334 
Recent Shells on the 
Heaps and mounds of shells, of sizes varying from what might 
be supposed to be the debris of a family dinner, to accumulations 
several feet in thickness, and many yards across, abound on all 
our shores, and up every indentation of the coast; the species 
of which these heaps are composed varying according to locality; 
the constituent species being wholly influenced by the greater or 
less abundance of the different kinds upon which the natives 
subsisted, existing near the particular spots. 
On the estuary of the Derwent, these remains are found for 
several miles above Hobart Town, towards New Norfolk, until 
they disappear altogether at about three miles from the latter 
town. On the Tamar they are found at still less distances from 
the sea; and it does not appear that the aborigines at any time 
were in the habit of carrying their shell-fish many miles inland ; 
the farthest I have observed being two to three miles. 
The principal kinds of Testaceee, used by the aborigines as 
food, exclusive of the smaller kinds, were 
Two species of Haliotis (H. tuherculata ? and Icevigata) which 
both attain to a large size, and are common on the rocks on the 
north-west coast, in Bass’s Strait, and at Recherche Bay, &c. 
They were removed from the rocks (to which they closely ad¬ 
here) by means of a wooden spatula-shaped instrument. The 
Haliotis is called Mutton-fish by the colonists. 
The Mussel , (Mytilus sp.) of which only one species of large 
size is abundant and easily procured. It is very common on the 
Derwent, on the Tamar, the north-west coast, &c., and is ex¬ 
cellent eating. The heaps on the Derwent and Tamar consist 
principally of this shell. 
Oysters (Osirea sp.) These are now rather scarce in many 
situations where their remains are abundant; which would in¬ 
dicate, as has indeed been found to be the case, that some causes, 
either diseases or otherwise, lead to the destruction of certain 
species of mollusks in some localities. All the oysters in the 
Derwent and Pittwater were thus destroyed some years ago, but 
I have recently learned that they are again appearing. The 
large mussels in the Tamar have, in the same way, disappeared 
of late years. 
