Spinifex

“ At this season the plant is soft and juicy, and, though salt, makes capital feed for camels. In the summer it withers up to dry sticks and has no moisture. Once out of sight of the lake we were disgusted at coming into a belt of flat spinifex country, and were afraid that already we had reached the confines of the desert, more especially since in 1894 I had placed its edge in that longitude. However, we were agreeably disappointed, for after a few miles the spinifex ceased, and on penetrating a dense thicket we debouched on a fine grassy flat. ”

“ Then he gets on the tracks and sights the arched backs Of his camels of true South Aus. brand, And with saddle and sack he must hasten to pack For the Spinifex and Sand. From the start until night, till he's sick of the sight, There seem to dance hand in hand A lady so bright, and a green-armoured knight, The Spinifex and the Sand. He turns to his mate with "It gets a bit late," His mate, he just answers offhand — "It's the same soon or late, we'll camp 't any rate In the Spinifex and Sand." ”

“ This nest contained three eggs, and to aid in its concealment dried spinifex stems had been loosely piled on the top. My seventh nest was a last year's one, and differed in one respect from all the others. A year or two ago a large tract of the spinifex plain had been swept by a fire. A growth of a species of soft grass had taken the place of the spinifex. This grass grows in swollen tussocks, and is very dense. Amongst a group of these tussocks, and at the foot of a dead bush, was an Amytornis nest. No spinifex was employed in the construction of this, the last nest I found. ”

“ With Spinifex squarrosus no tubular sheath is formed, for the secretion does not cause the sand particles to adhere. It appears to act rather as a lubricant or perhaps as a resisting layer to protect the piliferous layer from damage by sharp grains of sand. Spinifex is not related closely to any of the grasses noted by Price as possessing the mucilage layer. The genus consists of only four species, occurring on sandy shores of India, Malaya and N. Australia.
The Water-supply.
Every one knows that sand a very few inches below the surface is damp, as also is any ordinary soil. ”

“ All our efforts were unavailing, the only occasion on which we slaughtered a rat being when Val caught a young one; the full-grown ones were far too fast for her and too quick in turning round the hummocks of spinifex.
Warri returned with the axe in the evening and reported that no natives had visited the well since our departure. The next day as we approached the hills the two boys, sitting aloft on the top of the loaded camels, were much excited and made many signs that water was not far off. ”

“ True it is, though, that even this poverty-stricken plant has its uses, for it serves to bind the sand and keep the ridges, for the most part, compact. Where spinifex does not grow, for instance on the tops of the ridges, one realises how impossible a task it would be to travel for long over banks of loose sand. ”

“ The only reasons I can imagine why this should have been so are that where the spinifex is less dense it shows more of the bleached stems of the plant, and thus the materials of the nest readily harmonize in colour and aid in its concealment. Also the sitting bird has a better view of approaching enemies, and can more readily slip off to a distance until the danger is past. ”

“ I should advise no one to try and sleep on the plant as it grows, for "He who sitteth on a thistle riseth up quickly." But the thistle has one advantage, viz., that it does not leave its points in its victim's flesh. In Northern Australia spinifex is in seed for three weeks, and when in this state, forms most excellent feed for horses, and fattens almost as quickly as oats ”

“ Between the Forebank Hills and the tablelands we were now approaching is an open plain of spinifex some ten miles wide, bounded on North and South by sand-ridges. From these in the morning the long line of broken tablelands could be seen ahead of us, and running for a considerable distance to the eastward. The highest point of those more immediately to our front I named Mount Fothringham, after my cousin. The headland for which we were steering was too far off to be reached that night, so we camped on a ridge, and during the night noticed a small fire in the hills ahead. ”

“ Facing the belt of mulga, was a low wall of uprooted tussocks of spinifex built in a half circle and some two feet high. On the leeward side of this breakwind, inside the semi-circle, half a dozen little hollows were scraped out in the sand. Between each of these nests lay a little heap of ashes, the remains of a fire which burns all night, replenished from time to time from a bundle of sticks kept handy for the purpose. The nest in the sand is the bed, a double one, and not only double but treble, and more ”

“ So far, I have only seen this bird on one limited part of a high rugged range that abounds with masses of large prickly spinifex and scrub, though apparently the whole length of the range (about seventy-five miles) offers similar conditions. I saw several of these birds there in July last, but failed to secure eggs or any particulars as to their breeding habits. It is surprising to see these tiny birds run, and occasionally fly, headlong into the dense prickly masses of spinifex, and thread their way through the countless spines like mice, without being impaled. ”

“ We started due East and held on that course for eight miles, Godfrey and Charlie lighting the spinifex at intervals. Some men have a theory that the blacks signal by smokes, the appearance of which they vary by using different grasses, branches, or leaves. That may be the case in some parts; here, anyway, they are no more than hunting-fires, as we later proved. If the desert blacks do go in for smoke-telegraphy they must on this occasion have thought that the operator at our end of the wire was mad! Perhaps unknowingly we sent up smokes which appeared to them to be rational messages! ”

“ Failing either the finding of gold, or the formation of a stock route from oasis to oasis, I can see no use whatever to which this part of the interior can be put.
North of the 25th parallel the country is absolutely useless until the confines of the Kimberley district (about lat. 19°) are reached. That a stock route through the desert is quite impracticable we have clearly demonstrated. Even supposing that there was any water supply, there is no feed; nothing but spinifex grows in more than wee patches at very long intervals. ”

“ The ridges were now running almost parallel to our course, about North-East, and gave us in consequence little trouble. Up to this point I had walked all day, partly because one can steer better on foot and I wished to do all the steering, until we picked up the point on Forrest's route, and so give my companions confidence; and partly because I looked upon it as the leader's duty to set an example. To-day I took my turn with the rest, each riding for an hour—a great relief. Sand is weary walking and spinifex unpleasant until one's legs get callous to its spines. ”

“ It is impossible to describe a noise in writing, but the sound is not unlike a rather shrill siren, and the word shouted is a long-drawn "Yu-u-u." There is no mistaking the women's voices, the men's cry is somewhat deeper. Both are rather weird sounds, more especially when heard in thick scrub where one can see no natives, though one hears them all round. In the spinifex they were easily seen, and to their cry an answering yell came over the ridge and other women and children appeared. ”

“ It was evident that any great extent of this rocky country would soon place the camels hors de combat, as every step cut their feet, and every few minutes they ran the risk of a sprained or broken limb; mules would be more suitable for such country. The further we advanced the rougher became the ground, the narrower the little glens, and the steeper the rocks. However, one final and tremendous scramble landed us all safely above the hills, and to our joy we found that a flat plain of spinifex spread before us. On it were clumps of mulga. Now we hoped we had done with the ridges. ”

“ We all crowded round to examine it, and as we stooped caught sight of the owner not a hundred yards ahead, engrossed in unearthing an iguana and entirely ignorant of our presence. A hasty consultation; “Catch him,” said someone, Breaden I think, and off we started—I first, and Godfrey near behind. He saw us now and fled, so, shouting to Breaden to stay with the camels, and to Charlie, who was mounted, to cut him off in front, I put my best leg foremost. A hummock of spinifex brought me down, and, exhausted from short rations, I lay, unable to run further. ”

“ For the camels we had to cut down the mulga trees, the branches of which grew too high from the ground to permit them to browse off the leaves. A number of dingoes serenaded us as we worked at night; what they live upon is not quite clear, unless it be spinifex rats. There were other small rats in the locality, two of which the dwarf had for supper — plucked, warmed upon the ashes, torn in pieces by his long nails and eaten ”

“ No life can subsist within its borders; the foot of the savage is not upon its wastes, and the whole region is still and silent as the grave. Such is the dark picture as drawn by the explorer himself. Happily a better acquaintance has led to a more favourable opinion; though the land of spinifex, it produces other vegetation of nutritive and even fattening properties. The Stony Desert proper consists of many patches, but probably none will be found to be very extensive. The stout hearts of the explorers quailed but for a moment. ”

“ Though we knew that the blacks do get water from the mallee roots, and though we were in a spot where it was clear they had done so perhaps a month before, yet our attempts at water-finding were futile. This kopi is peculiar soil to walk over; on the surface there is a hard crust—once through this, one sinks nearly to the knee; the camels of course, from their weight, go much lower.
On the night of the 23rd, we gave Tommy two gallons of water—not much of a drink, but enough to make him tackle the mulga, and spinifex-tops, the only available feed ”

“ Though I got the full benefit of these insects, I was never bitten; they may or may not be poisonous, but look deadly enough, being from one to four inches from toe to toe. The scrubs for the most part are thick and without a break for many miles. Sometimes open country is met with — not always a welcome change.
July 26th the thickets became more and more open until we came across a narrow salt-lake ”

“ The six subspecies of spinifer can be separated into two groups on the basis of the juvenal pattern. One group (subspecies spinifer, hartwegi and asper) has a pattern of dark spots or ocelli of various sizes on the carapace, whereas the other group (subspecies pallidus, guadalupensis and emoryi) has a pattern of small white dots or tubercles on the carapace. The two groups differ also in the manner in which the mottled and blotched pattern first appears on the carapace of females. ”

“ I cannot discern any correlation of number or arrangement of prominences with size in spinifer or ferox. The carapace in adult males of spinifer bears small, sharp tubercles that make the surface feel like sandpaper. The tubercles on the anterior edge of the carapace in adults of both sexes vary from round to equilateral and conical to low and flattened (see comments on tuberculation under subsection entitled "Geographic Variation") . Some large females of the same subspecies have tubercles on the anterior edge of the carapace that may be conical (higher than wide) or equilateral. ”

“ Several individuals of spinifer were seen in the Flint River (near Bainbridge, Georgia) , which had a swift current in a wide, deep channel, sandy or sand-silt banks, few brush piles along shore and many oölitic, submergent snags on an otherwise sandy bottom; the water was exceedingly clear and permitted water-goggling (this habitat has been obliterated by a dam on the Apalachicola River) . ”

“ I have shown that males of spinifer from Lake Texoma, Oklahoma, and scattered localities in Texas and Louisiana are sexually mature when they reach a plastral length of 9.0-10.0 centimeters. Adult males have distinct, convoluted, non-pigmented vasa deferentia and elongate testes, the maximal measurements of which are about 10 by 30 millimeters. ”

“ The smaller adult females probably mature sexually in their sixth year, but most probably do so when seven years old. Accordingly, some T. spinifer emoryi, which are sexually mature at a plastral length of 16.0 centimeters, are also sexually mature in their seventh year, whereas most spinifer (sexually mature at a plastral length of 18.0 to 20.0 cm., corresponding to a length of carapace of 25.2 to 28.0 cm. or about 10 to 11 inches) probably become sexually mature in their ninth year, and some when eight years old. ”

“ The dorsal surface of the limbs, especially the hind limbs, have a bold, black marbling and may be almost completely black (TU 5484, 5597) . Many females, not exceeding plastral lengths of 7.0 centimeters, have a pale blotched pattern of lichenlike figures or have ill-defined black dots on the carapace (TU 10087, 13698.13, 13753.15) .
Localities of specimens of T. spinifer occurring in the Mississippi River drainage in Mississippi are arbitrarily listed under the account of the subspecies spinifer, whereas those in Louisiana (excluding pallidus) are listed under the account of hartwegi. ”