The South Australian Naturalist. 35 



AUSTRALIA. 



A hidden corner where old Time has slept, 



Where Evolution ceased its course and kept 



The ancient forms of man and beast and bird. 



AVide solitudes, where old-Avorld sounds are heard, 



Where creatures strange, with habits still more strange, 



3Iid old-world types of plants and trees yet range. 



Elsewhere long buried : curious fossil things. 



Birds reptile-like, and beast-birds wanting wings; 



Uncanny beasts whose young from eggs emerge, 



And giant birds who never felt flight's urge, 



But graze like sheep upon the salty plain; 



Others whose buried eggs two months remain 



Before they hatch, to meet the sun's bright ray 



From Mother Earth's warm womb to scented day. 



A primal people lead their simple life 



As did our forbears, with stone axe and knife ; 



Outliving mighty empires now in dust. 



Living from day to day in simple trust : 



No fields of corn, no treasure hoarded b3% 



But trusting Nature's laws they live and die. 



And though ten thousand years tw^ice o'er they've spanned, 



They wither off at touch of white man's hand, 



And fade as shadows away .... 



December 12, 1920. T. P. BELLCHAMBERS. 



'WATER TIGERS." 



By E. L. Savage. 



Watching some of my fish in the pond a few days ago, I 

 noticed them coming to the surface to catch the small flies 

 which settle on the surface of the water in hundreds ; at least, 

 the fish tried to catch them, but generally missed. When all 

 was still, I noticed something else dart up and drag a fly down. 

 I watched it further, and soon saw that the newcomer was the 

 larva of the Dytiscus, or water beetle; from its habits, this 

 animal is also knoAvn as the 'Svater tiger." 



