Sea and River-side Rambles in Victoria

The Marine Aquarium

SEA

AND

RIVER-SIDE RAMBLES

IN

VICTORIA;

BEING A HANDBOOK FOR THOSE SEEKING RECREATION DURING

THE SUMMER MONTHS.

" The winds of heaven blew, the ocean rolled⁠
Its gathering waves—ye felt it not. The blue
Bared its eternal bosom, and the dew
Of summer night collected still to make
The morning precious : Beauty was awake
Why were ye not awake?"Keats.

Geelong

HEATH & CORDELL, MALOP STREET.
M.D.CCC.LX.

GEELONG:
PRINTED BY HEATH AND CORDELL.
18, Malop Street.

TO

DR. FERDINAND MUELLER,

GOVERNMENT BOTANIST OF VICTORIA,

This Little Book,

IN APPRECIATION OF HIS GREAT LABOURS IN THE CAUSE OF SCIENCE,
HERE AND ELSEWHERE,

IS DEDICATED, WITH MUCH FRIENDSHIP,

BY

THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS.

Chapter I.

Initial Letter: Growing taste for Marine Zoology; Cheap Books on the subject necessary; Occupation at the Sea-side.

Chapter II.

Mind and Body Exhausted by constant toil, 3; Change of Scene necessary, 3; Decide on Visiting Lady Bay, 4; Voyage there, 4; Sand Hummocks, 5; Warrnambool, 5; Rock Pools near Merri River, 6; Diatoms, 6; The Beach, 6; Portuguese Man-of-war, 7; Suicidal Starfishes, 9; Their Suckers, 9; Shells, 10.

Vignette: Whalers's Bluff, Portland Bay.

Chapter III.

Conchology, 11; Mollusca, 11; Cuttle Fishes, 12; Spirula, 12; Gasteropoda, 12; Their Opercula or Covers, 12; Sea Snails, 13; Truncatella, 13; Pheasant Shell, 13; Boat Shells, 14; Air-breathing Mollusca, 14; Shellfish for Aquaria, 14; Tongue of Limneea, 15; Eggs of Limneea, 15; Sea Slugs, 17; Bubble Shell, 17; Lamp Shell, 17; Lantern Shell, 17; Teredo at Williamstown, 18; Long lived Molluscs, 18; Shell Cabinets, 18.

Vignette: Group of Serpulæ on a valve of Arca shell.

Chapter IV.

Ramble coastwards to Hopkins, 20; Wild Flowers, 21; Emu Wren, 21; Shells in Pertrobe Lagoon, 22; Gentiana montana, 22; Wombat, 23; Botanic Gardens, 23; Sea-Anemones, 24; Their Voracity, 25; Prehensile Tentacles, 26; Urticating Organs, 27; Used as Food, 28; Alyxia luxifolia, 29; Wedge-tailed Eagle, 29.

Vignette: Terebella.

Chapter V.

Sea Eggs—their spines and suckers, 31; The Caves, 33; Purpura and Ear-shells, 33; Hermit Crab, 34; Crab clothed with Algae, 35; Birds of the Sea-shore, 36.

Vignette: Hippocampus or Sea Horse.

Chapter VI.

Corio Bay, 38; Naturalist at home everywhere, 38; Occupation at Seaside, 39; Gulls, Cormorants, Pelicans, Oyster Catcher, Greenshank, and Grebe, 39; Collecting Paraphernalia, 41; Aviculæ, 41; Planaria, 42; Its Eyes, 42; Nereis, 43; Terebella, 43; Serpulæ, 43; Kangaroo Crab, 46; Pipe Fishes—male performs duties of incubation, 47; Sharks, Sea Cucumbers—their strange habits, 48.

Vignette: Kangaroo Crab (Ibacus Peronii.)

Chapter VII.

Hobson's Bay, St. Kilda, Brighton, 50; Coast Plants, 51; Squids—their habits and structure, 52; Mighty Krackens 55; Sting-Ray, 55; Zoophytes, 56; Errors of early Naturalists respecting them, 58.

Vignette: Fossil Spatangi and Terebratulæ.

Chapter VIII.

Evening Studies, 61; Starfishes again, 61; Dental Apparatus of Echini, 62; How to preserve Echinodermata, 63; Sea Squirts, 64; Stormy Petrels, 64; Actiniæ, 65; Jelly Fishes, 65; Parasites on them, 65; Cunning of Octopus, 66; Shells as Microscopic Objects 67.

Vignette: Wedge-tailed Eagle.

Chapter IX.

Strides of Science, 69; Difficulty of preserving Marine Objects, 69; Aquaria, 71; Their Construction, 71; How to Form, 72; Seasand and Rockwork, 73: Double Aquaria, 74; Artificial Sea-water, 75; Seaweeds, 76; Respiration of the Lower Animals, 77; Climbing Fish, 78; Stock, 78; Portable Microscopes, 79; Æration, 80; Maintenance, 81; Removal of Objects, 81; Freshwater Aquaria, 81.

Chapter X.

Seaweeds, 83; Queenscliff Pools, 84; Melanosperms, 84; Rhodosperms, 85; Chlorosperms, 86; White ones to be rejected, 86; Marine Sensitive Plant, 86; Uses of Seaweeds, 87; Roots of Seaweeds yield hosts of microscopic objects, 88; to Collect, 88; to Preserve, 89; to Forward by Post, 89; to Lay Out, 89; Subsequent Arrangement and Examination, 89.

River-Side Rambles.—Vignette: Coliban Falls.

Chapter XI.

The Moorabool, 94; River-Side Wanderings at Home, 95; Flycatcher, 96; Reed Warbler, 97; Bitterns, 97; Spicy Mints, 97; the Damasonium, 97; Freshwater Algæ, 98; Unio and other Shells, 99; Fishing 99; Life in the Woods, 100; Fossils, 100; Mosquitoes, 100; Barwon Falls, 101; Clematis, 101; Betony-leaved Violets, &c, 102; Bullrush Caterpillar, 103.

Group of Sphæriæ. Page 109.

This work was published before January 1, 1927, and is in the public domain worldwide because the author died at least 100 years ago.

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