26 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



generously offered to procure certain material for me. There was 

 a small amount of weed in the river but not a trace, of an egg. 

 On cutting open the body of a " salmon " I found the spawn inside, 

 looking very similar, indeed, to that of a frog, each separate egg 

 being black in colour at one pole. It was evidently not yet quite 

 ripe for laying. The season when Mr. Caldwell got his eggs in 

 September seems to have been an exceptional one as regards the 

 temperature and amount of weed in the river. There had been 

 no big flood for some time previously to his visit, so that the river 

 was full of weed and everything was favourable for the depositing 

 of spawn. This season, as luck would have it, the warm weather 

 started rather late and the weeds had been largely washed away by 

 heavy floods, the river at the end of September being comparatively 

 high. I think it safe to say that, granted the presence of eggs, they 

 could be got by "whites" just as well as by "blacks." Any collector 

 going at the right time and not frightened of tiring and tedious 

 work could get them for himself now that the manner of spawning 

 has once been ascertained. Each egg, surrounded by a little 

 gelatinous capsule, is laid on weed, but I think, from what I heard 

 with regard to Mr. Caldwell's methods, that he found it necessary 

 to spend a very considerable time in the neighbourhood of the river 

 whilst the embryos were slowly developing, as they were not easily 

 and safely carried about. The next day Dr. Siemen and I spent 

 together with, I trust, mutual enjoyment — at all events, to myself 

 it was one of the pleasantest days I spent in Queensland. I did 

 a small amount of collecting but it was far too dry and sandy to 

 get anything in the way of worms. Down by the river I came 

 across a black woman and piccaninny fishing, but they were 

 frightened when I spoke to them and fled. There were large 

 numbers of Danais erippus and of a beautiful'species of Acraea 

 with transparent wings. Late in the afternoon I attempted, but 

 with not very great success, to photograph some blacks. One 

 especially, named Frank, had his back scored with cicatrices in 

 regular pattern. 1 spent the evening till eleven o'clock with Dr. 

 Siemen and said good-bye to him wishing sincerely that he 

 might be successful in his endeavours to secure what we were 

 both in search of and what it was perfectly evident that I myself 

 could not obtain. 



I may say here that Dr. Siemen had with him the best of the 

 blacks who were with Mr. Caldwell and who secured for the latter 

 the eggs of Ceratodus. These blacks were fine and powerfully 

 built fellows, but here, as everywhere else, rum and disease are 

 rapidly lessening their numbers. 



On the way back our dogs started many big lizards and it was 

 amusing to see one of them hanging on to the tail of a large 

 Gyclodua gigas, whose head and body were hidden in the hollow 

 of a log. Jew Lizards we met, as well as species of Hinulia 



