BY FRITZ XOETLING, M.A., Ph.D., ETC. 



293 



The absence of a name for the greatly appreciated 

 fungus, Alylitta austrahs, is rather strange, and difBcult 

 to account for. We know that up to the present day this 

 fungus is popularly called '' native bread," but I cannot 

 find any word under that heading. There is a word for 

 bread, " pannaboo '' or " pannaboona," but as we know 

 that bread was unknown to the Aborigines until they 

 came in contact with the Europeans, we must either as- 

 sume that this word signifies the Alylitta australis or, 

 as I rather feel inclined to believe, that it is an adopted 

 word (i). 



A further omission is also remarkable: Billardiere 

 refers to Fucus palmatus and ficoides as being favourite 

 vegetables. Xo name can be found in any of the vocabu- 

 laries. 



All evidence tends to prove that the Aborigines 

 existed mainly on a meat diet, consisting of the following 

 classes : — 



A.— MAMMALS. 



1. Kangaroo (2 species). 



2. Wallaby. 



3. Opossum (3 species). 



4. Wombat. 



5. Seals (3 species). 



6. Kangaroo rat. 



It is certain that they never touched any of the car- 

 nivorous animals, though they distinguished them by 

 names. There is also no record that they consumicd 

 the Prototremata, Echidna and Platypus, though both 

 animals were well known to them. 



B.— BIRDS. 



Besides the emu, which probably formed one of the 

 staple articles of food, a large number of birds were dis- 

 tinguished by them. Though the bones of birds are 

 rather common in the cave deposits near Rocky Cape, in 



(i) Can it be possible that it is a corrupted form of the 

 French " pain "? 



