^^y-l Spencer, What is Nardoo. ic 



1918 J ' 



To sum up the evidence in regard generally to nardoo, it may 

 be said that — 



(i) Nardoo or gnardu is the native name in the Yantruwanta 

 tribe for the plant Marsilea quadrifolia and the food product 

 derived from it. 



(2) The name nardoo is applied to this plant and its product 

 only. There is no real evidence of its ever having been applied 

 by the natives to any other plant or its product. 



(3) The nardoo referred to in connection with the Burke and 

 Wills Expedition is the plant Marsilea quadrifolia, its sporo- 

 carps, and the product derived from these, on which the sur- 

 vivor King lived until he was rescued by Dr. Howitt at Cooper's 

 Creek in 1861. 



The Blue-Tongued Lizard. — A friend, Mr. G. A. Heumann, 

 of Sydney, who has kept Blue-tongued Lizards in captivity for 

 years, was fortunate not long ago in seeing some young born. 

 He says within an hour and a half the female dropped seventeen 

 young. Supporting the front part of the body on the ground, 

 she raised her back legs and body above the ground, and dropped 

 the young at short intervals. These were encased in an oval- 

 shaped skin bag, the tail being bent along the body towards the 

 head. After a few moments the young lizard pushed its head 

 out of the bag, halted, evidently to take its first breath and a view 

 of the world, and then wriggled right out. The skin bag being 

 attached to the abdomen, the young made short work of getting 

 rid of it by eating it ; this was their first feed. Still many of 

 them were not satisfied, and at once ate three or four meal- 

 worms in addition. Then they walked straight away under 

 cover, and took not the slightest notice of the mother, or she 

 of them. On several occasions young Blue-tongued Lizards 

 have been born in the Melbourne Zoo, but fewer in number at 

 a time. Mr. Heumann's interesting account agrees with what 

 I have seen here. — D. Le Souef, Parkville. 



Raining Springtails. — On the morning after the storm of 

 Saturday, 2nd March, 1918, my attention was arrested by a 

 black deposit in the tile gutters at the side of the garden path 

 at my house at Balwyn. At first sight it looked like menac- 

 canite or iron-sand ; but, probing it with the finger, it yielded, 

 and not only yielded, but began to jump in all directions. An 

 examination with a lens showed it to be composed of myriads 

 of tiny insects, measuring about .7 mm. in length, since found 

 to be related to the order Collembola, Lubbock, of which 

 Lipura is a well-known genus. Mr. F. Spry informs me that 



