THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST, 



SOME NATURAL HISTORY NOTES FROM TOWNS- 

 VILLE, QUEENSLAND. 



Compiled ta' H. Kendall. 



( Rend before Field Naturalists Club of Victoria, WthMarch, 1895. j 



The following notes, mostly written by Mr. E. M. Cornwall 

 whilst residing at Roseneath, near Townsville, consist of extracts 

 from a "journal," into which I have worked portions of later 

 letters referring to the same subjects. 



After alluding to the wildness of his surroundings (as quoted 

 in a previous paper), Mr. C. says :— " I often go and sit on the 

 bank of the waterhole at the bottom of the garden. It is deep, 

 broad, and long, and when the creek bed is dry for miles and 

 miles water is abundant there. The banks, except at each end, 

 are steep, and present a mass of tangled roots which press down 

 to obtain the moisture necessary to sustain the trunks above. 

 Huge native fig trees grow around ; the Leichhardt Tree, or 

 Canary Wood, Sarcocephahis cordatus, with large paired leaves 

 and yellow globes of flower, besides many strange to me. Those 

 who have never seen a forest creek within the tropics can have 

 no idea of the luxuriance of the vegetation. During October 

 many of the trees and shrubs along the streams round here were 

 in bloom, and looked really beautiful — some a perfect blaze of 

 scarlet and gold. When out riding at night one can always tell 

 when near a creek, by the perfume, which at blossom time is 

 almost overpowering, long before the dark fringing belt comes 

 into view. The odour is like that of orange, cestrum, daphne, 

 amaryllis, gardenia, &c., blended together — at a distance 

 delightful, near at hand positively unpleasant. By the pool, 

 however, in the daytime, one does not long to get through the 

 belt of trees, but rather to linger and drink in the beauties of 

 the place. The water lilies seem here to have found an abiding 

 place safe from the despoilers, and flourish amazingly. White, 

 blue, and pink, and through the many shades between — it is hard 

 to find two flowers of exactly the same shade. In one corner, 

 overshadowed by a Leichhardt Tree, quite a patch of blossoms 

 is seen. One is a delicate mauve, another a deeper shade ; that 

 one almost white ; a fourth is lovely flesh pink. They all spring 

 from the one cluster of roots, but, like a family of fair women, 

 no two are alike. Over yonder, where the sun holds power for 

 almost the whole day, the colours are more defined. Some 

 blossoms are deep purple blue, with a clear white centre ; others 

 are pink, but far more ruddy than those grown in the shade. 

 The broad green leaves of these lilies nearly cover the surface of 

 the pool, making it apparently safe to walk upon. Here and 

 there the crimson under surface of a leaf is shown, veined with 



