Please wait. Contacting image service... loading

Article text

DENIZENS OF IHE BUSH
(By 'Mo'Poke.')
A Leaf-Eating Beetle.
'G.II.' ask me to identify two insect*
nrhk-li she forwarded in a matchbox. One
was damaged and appeared to be the re
mains of a wasp of some kind: the other
was a laav-Dira oceue Belonging to a
group of kaf-eating beetles called parop
sis. It was small, dull brown in colour,
which later changed to a deep red. Many
of the paxopsis beetles undergo remark
able changes of colour during ot after
death. The eggs of this beetle aTe de
posited in queer little dusters around a
thin stem of a young 'branch of a gum
tree, and if ever any reader discovers- onft
of these egg-dusters it woidd be weE
worth his wlhile to examine them Tinder
a lens, for the shells are beautiful in
colour and quaint in formation. They
can sometimes be drawn off the twig and
the whole rosette examined to better ad
ventage. , The larvae somewhat ree
semble the larvae of the sawflies in their
habits, feeding in clusters by day, and
pupating in the soil, but they are among
the atomic forms of life — that is, to the
naked eye — and one must search closely;
for them.
' The Boodle.
From OooJnp 'J.C.' writes to esy tliaf
the -chief home of -the dalgite is not da
tbe boodie warrens, and that the hoodie
cannot bunrow more than a few inches
into the ground. But of wlicn boodle
is 'J.C.' speaking? He soys: 'Tie daV
giite is the only one that can. burrow, bar
the rabbit,' and in this he is wrong,, for
there are several animate that can bur
.row Car and, indeed, make more or less
extensive warrens in the ground. 'As
for the real hoodie,' he concludes, '%
haven't seen one for the last 30 yeara.'*
A good description of this 'real boodieff
would be welcomed.
The Poisonous Spfjier.
A specimen from 'G.C.,' Dowerm, ia
a small red-backed spider, tie only opidei;
in the country known to be poisonoos
enough to affect 'man. This little animal
can cause a nasty wound to appear in
short time, and if the blood1 of the victim
is not in good order illness usually re
sults. It is curious to Teflect oa the
fact that other spiders ore less harmless
than mosquitoes, when so many of us
dread the common garden spider — a
friendly fellow — and wil wander fon
hours where mosquitoes swarm in count
less numbers. I said 'other spiders.',
but I must make a reservation, for there
are without donbt many spiders in this
land about which; we know nothing. Tho
red-backed spider — I call it that, though
the markings vary—is common enough.
The Curling of Bark.
'About that snider and the way in
which he, she or it curled bark for the
nest,' writes 'Old Vic.,' referring to a
note of mine a fortnight ago, 'is it not
likely that he found the bark already
curled for him? Ever since I gathered
kindlings in th« Victorian iush as.a child, '
and tight ontifl I saw the lovely salmon
gums and tbe gimOet peel every Bummer '
in the Western Australian back country, ,
l.have seen long and short strips of borkx .
curled with heat and 'dryness — some
single tuBes and some double pipes as
straight as gaspipos. The spider could
easily adapt one of 'these for domestic
purposes.' True . enough, and many
of the smaller bush dwellers
haumt just euch curled pieces of bark
as my friend describes-. But the piece or
bark I had was neither gimlet nor salmon,
but a' scrap from a white gum limb. Now,
dead bark rarely curls in the way -'Old
Vie.' describes; at is usually when tho
bark as stripping itself that this happens
? and when the streamers are on tha
malice you may watch them spiralling out
in the windT The bark of the salmon
usually falls in big patches, that of tiw
?white gum in flakes, and when, the bark
is falling it is still moist enough for ihe
sun to play upon it so that it withers
into curls and other quaint formations.
The piece in question 'was undoubtedlj
rtly curled when the spider discovered*
but it was evident from the weben
closed end that it had been dra-wn into
the complete short tube.
Saving the Figs.
'Old Vic.' asks:— 'What hope lean yon
gave me of having any 'figs in my garden
— or rather' on my table, this smmsner?
About fire or six weeks ago a flock of
about CO small birds ..visited out small
estate, and I am positive they counted
the young, hard, green Jigs andl reckoned .
how many birds could live, for so many
days or weeks, on ,the -r.\-e fruit- in due
season. They -were most active and
cheerful, talkative and business-like, and
I aai quite sure they were a foraging
party in advance. IE- 'they were beaters
or delegates for a large army of their
kind, there will be no figs at all for us.
If only we could make the birds under
stand, we would be quite willing to make
a sort of daily ration or -come to terms
with them in some Arbitration Court.'
Qly correapondenf may rest assured that
no large army of .the birds is likely to
visit the- region where she dwells. That
flock oi 60 -was probably made up of
sHvercyes, tom-tits, and. a few other
cheeky but lovable little birds .rambling
together in holiday spirit — and perhaps
reconnoitring the gardens in the vicmity
with a vilw to making raids in small
family parties. But it is wonderful the
amount of damage even half-a-dozen birds
can do to fig 'trees when the fruit is
ripe. ' And alas there is no sure way
of bokiing off these raiders; and again,
alas! we cannot make the birds under
stand our good intentions, nor is thera
cay Arbitration Court to which we caa
appeal. In other days we could havo ap
/pealed to the fairies, but— another sad
reflection — so few of us believe in fairies
these days. (But to the point. To do
?one's best to frighten ithe birds from vis
iting those fig trees is the only practical
way of preserving some, at least of the
fruit. And how to do that I hardly know
how to advise my kindly friend. The
gimn?— ''Old Vic.' would take greater
pleasure in -watchinig the birds nrin her
crop of figs. Would we hang things in
trees — pieces of coloured rag, tins that
would clang and rattle? in the wind these
things would serve tbe purpose to some
ex-tent I haive heard also of those must*
-3ol, tinkling Javanese fly-frighteners
being hung in trees fox just the same
thing. Tbese things 'Old Vic.' may try
—aid if any other readee {knows of an
other way, let him hasten to our xe
lief. v
Goannas and Bones.
That goannas will actually swallow
bones really too large for any sensible
goanm to think about swallowing 'was
suggested by the n«Ce from 'WJJ.' about
a very senseless goanna ramming a bone
down his throat by charging a tree.
'T.E.W.' showed us that goannas go
through the process in a gent;e
and moxe understandable way; and
now a 'Bnsseltoii readeT gives us further
confirmation: — 'About* a couple of years
ago, when I .was at Kondinin, a large
goanna used to visit my camp at meal
times. One day I threw it a bone about
six or seven inches long, which it man
aged to get into its mouth and about an
inch down its throat. It looked a bit
puzzled at first, and then tried stretching
its neck, without result. Walking over
to a stump and getting the end of tbe
bone against it, it kept pushing until
the bone disappeared into its mouth, tho
other end bulging out the throat. After
a lot of hard swallowing it managed to
get the other end into the throat, mak
ing bulge number two. Continuing the
swallowing and neck-stretching, it got the
bone by decrees right down. Each end
of the bone~.was a full inch-andV-a-half in
diameter. — P.S. — Since writing the fore
going a friend of mine has told me he
saw exactly the same thing, with the
exception that after pushing the bone
right into the mouth and finding it could
not get it any further, the goanna walked
over to where there was a twig branching
off from a sapling, and finished the job
witb this, practkaltn pushing the bone
right down, This, I thirik, beats 'W.B.' '
The Dalgite.
Writing from Wickepin, 'A.T.' ray«
that when tbe dalgites disappeared-, as
they did in many districts some years
ago, it was thought that they moved as
the country became over-run with rab
bits. This may have been so — it is im
possible to say now — but it seems strange,
for the dalgite is plentiful to-day in dis
tricts where the rabbits are thick, and
frequently makes its home in a rabbit
warren. I dp not say that it lives with
bunny, but father .that it takes a por
tion of the warren 'to itself. Again, we
have been told that when dalgites enter
a warren the rabbits leave it, and I know
that trappers have caught only dalgites
in warrens. Why, then, was it thought
that the rabbits drove out the dalgites
in the early days?
Brumbies.
About a decado ago wild horses were
numerous in many parts of tie South
West, where now they are rarely seen,
and j have boen w-onderinK as to the
thinning out. Settlement has perhaps
driven them farther out, but where are
the food a-nd water?
$