covering gorse by the road. Huddles of Metallic 
skinks basked in a tree stump. 
Alto cumulus clouds heralded the thunder storm 
that came later that night. 
The find of the day was the furry-legged assassin 
bug [Ptilocnemus femorotus) by Kevin (well 
spotted at 1.5 cm). This bug exudes a narcotic 
secretion which is attractive to ants upon which it 
feeds. 
A very pleasant, bountiful, close-to-the-city walk. 
Furry-legged assassin bug Ptilocnemus femoratus. 
Photo: Geoff Fenton 
Federation: Murrayfield, Bruny Island 
Michael Driesssen 
he TFNC hosted the get-together of the 
Federation of Tasmania Field Naturalists Clubs 
at Murrayfield on northern Bruny Island in 
October 2011. 
The weekend was well attended with 38 field 
naturalists from Launceston, the northeast and 
Hobart. The weather around Tasmania that 
weekend was awful but we appeared to have 
escaped the worst of it with most rain falling at 
night. Here, I provide a very short summary of the 
weekend but a more detailed report will be 
produced later. 
aboriginal values. This was followed by visits to: 
the ruins of St Peters Church at the southern end 
of the property, a walk along the Rookery Track to 
the Glue Pot—a sunken sea cave, the ruins of the 
old pilot station, and a walk along a rocky beach 
loaded with fossils. Later in the afternoon we 
checked Don Hird's pygmy possum nest boxes and 
we were rewarded with a mother little pygmy 
possum and her two young. 
After a feast of salads, 30 steaks, 50 sausages and 
platters of fruit, some of the group headed down 
to the neck to observe shearwaters and penguins. 
On Friday evening, we were welcomed and given 
an introduction to the Murrayfield farm by Bruce 
Michael, the manager of the property. Rodney 
Dillon made a special visit on Saturday morning to 
provide a welcome to country and to speak about 
The weather was much better Sunday morning 
and after the cleanup we headed to the 
southernmost stand of grass trees where we had a 
lovely time exploring this unusual habitat. Most 
who were travelling north headed home around 
Tasmanian Field Naturalists Club 
BULLETIN 345 January 2012 p3 
