436 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



" We got the loan of a boat from a contractor who was deepening the river a little 

 below Tiaro for the Queensland Government, and on the following day were joined by Mr. 

 Sheridan with his boat and servant. It was reported on all hands that the Barramunda 

 (the native name for Ceratodus) was to be found occasionally in the neighbourhood, and 

 we determined to spend the short time at our disposal in exploring the fauna of the river 

 for a few miles up stream. 



" Lieutenant Aldrich and Mr. Murray, with our escort and one or two natives whose 

 services we had secured, camped a little way up the river, and Mr. Sheridan and I, as the 

 seniors of the party, slept at Tiaro, rowing up the river in the morning, and usually reaching 

 the camping-ground in time to supply the materials of stew for luncheon, in the shape of 

 cockatoos, wallaby, ducks, &c, which we had shot by the way. For about ten clays the river 

 was fished day and night with net and rod, and fishes of several species were taken in large 

 numbers, but we found no trace of Ceratodus or of any allied form. We had taken with 

 us a number of powerful dynamite cartridges, and these were thrown, with a few feet of 

 Bickford's fuse attached, into the deeper pools, and in a minute or so a shock like a blow 

 from a heavy wooden mallet was felt on the bottom of the boat, one could see a slight 

 rise on the surface of the water, and perhaps a hundred fishes of different sorts and sizes 

 rose to the surface and floated on their backs or sides. Those we required were taken 

 into the boat with a landing net, and the rest recovered from their shock in a few minutes 

 and swam away. The number of individual fishes taken in this way was very large, but 

 it is somewhat singular that Ceratodus never occurred among them. At the end of 

 about ten days, however, three specimens were taken, one by Lieutenant Aldrich with 

 hook and bait, one in the trammel net, and one by the natives. 



" As our leave of absence was nearly exhausted, we now returned to Mary burgh, and 

 after waiting for a few days to catch a return steamer, rejoined the Challenger at Sydney." 



Two crania and a skeleton ' of the aborigines were obtained in the Queensland 

 district, and a number of Marsupials were collected during the trip above described, as 

 well as during other excursions in different parts of Australia. The latter, together with 

 two specimens of Thylacinus cynocephalus, which were sent to the Expedition from 

 Tasmania by the Governor of that colony, were on the return of the Expedition handed 

 to Professor D. J. Cunningham for anatomical examination, and a Beport giving the 

 result of his investigations appears in the Zoological Series of Beports. 2 



Hie Marsupialia. — This Beport deals with the myology, the arrangement of the 

 spinal nerves, and the visceral anatomy of the Marsupial animals brought home. Two 



1 Described in the Report on the Human Skeletons, The Crania, by Prof. Turner, F.R.S., Zool. Chall. Exp., part 

 xxix., 1884. 



2 Report on some points in the Anatomy of the Thylacine (Thylacincm cynocephalus), Cu9cus (Phalangista maculata), 

 and Phascogale (Pliascogale calura); with an account of Comparative Anatomy of the Intrinsic Muscles and the Nerves 

 of the Mammalian Pes, by Prof. D. J. Cunningham, M.D., Zool. Chall. Exp., part xvi., 1882. 



