184 
NATURE NOTES. 
NATURE NOTES FROM NORTHERN TASMANIA. 
I. — Introductory; The Locality. 
HE “study” in which these notes were written is a 
small slab hut, situated on rising ground, in the middle 
of a small block of bush land, fronting on a quiet 
sandy road, and distant about four miles from the 
township of Wynyard or Table Cape, which is built at the spot 
where the Inglis River empties itself into Bass’s Strait's. The 
dwelling is called a “ slab ” hut, because it is chiefly built of 
long thick boards called slabs, which are split (in this case) from 
a large, stringy-bark tree {Eucalyptus obliqua). The corner 
posts are young trees of the same species, felled, cut to the 
required length, and denuded of their thick, woolly bark. The 
chimney is a curious wooden structure, of a type peculiar to the 
bush ; in composition, a mixture of slabs and palings. The 
rafters supporting the roof are young dogwoods {Pomaderris 
apetala), the roof itself consisting of small oblong wooden 
“ slates,” called shingles, which are split from the peppermint- 
gum {Eucalyptus amygdalina). The floor is slabbed. 
The dry dogwood spars {Pomaderris apetala), which have been 
employed for some of the inside work, as well as lightwood spars 
(a variety of black-wood. Acacia melanoxylon), are great breeding 
places for beetles, and mention of them will frequently be made, 
as producing some interesting species of the order coleoptera. 
The road towards which the hut fronts is soft and sandy, 
and fringed on both sides with many kinds of wild flowers, 
shrubs and trees. Just opposite here is a thick belt of eucalypts, 
mostly stringy barks {E. obliqua) ; and beyond that again is a 
stretch of plains — open, undulating, sandy country, covered with 
short healthy scrub, among which grow patches of ti-tree 
{Melaleuca ericafolia), prickly mimosa {Acacia verticillata), he-oak 
{Casuarina suberosa), honeysuckle {Banksia marginata), and scattered 
eucalypts, mostly peppermint-gum {E. amygdalina), or white- 
gum {E. viminalis), which have a gnarled and twisted appearance 
on this sort of ground. Crossing the road again, and coming 
back to the little clearing, we find that thicker bush surrounds 
it on the other three sides, where the land is of better quality. 
Here the eucalypts, such as stringy barks {E. obliqua), and white 
gums {E. viminalis) attain a great size, while beneath them grow 
the “ myrtles ” {Fagus Cunninghami), also large forest trees, 
although not attaining to the stature of the big eucalypts. 
l^eneath the “ myrtles,” again, grow a great number of smaller 
scrubs, such as dogwood {Pomaderris apetala), musk {Aster argo- 
phyllus), cheesewood and wirewood. The country is intersected 
by numerous “ creeks,” which is the name given to small fresh- 
water streams or brooks, along the banks of which numbers of 
