Aborioinal Fish Hooks ^ 



243 



Museum, Sydney. During my absence from Sydney, Mr. Ram- 

 sey has kindly promised to take charge of all specimens that may 

 arrive for me at the museum. — Australian Exc/ian^^e. 



[The platypus, commonly known as the duck-i3ill, is found in 

 Van Dieman's Land and Australia. In its bill-like jaws, its spurs, 

 its monotrematous character, its non-placental development, and 

 its anatomy, it appears to be a connecting link between birds and 

 animals. — Ediiof .~\ 



THE RESURRECTION PEANT. 



This singular plant is really one of the wonders of creation 

 Imagine a bunch of withered looking, curled up shoots, brown, 

 stiff, and apparently dead, resembling a bird's nest. Place it in 

 water, in half an hour what a transformation ! The withered 

 looking bunch has now opened and is transformed into a lovely 

 patch of moss, entirely covering an ordinary plate. In its native 

 habitat, when the dry season sets in, the plant curls up into a 

 round ball and is wafted away by winds Irom place to place, 

 sometimes for hundreds of miles, when at last it reaches a moist 

 spot it gradually unfolds itself, makes new roots and thrives in its 

 new found home. This sensitiveness to moisture is so great that 

 even after the plant may seem dead it will open and close as if it 

 were alive. F. M. Gil ham's Catalogue. 



Washington, D. C, was made the capital of the United States 

 July 8th, 1792. 



ABORIGINAL FISHHOOKS. 



BY STEPHEN BOVVERS, PH. D. 



Four years ago. the writer contributed an article which was 

 published in Science on pre-historic lish- hooks, which he believes 

 to have been the first description of the true aboriginal fish-hooks 

 from this section of the country. Many of the specimens figured 

 and described as "hsh-hooks" are, doubtless, nothing more nor 

 less than ornaments which were worn in the 

 ears of the natives. This is true of Fig. i , 

 and possibly Fig. 2. The first was manufac- 

 tured from haliotis shell, and the cut is the 

 size of the original, which is true of all the 

 specimens figured in this paper. ^ 



It will be observed that the point of the ^/Jl 

 specimen first figured comes so near the 

 shank that when the end of the line was 

 looped upon it and cemented with asphaltum, 

 which was universally the case, the space 

 would be filled, and certainly it would be out 

 of the question to hook it into the mouth of 

 a fish. 



Figure i. 



