HORN EXPEDITION — NARRATIVE. 115 



broad sheathing leaf stalks — nor it may be added was there any trace of animal life 

 save an odd mollusc and an insect or two amongst the Cycads whicli were carefully 

 searched. A view of the Palm Creek, such as the one figured, with a rock-pool in 

 the foreground and the Palms rising above the scrub gives one almost the idea of 

 a semi-tropical scene, l)ut in reality there was none of the damp luxuriance which 

 we had hoped might perhaps be met with in this spot. Away from the margin 

 of the water-pools everytlnng was as dry as usual, but as we were anxious to 

 examine the flora and fauna of the ranges more minutely than we had yet been 

 able to do we determined to camp here, as it did not seem likely that we should 

 find a more favourable spot. 



Accordingly we sent our black boy l^ack with a camel to the main camp, as 

 previously arranged with Mr. Winnecke, for a supply of food, and then Messrs. 

 Tate, Belt and myself spent three days searching up and down the; creek itself, on 

 the cliffs bordering it and up the side streams flowing into it. 



It was our longest spell in one camp and our collections were considerably 

 enhanced by the chance which it gave us of a more thorough examination of one 

 spot than we had l)een able hitherto to make, especially as regards smaller forms 

 such as molluscs and insects, while at Herniannsburg the stay enaliled Mr. 

 Keartland to add largely to the collection of birds. 



A sliort account of the animal life of this spot will really serve to describe 

 that which is generally met with around any of the water-holes amongst the 

 ranges. 



In the water-holes there were at least six species of fish, none of which were 

 as large as the Ijigger ones caught in the Iledbank Creek. They were Tlicrapon 

 trutncciis, T. penoidcs, Nonatocctitris /atei, N. iviiuieckei, Elcotris larapinta and 

 C/inku'SSiis horni. The water-holes were all isolated from one another and had 

 rocky beds with but little sand : the smaller ones would soon (hy up, but one or 

 two of the larger ones which were some twenty yards long would proljably persist 

 for some length of time, though there were apparently none which would last 

 through anything like a drought — not even a short one — as there was no constant 

 supply of any kind such as exists in the sandy pools such as the one at Henbury, 

 where the water is forced to rise to the surface after flowing along beneath the 

 sand. 



Of molluscs the pools contained six species — Afc/anin I'aloniicasis, Limiuva 

 vinosa, Bidinus textnratiis^ B. dispar, Planorbis fras;i7is and Ancylus. aiisfra/iciis. 



