NATURAL HISTORY OF QUEENSLAND 27 
MY TREASURE TROVE. 
HAD been staying in a pretty country village in Shrop- 
5 Q shire during the perfect month of October which 
gladdened all our hearts about three years ago. The 
roads in the neighbourhood are' very good for bicycling ; 
so, one bright clear afternoon, I led out my iron india-rubber 
steed from the gun room, where it was stabled, and mounted 
for a ride along some pretty cross-country lanes. By-and-by 
I came to a fairly steep hill, which, being by no means a 
brilliant rider, and of a very cautious disposition, I descended 
carefully until nearly at the bottom, when I let the bicycle 
“ go,” and we ran gaily up part of the next steep ascent. Then 
I got off to walk. Indian summer reigned in this part of the lane, 
which is sheltered from wind or frost by high banks and hedges. 
The southern- facing bank was sandy, the short grass warm 
with the sun ; clumps of brilliantly azure hare-bells were still in 
bloom, a snowy campion lingered here and there, and even a 
belated honeysuckle threw a faint fragrance to the breeze, from 
a delicate cluster of blossoms which still waved aloft, despite 
the dragging clutches of the rude red trails of bramble. 
I had just thought to myself, “ That little paradise is past, 
here comes a long, dull, barren stretch of bank,” when out of 
the brown slide of earth, from some old rabbit-burrow, gleamed 
a shining white star. At first I could not guess what it was. 
It looked like a star-fish with an excrescence in the middle, 
the edges were very firm to the touch. I thought it must be some 
kind of a nut, until I found the centre felt soft, and then it struck 
me that it must be a fungus. As I have a regard for members of 
that family, I grubbed it out of the soft, sandy soil, and trium- 
phantly carried it off in the leathern pocket of my bicycle. 
When I came in, I was pleased to find that no one had seen 
my treasure trove before, so we looked it out in a fungus book, 
and found that its name is G caster fibresceus. 
Marie Boileau. 
NATURAL HISTORY OF QUEENSLAND. 
II. 
S in other parts of Australia, the marsupials (animals 
which carry their young in a pouch) abound through- 
out Queensland ; kangaroos and wallabies are the 
most common form of the larger marsupials. The 
platypus is one of the most interesting of all animals, owing 
10 its possessing physical resemblance to many other creatures. 
It has fur like a seal and the bill of a duck ; it lays eggs and 
yet it suckles its young. Another curious form of animal 
