56 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



EXHIBITS. 



By Mr. A. Coles. — Stuffed specimen of Blackfish, Gadopsis 

 gracilis, caught in the Biinyip River. Weight, 5 lbs. 4 ozs. ; 

 length, 24 inches. 



By Mr. C. French, jun. — Twig of apple tree showing seeds of 

 mistletoe (Loranthus) germinating. The seeds of mistletoe are 

 disseminated by the birds known as the Swallow Dic^eum. 



By Mr. J. A. Kershaw, F.E.S., for the National Museum, Mel- 

 bourne. — Photographs of Basking Shark, Getorhlnus maximus ; 

 also of teeth of same (enlarged), in illustration of paper. 



By Mr. A. J. North, C.M.Z.S. — Photographs of Schoenicola 

 platyura and Eremiornis carteri (natural size) in illustration of 

 paper. 



After the usual conversazione the meeting terminated. 



ON THE SHELL-FISH FOOD REMAINS OF 

 ABORIGINALS. 

 Bv D. Le Souef. 

 {Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, Uth April, 1902.) 

 In days gone by the aboriginals who inhabited the vicinity of 

 the sea-coast seem to have lived largely on shell-fish, and 

 during the course of ages — how long we do not know — 

 enormous quantities of shells have gradually been heaped 

 together, in many places forming mounds of considerable 

 height — for instance, in Northern Australia, on the shores of 

 the Gulf of Carpentaria. Mr. W. E. Roth says : — " Between 

 the junction of the Hey and Embley Rivers are to be found 

 middens of burnt shell, mainly of A7-ca granosa, some of tiie 

 mounds reaching to a height of over thirty feet, and dotted 

 over a distance of from a quarter to half a mile in length. On the 

 tops of them may be seen remains of fires and huts, the shells, 

 after cooking, having been thrown down the sides. Considering 

 that the total number of tons of shells comprising these mounds 

 must be reckoned in hundreds, probably thousands, cind that the 

 local population is comparatively scarce, the process of their 

 formation has evidently been going on for several generations 

 past." 



Personally I have not seen any mounds of a similar size on the 

 Victorian coast, although it is quite possible they exist, but whether 

 you go along the ocean beach or the shores of the bay, or many of 

 the river banks, you will find evidences of the former existence of 

 natives by the remains of their kitchen middens and the bones 

 and shell remains scattered about them. For instance, take the 

 ocean beach at Sorrento as a sample of the rest. There you will 

 find on the top of the cliffs, or on sand hummocks now more or 



