The Funnel Ant Digs A
Perpendicular Hole In The Ground, And Surrounds The Opening With An
Elevated Wall, Sloping Outwards Like A Funnel; The Presence Of This
Insect Generally Indicates A Rotten Soil, Into Which Horses And Cattle
Sink Beyond Their Fetlocks.
This soil is, however, by no means a pure
sand, but is well mixed with particles of clay, which allow the ant to
construct its fabric.
In rainy weather this soil forms the best
travelling ground, and is by no means so rotten as when dry.
Large hornets of a bright yellow colour, with some black marks, made
their paper nests on the stems of trees, or suspended them from the dry
branches; most of us were several times severely stung by them. When
found near our encampment we generally destroyed them, by quickly raising
a large fire with dry grass.
A species of Gristes was abundant in the water-holes, but it was of small
size: the eels have disappeared.
Nov. 25. - We travelled about eight miles, north by west, ascending a
spur, from which the waters flowed, both to the south-west and to the
eastward, but both collecting in Robinson's Creek. Every time we turned
to the westward we came on tremendous gullies, with almost perpendicular
walls, whereas the easterly waters formed shallow valleys of a gently
sloping character. The range was openly timbered with white-gum,
spotted-gum, Ironbark, rusty-gum, and the cypress-pine near the gullies;
and with a little dioecious tree belonging to the Euphorbiaceae, which I
first met with at the Severn River, and which was known amongst us under
the name of the "Severn Tree:" it had a yellow or red three-capsular
fruit, with a thin fleshy pericarp, of an exceedingly bitter taste; the
capsules were one-seeded.
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