Dec.,"! K'BRSH AW, A Naturalist in Northern Queensland. 113 



A NATURALIST IN NORTHERN QUEENSLAND. 



By J. A. Kershaw, F.E.S., Curator of the National Museum, 



Melbourne. 

 [Read before the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, gth Nov., 191 4.) 

 In October of last year Dr. W. Macgillivray, of Broken Hill, 

 and his son Ian proposed to undertake an extended collecting 

 trip to the Claudie River district, in the northern portion of 

 Cape York Peninsula, North Queensland, and kindly invited 

 me to join them. This, with the consent of the Trustees of 

 the Museum, I was only too pleased to do. 



It was arranged that we should proceed by rail to Brisbane, 

 thence by boat as far north as the Claremont Island lightship, 

 situated about midway between Cape Melville and Cape 

 Grenville. Here we would transfer into a lugger owned by 

 a heche-de-nier trader (Mr. H. Giblett) and go on to Lloyd 

 Island, in the bay of that name just north of Cape Direction 

 and close to the mainland. At Lloyd Island we expected to 

 meet our friend Mr. W.M'Lennan, an enthusiastic ornithologist, 

 and would then leave for the Claudie River, which empties 

 itself into Lloyd Bay some miles to the south of the island. 



Leaving Melbourne on the evening of the 24th October, we 

 travelled direct to Brisbane, which we reached late in the 

 evening of the 26th. The next three days were busily occupied 

 in purchasing and packing the greater part of the collecting 

 material, stores, &c., required for our lengthened visit, and on 

 the evening of the 29th we left Brisbane on our journey north. 



We were favoured with exceptionally fine weather and a 

 perfectly calm sea, and, although the heat gradually became 

 more and more intense, it did not in any way interfere with 

 the enjoyment of the trip. On the second day we found 

 ourselves inside the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef, 

 and from now on were continually passing the numerous 

 islands, large and small, scattered over the sea between the 

 Barrier and the mainland. Many are high and rugged, rising 

 steeply from the water, others rounded and covered with 

 vegetation, or mere sand-banks. Very few birds were noticed 

 about the islands, but several butterflies were seen flying past 

 the ship. In places the suiface of the sea was covered for 

 many miles with a greenish, slimy-looking substance, which 

 gave the water an oily appearance. Numbers of porpoises 

 were seen, while the sea was teeming with enormous shoals of 

 large silvery fishes said to be " Kingfish." On either side of the 

 boat these could be seen swimming close to the surface, and 

 frequently springing high out of the water as they were pur- 

 sued by the porpoises, while at a distance the shoals were 

 indicated by the broken surface of the smooth sea. Occasion. 



