[LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS]
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ILLUSTRATIONS.
PLATES (coloured).
Australian Jabiru and Pink Lotus ................Frontispiece. described at page 200
Portuguese Man-of-war.................................. 8
Australian Water-Mole.................................. 135
Mooruk ................................................. 264
Australian Baobab Tree (tinted) .......................... 294
Rice-Paper Plant ...............; ......................... 300
Christmas Tree .......................................... 324
Gigantic Lily ............................................ 340
WOODCUTS.
Port Jackson Shark .................................... page 27
Head of the Sucking-fish .................................... 34
Sea Lizard ................................................ 44
Porpita chrysocoma.......................................... 53
Glass Eel.................................................. 58
Luminous Medusa .......................................... 80
Diagram illustrating Flight of the Albatros .................... 78
Burrow of the Ornithorhynchus .............................. 118
Nest and Egg of the Orange-winged Nuthatch .................. 194
Flycatcher feeding a young Cuckoo............................ 208
Chart of New Britain........................................ 248
View of the "Mother and Daughters" ........................ 249
Changes of Paropsis ........................................ 266
Flocculent Secretion of Tettigonia, magnified.................... 271
Various forms of the Boomerang .............................. 291
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Microscopic structure of the down of the Rice-Paper Plant.... page 302
Australian Orangery ........................................ 312
Anomalous form of Orange .................................. 321
Foliage of Acacia............................................ 338
Norfolk-Island Pines ........................................ 342
Quandong Fruit and Flowers ................................ 366
Apparatus for capturing Nautili .............................. 384
Fillet of Nautili Shells ...................................... 385
Horoeka-tree........................................ 408
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