NOTE ON THE "MEEIDIONAL ANTHILLS" OF THE 

 CAPE YORK PENINSULA. . 



By ROBERT L. JACK, F.G.S., F.R.G.S. 



(Government Geologist). 



[Read before the Royal Society of Queensland, September 12, 1896.] 



From the Laura railway terminus northward to Somerset a 

 peculiar type of anthill is met with. The anthills in question 

 are particularly noticeable wherever there is a flat piece of poor 

 soil which is a bog in the wet season. Their frequency and 

 distribution is such that nothing can be added in the way of 

 description to the name which the bushman has bestowed upon 

 their sites, " graveyard flats." They are just about as numerous 

 and as regularly disposed as the headstones in an old metropoli- 

 tan cemetery. 



From the Laura to Somerset the anthills gradually increase 

 from three feet to such a height that I have frequently been 

 unable to touch the top with a riding whip while standing in 

 the stirrups. 



The foundations and summits are strictly north and south, 

 so much so that a man " bushed " could steer by them, so long 

 as he was able to distinguish north fro)ii south. The average 

 ratio of the length of the base to the height is as four to five, 

 and of the breadth of the base to the height as two to five. The 

 top is sharp but serrated, culminating in a series of sharp peaks. 

 To give stability to the structure, however, buttresses are thrown 

 out, like those of some species of Ficus and other trees in the 

 tropical jungles. These buttresses interfere with the regularity 

 of the plan of the foundation, but not with that of the top, as 

 they always taper to a point when they cease to be necessary as 

 supports. 



Over many a camp fire, and in the company of many 

 naturalists, I have heard the question argued : W/iy are the 



