BY FRITZ NOETLING, M.A.. Ph.D., ETC. 281 



and kangaroo may be said to be their chief support" (i). 

 Cook found they were fond of birds, and Davies (2) 

 states that he saw a female eat sixty eggs of the sooty 

 petrel. He also states that they collected the eggs of the 

 black swan for food (3). The emu was apparently a 

 particularly sought for delicacy. 



Davies further states that they were v.ery fond of a 

 large white grub (4), found in rotten wood, and that the 

 eggs of the large ants (5) were considered a delicacy. 



So far all writers agree, but I can find only one re- 

 ference (6) that they were " particularly fond of the flesh 

 of the deadly snakes and guana." 



It further seems that they never touched fish of any 

 kind. Several writers, like Holman, Lloyd, and Melville 

 are very emphatic on this point, and their evidence is in 

 some way supported by the fact that no fish bones were 

 so far found in the kitchen middens. They were, how- 

 ever, experts in spearing fish, and one of the few of their 

 legends that are handed over to us describes a deadly 

 fight between a man and the dreaded stinging ray 

 (Urolophus cruciatus). 



Not one of the authors quoted by Ling Roth even 

 hints that they consumed the flesh of Dasyuridae, viz., 

 Thylacinus cynocephalus (the so-called tiger), Sarcophilus 

 ursinus (the so-called devil), Dasyurus maculatus (the 

 native cat), and Dasyurus viverrinus. They neither con- 

 sumed the Monotremata, viz.. Platypus and Echidna. 



It is undoubtedly very remarkable that even at the 

 low state of civilisation represented by the Aborigines, 

 human beings preferred the flesh of the herbivorous 

 animals, and declined to eat that of the carnivorous. The 



(i) Widowson, Present State of Van Diemen's Land, Lon- 

 don, 1829. 



(2) Davies, on the Aborigines of Van Diemen's Land, Tasm. 

 Journ. Nat. Science, Vol. II., 1846. 



(3) In addition to the eggs they certainly consumed birds, as 

 proved by the numerous bones found in the Rocky Cape cave 

 deposits. — F. N. 



(4) Most probably the larvae of Zeuzera eucalypti. 



(5) Probably Diamma bicolor. 



(6) Melville, Van Diemen's Land, comprising a variety of 

 statistical and other information, Hobart, 1833. 



