60 IIOUN KXl'KDITION — NAKKATIVE. 



iiuuiImi' (if young oul's oontaiiicil in c.icli cocoon only coaipai'abivt'ly very few c;ui 

 cVLT rca<li maturity. 



Two (lays' tia\ cllinL; from Ilcnlniiy bi ought us to a sj)ot known as lluiining 

 Wa.t(^is, on tli(! J'^inkc. llcic i\\(\ wa.Uu-, which has iK^cn f(i]lowing th(j liver bed 

 beneath the surface, I'ises up, and the rai'c sight of water actually running for a 

 short distance is seen, but it soon sinks clown again and leaves nothing l)ut the 

 dry sandy Ijetl. Tli('r(^ must be at this spot s(jme Ijar of rock over which the water 

 is foiced to rise. In the water-liole by which we canij)ed for the night were 

 plenty of tish and an abundant growth of Potamogeton, Vallisneria, and a plant 

 (Ncii'as major) with small, thick, succulent leaves. We also secured specimens of 

 the craylish, which tui'iis out to be the Astacopsis biiarinatiis, which is widely 

 tlistributed over Eastern Australia, from Queensland in the north to Victoria in 

 the south, and which is apparently also widely scatt(!red over the interior. The 

 wide distriljution of this particular species is evidently associated with its 

 capability of adapting itself to life un(_ler varying conditions. In Victoria we 

 always lind it in creeks and water-lioles ; but when the latter dry up it will make 

 a burrow and throw up a cast perhaps a foot high, with a small tubular passage 

 leading thi'ough it to the underground chamber, where a supply of water is kept. 

 Under normal conditions in Victoria it remains in the water, and what is called 

 the " land crab," wliich always lives under logs or in Ijurrows on Imd, often far 

 away from water, b('longs t(j a dillerent genus iyEu;^iciis, ••^J).). This genus is only 

 f(jund ill Tasmania and !>outli(^rn Victoria, and docs not extend up into (Queensland 

 or even New .South Wales. In the more northern parts, as in t^uei^nsland, the 

 As/tiiopsis hicarinatiis w ill go on to and liurrow in land away from water just like 

 the liiigieus, and it is this power of adaptability to varying environment which 

 enaljles it to survive in Central Australia. 



Like the true land cralj i^Telphiisa /ransvcrsa) before referiuul to, when the 

 drought comes it retires into a luirrow in the banks of the water hole. The 

 natives know well and ajjpreciatc^ it as an article of food, for sometimes it grows 

 into the size of a small lobster. They call it illya-anma. 



Another day's journey brought us right into the James Range and into quite 

 a dillerent class of sceiKM-y. The monotonous plain.s, with their alternation of 

 stony and loamy Hats, with now and tlnm a patch of sandhills and in the distance 

 ilat-toppeil, terraced hills, were left behind, and we found ourselves travelling 

 through valleys of varying extent, all thickly covered with .scrub and lying b(!tween 

 rugged ranges of red sandstone hills jutting out into bold, rounded crags. 



