Journals of Expeditions of Discovery into Central Australia Part 20

"Sir,--Although in the course of my life, I have had little opportunity to pay attention to the study of Ichthyology, it occurred to me, as now and then a leisure moment was afforded from official duties, that it would perhaps be useful, as well as amusing, to collect and make drawings of the fish about King George's Sound; and I have been in a great degree stimulated to do so, from an accidental visit of my friend, His Excellency Captain Grey, Governor of South Australia, who advised me to forward the drawings to you for the purpose of being placed with others of a similar kind in the British Museum, where ultimately sufficient material may be collected to give some account of the New Holland fish.

"Nothing is a.s.sumed as to the execution of the drawings; in fact it often occurred when I set off in my little skiff, (especially in the outset) that seven or eight species were procured in the course of the excursion, which compelled me to make drawings of all when I came home tired in the evening; forwarding them to ensure, as far as possible, their colours before they became extinct--a sort of forced effort in respect to the execution has, therefore, only been effected. The outline of nearly every specimen was taken from ACTUAL PROFILE, by laying the fish upon the paper--in this way I defied error in outline--of course, afterwards carefully drawing and correcting various parts which required it, in a free or rough manner, time not admitting of much pains.

"In naming the fish, I have merely attempted to give the aboriginal and popular names known to the sealers and settlers. In obtaining the former, no little difficulty has been experienced. The younger natives generally giving different names to those of the elder; but finding the fish named by the latter more descriptive, I have, of course, in most instances, adopted them.

"For instance, No. 1, KOJETUCK means the fish with the bones; which is very descriptive, from Koje the bones, [Note 28: This was noticed by Governor Grey.] having very singular bones placed vertically in the neck, connecting the dorsal spines to the back, resembling small tobacco pipes.

"Also the KYNARNOCH, No 13, the bearded, etc. In many other instances the savages of this province are equally clear in naming their animals; and it is curious, even this applies to their children, who commonly receive their name from some extraordinary circ.u.mstance at, or about the time of their birth. I find, also, the old men are more minute in SPECIES; the younger often call very different fish by the same name, as the MEMON, Nos. 17, and 43, etc. but as this is curious, merely for the sake of fact, it is otherwise of little importance to the naturalist,--the native name being only useful to enable the collector to obtain any particular species hereafter. As regards the fidelity of the drawings, it may be worth while to mention a singular mistake made by my friend TOOLEGETWALEE; one of the oldest and most friendly savages we have of the King George tribe; who, in looking over my collection to a.s.sist me in naming them, observed that the drawings were a little raised off the paper; and like a monkey, began to touch them with his long talons; of course I flew to their rescue, and asked what he meant?

"'INIKEN how make em? me tw.a.n.k skin put him on!' which literally means--'Ah! I now see how you do it, you put the skin on!!' From want of paper of uniform size, I was obliged to use any paper which came to hand, cut the figures out, and afterwards paste them on clean paper; which circ.u.mstance gave rise to the poor savage's mistake, and it was not until I actually cut one out before him, that he could be convinced that he was in error--a compliment I could hardly help smiling at. I have only to add in conclusion, that no attempt has been made at ARRANGEMENT, having drawn and numbered the fish as they were caught. Most have been taken by my own hook; some by the native's spear, and some by the seine net.

"The natural SCALE of each has been pasted on to the drawing, and when remarkable, both from the back and sides of the fish, which I considered a more desirable plan than giving imitations, that could hardly, in objects so minute, without the aid of a powerful magnifier, be depended on.

"A descriptive account of each specimen, with the corresponding number to that on the drawing, is also added.

"The effort has afforded me much amus.e.m.e.nt, and it will be still more agreeable, if they will in any way contribute to a better knowledge of the subject.

"I remain, Sir, "Your most obedient servant, "J. NEILL.

"Albany, King George's Sound, "Western Australia."

On receiving this most valuable and interesting collection, I referred the part relative to the Fish to my excellent friend, Dr. Richardson of Haslar, one of the first Ichthyologists now living, who has kindly arranged the notes in systematic order, and added to them, as far as he was able, the modern scientific names. I have done the same to the Reptiles myself. I have retained the original numbers as they refer to the drawings which are preserved in the zoological department of the British Museum.--J. E. GRAY.

REPTILES.

Fam. Lialisidae.

LIALIS BURTONII. Native name KERRY-GURA. Considered by the natives as harmless; the scales of the back are very minute; the tail when broken is sometimes terminated by three h.o.r.n.y blunt ends; tongue divided and rounded.

LIALIS BICATENATA. Native name WILLIAM LUNGER. Tongue not forked, broad, and rounded off at the point. Not poisonous or at all dreaded by the natives; finely striped down the back, and spotted with deep brown equal marks; has a lappel on each side of the vent.

Killed 10th of October, 1841.

FAM. COLUBRIDAE.

NAJA,--? Native name TORN-OCK or TOOKYTE. Colour dirty olive over the whole body; belly dirty olive; white, faintly dotted from the throat down to the vent, with reddish dirty orange spots; the whole colour appears as if faded; the scales are more closely united to the skin than those of the NOON; fangs placed on each side of the upper jaw, short and rather blunt; scuta, 223.

Although the natives a.s.sert, if a person is bitten by this make, and "gets down," i.e. lays in bed three days, he will recover, yet I am very doubtful of this account, more particularly from the women differing from the men, as well as the whole subject being hidden in superst.i.tion.

Another ground of doubt rests upon the fact of having lost in Van Diemen's Land, a favourite dog, by the bite of a snake very similar to this; the poor animal expired fourteen minutes after the bite, although the piece was almost instantaneously cut out.

The women of King George's Sound declare the bite of the Torn-ock mortal; but the men laugh at that, and maintain the three days' "couple," (sleep) will restore the patients.

The specimen was 4 ft. 9 in. long, but they have been seen 6 or 7 feet long. This is a favourite food of the natives of King George's Sound.

COLUBER? Native name BARd.i.c.k. Dirty olive green over the whole back; belly dirty white; scuta 130.

The natives state that the bite produces great swelling of the part for a day or two, and goes off.

Never grows above 14 or 15 inches long. Caught October 1841.

COLUBER. Native name TORKITE or TORKYTE. Back, from the point of the tail to the point of the nose, dark sepia brown; under the head yellow; and towards the middle of the belly orange; scales minute; scuta 140; tongue forked; teeth very minute; no fangs observable. Caught August 30th, 1844.

Not at all dreaded by the natives; venomous, but not deadly, the bite merely producing a bad ulcer for a day or two.

ELAPS MELANOCEPHALUS. Native name WERR. Dirty olive green on the back, from the neck to the tail; scuta 147, dirty reddish orange; head black from the nose to neck; sides of the head white; tongue forked.

Doubtful if poisonous; little dreaded by the natives. Killed October 12th, 1845.

ELAPS. Native name NORN or NORNE. Whole body covered with spear shaped scales; head shining black; the ground colours of the back rich umber, almost black; scuta 161, of a dirty red orange; fangs two on each side of the upper jaw near the lios, small, and bent inwards; tongue forked

This is the most fatal of the New Holland snakes; the animal bitten seldom recovers. The Aborigines have a great dread of this reptile; they however eat of it if they kill it themselves, but there is a superst.i.tion amongst them about snakes, which prevents their eating them if killed by a European.

The specimen I figured was a small one, 3 ft. 9 in. long; they are often seen by the natives much larger. I have endeavoured to represent it as it generally sleeps or lies in wait for its prey, small birds, frogs, lizards, etc. It delights in swamps and marshes.

Killed October, 1844.

FAM. BOIDAE

PYTHON. Native name WAKEL or WA-A-KEL. This snake is considered by the natives a great delicacy, and by their account resembles mutton in flavour, being also remarkably fat. I requested them to let me taste the specimen from which the drawing was made; but they devoured every atom themselves, pretending they did not understand me. The WAKEL differs from the NORN in its habits; although both ascend trees in pursuit of small birds and the young of the opossums. The WAKEL delights in rocky, dry places, near salt water; they are very sluggish, and easily caught by the women, who seize them behind the head and wring their necks. They are described to have been seen 9 or 10 feet long. My specimen, a young male, was exactly 5 feet long. The scales of this species are firmly fixed to the skin, in plates all over the back and belly. The colour is beautiful, dark greenish brown, finely variegated with yellowish white spots.

It was killed by Paddy, a native constable, near Albany, October, 1841.

FISHES.

GOBIIDAE.

No. 58.--PATOECUS FRONTO. Rich. Ann. Nat. Hist. Oct. 1844, vol. xiv.p.

280, Ichth. Ereb. and Terr. p. 20, pl. 13, f. 1, 2.

Native name KARRACK. Colour, a rich dragon's blood, or mahogany; found by a Danish boatman, named Byornsan, 80 miles off the east coast from King George's Sound, December 11th, 1841. a.n.a.l rays imperfectly counted, and there is a typographical error in the Zool. of Ereb. and Terr. The true numbers of the rays follow: B. 6; D. 24-16; A. 11-5; C. 10; P. 8.

TRIGLIDAE.

No. 53.--SCORPOENA, or SEBASTES.--Native name, TYLYUCK, or TELUCK (BIG-HEAD). "Rays, D. 12, 1-8; A. 3-5; P. 21; V. 1-5."

Uncommon. Inhabits rocky sh.o.r.es. Flesh firm and well-flavoured. Caught by hook, 16th Aug. 1841.

No. 34.--SEBASTES?--Native name, c.u.mBEUK.

A common inhabitant of rocky sh.o.r.es. Good eating. The specimen was speared by Munglewert, 17th May, 1841. "Rays, D. 14-17; A. 3-8; P. 14; V.

1-5."