An aboriginal GIRDLE. 



By EDGAR R. WAITE, F.L.S., C.M.Z.S., Director, S.A. Musklm. 



Plate V and Text fig. 351. 



The native girdle is the i)i'()perty of Mr. Norman Napier Birks, and T am 

 indebted to him for ]K'rmission to de.seribe it. It was obtained from "Northern 

 Qneensland," bnt fnrther information is not available. 



The girdle is 2590 mm. or 8.] ft. in length, and prol)ably eneireled the waist 

 of a native three times. It is formed of the eoeoons of a moth, strnng on sinnet, 

 160 eoeoons having been used. The eoi'oons are eharaeteristic of tliose of a moth 

 of the Family Bombyeidae, and probably belong to a speeies of the genus Pinara ; 

 Mr. Arthur M. Lea, our Entomologist, says that in the absence of the moth it is 

 not possible to more s]ie('ifi;'ally identify the eoeoon. As is usual with members 

 of the genus, the eoeoons were built on to small twigs; on tearing them off a sear 

 has been left and, in some eases, a jiortion of the twig still adheres: in stringing 

 the eoeoons the native has been eareful to so pierce them that the sear or twig 

 faces sideways, the appearance from back or front of the girdle not therefore 

 being marred. 



Fig. 'Sol. Coc-ooJis,* natural size. 



Each cocoon is about 40 mm. in length and 18 mm. in width; the open ends, 

 or those from which the moth has emerged, have been scineezed, doubtless while 

 the cocoon was fresh, and it is to be noticed that the squeezing has in all eases 

 been done with the thumb or linger on the scar-bearing side; when strung, 

 therefore, the flattened opening lies across the axis of the girdle. 



