roo Kf.artland. Some Tntroducecl Avimals. [vor'xxxvii 



turned loose. Whilst with the Calvert Exploring Expedition 

 in the desert of North-West Australia, in iSqb, our party 

 disturbed a fine large tabh}- cat from a liollow log at a place 

 at least 400 miles from the nearest human residence ; but when 

 we reached a lagoon south of the Fitzroy, River I counted the; 

 skeletons or skulls of forty-seven cats, which had probably 

 died of thirst when the lagoon had dried up. \\'lien caught 

 in a trap they are the most formidable animals in Australia to 

 deal with. The natives in the North-^^'est relish cats as food, 

 as they are all XQxy fat. On one occasion I shot one, and 

 offered a lubra the choice of the cat or a pair of Wild Ducks 

 for her dinner. She preferred the former, as it was nice and fat. 



Deer. — Over sixty years ago some of our wealthy land- 

 owners kept deer in large enclosures, and whether the animals 

 escaped or were liberated I cannot say ; but \\\ey were soon 

 seen near the Dandenong Ranges, and hav^e since gradually 

 spread through South (rippsland. In some districts they do 

 damage in the orchards, i)ut where a settler tries a crop of 

 oats or wheat he is soon visited by these animals, and the crop 

 suffers. W^hilst on a visit to my daughter at Stradbroke, near 

 the Ninetv-Mile Beach, we lieard a deer bark at night. The 

 dog was sent after him, but he cleared the fence and escaped. 

 In the morning the crop presented a sorry appearance, as 

 though fifty sheep had been through it. Shoidd deer become 

 a nuisance in any district the Government now grants permits 

 to kill a certain number ; but even this action fails to keep the 

 animals within reasonable limits. 



The remarkable feature in connection witli the animals of 

 which 1 have spoken is that, although the thousands of some 

 species have descended from a few individuals, and con- 

 sequently are much in-bred, they are in most cases larger and 

 more vigorous than the stock from which they originated. 



TiiK Western Australian Christmas-Tree. — In tlie 

 recently-issued Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Socicly of 

 Western Anslralia, vol. v., ioi8-iq, is an interesting ])aper by 

 Mr. D. A. Herbert, H.Sc, I'conomic Botanist and Plant 

 Pathologist to the Western Australian (iovernment, in which 

 he discusses the life-history and position of the well-known 

 Christmas Tree, Niiyisia floribimda, R. J>r., which has long 

 been regarded as a doubtful parasite. A remarkable fact about 

 the tre(; is that, being so very floriferous, it exhausts itself, 

 and rarely prr)duces seeds, while should seeds be produced 

 they are generally infertile : l)ut by thinning f)Ut the blossoms 

 fertile seeds mav I"' secured. The tree, in order to mnltij^ly 

 itself, sends out long rmdergro\md stems, sometimes as long 

 as one hunflred \ards, which give off at intervals aerial branches. 



