1220 On the Aborigines of Cooper's Creek, Australia. | December, 
If a rotifer or any other moving form happens to touch even 
the very extremities of the tactile hairs on their heads, they in- 
stantly retreat and shoot off in some other direction. 
To enable me to make out the digestive tract more clearly, I 
fed some on indigo and others on carmine, but it was not a suc 
cess. They did not take to that sort of food kindly. Isawonly — 
one Chetonotus take in a particle of the indigo, which readily 
and quickly passed along the cesophagus to the bulb, when itat — 
once appeared to become conscious of having eaten some nause- | 
ating substance. It at once let go its hold with the caudal ap- 
pendages, the action of the cilia ceased, and the Chatonotus — 
gradually doubled up a little, and then with a spasmodic effort it 
attempted to throw up the particle of indigo. A reverse pett 
staltic action of the muscles of the œsophagus took place, which , 
was plainly visible, sending the particle up about two thirds the 
distance to the mouth, when the action ceased, and it gradually 
went back again into the bulb. This was repeated several times, 
after which all action ceased, and the animal died without a fur- 
ther struggle. w 
For the purpose of making a more careful study with higher — 
powers than I could use while they were moving about oo 
actively, I put a little cyanide of potash under the edge of the : 
cover, and this quickly dissolving and diffusing through the water : 
on the slide, very soon killed them without inducing any chang® 
to interfere with a critical examination of their structure. 
These studies were made before I saw a paper by i 
Zeitschrift fiir wiss. Zoologie, 1876, which covers the gro nee 
fully that I then laid my drawings and notes aside, not intent! $ 
to publish them. Ludwig states that these animals ae 
maphrodites, the testes being situated below the anus. pees. a 
not state whether mutual or self-impregnation takes place, a 
the former I ought to have observed it, as I studied so many i 
them and for so long a time. a 
Si E NEEE S EN E ee E A rT ae fe A 
:0:— i 
NOTES ON THE ABORIGINES OF COOPER'S Chti 
AUSTRALIA. | 
BY EDWARD B. SANGER. wd Z 
HE tribes and dialects of Australian aborigines vary ve ae | 
within short distances that it is a perplexing task © sh 
account of them. Systematic study, however, would pr" 
