Austral English Part 239

This rare and beautiful little snake is a clear example of the genus Furina."

White-lipped-Snake.

Name given to a small venomous species of whip-snake, Hoplocephalus coronoides, Gunth., found in Tasmania and Victoria, and reaching a length of about eighteen inches.

1890. A. H. S. Lucas, `Handbook of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science,' Melbourne, p. 71:

"Whip snakes, H. flagellum and H. coronoides."

Worm-Snake.

Name given to various species of the genus Typhlops, comprising small, non-venomous, smooth, round-bodied snakes, which burrow in warm sandy soil, and feed upon insects such as ants. The eyes are covered over by translucent plates, and the tail scarcely tapering at all, and sometimes having two black spots, gives the animal the appearance of having a head at each end. The commoner forms are the Blackish Worm-Snake (Typhlops nigrescens, Gray), and Schlegel's Worm-Snake (T. polygrammicus, Schlegel).

1881. F. McCoy, `Prodromus of the Zoology of Victoria,'

Decade vi. pl. 103:

"The `Blackish Worm snake' is not uncommon in the northern warmer parts of the colony... . These worm snakes are perfectly harmless, although, like the Slow-Worms and their allies in other countries, they are popularly supposed to be very poisonous."

Sneeze-weed, Myriogyne minuta, Less., Cotula or Centipeda cunninghamii, De C., and many other botanical synonyms. A valuable specific for Sandy-Blight (q.v.).

1877. F. v. Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 58:

"The Sneeze-weed (Cotula or Centipeda Cunninghamii). A dwarf, erect, odorous herb ...

can be converted into snuff."

1886. Dr. Woolls, in `Sydney Morning Herald,' Dec. 25 (quoted by Maiden):

"Dr. Jockel is, I believe, the first medical man in Australia who has proved the value of Myriogyne in a case of ophthalmia. This weed, growing as it does on the banks of rivers and creeks, and in moist places,, is common in all the Australian colonies and Tasmania, and it may be regarded as almost co-extensive with the disease it is designed to relieve."

Snipe, n. The species of Snipe known in Australia are--Scolopax australis, Lath.; Painted S., Rhynchaea australis, Gould. This bird breeds in Japan and winters in Australia. The name is also used as in the quotation.

1888. D. Macdonald, `Gum Boughs,' p. 210:

"Along the shore are flocks of a species of bird which some sportsmen and the game-sellers in the city are pleased to call snipe. They are probably tringa, a branch of the sea-plover family."

Snook, n. The name is applied in the Old World to various fishes, including the Garfish (q.v.). At the Cape of Good Hope, it is applied to Thyrsites atun, Cuv. and Val., and this name for the same fish has extended to New Zealand, where (as in all the other colonies) it is more generally called the Barracouta (q.v.). Under the word Cavally, `O.E.D.' quotes--

1697. Dampier, `Voyage,' vol. i:

"The chiefest fish are bonetas, snooks, cavallys."

Snook is an old name, but it is doubtful whether it is used in the Old World for the same fish. Castelnau says it is the snook of the Cape of Good Hope.

1872. Hutton and Hector, `Fishes of New Zealand,' p. 14, under `Thyrsites Atun, Barracoota':

"This is, I believe, the fish called snoek in Cape Colony."

1880. Guenther, `Study of Fishes,' p. 436:

"Th. atun from the Cape of Good Hope, South Australia, New Zealand, and Chili, is preserved, pickled or smoked. In New Zealand it is called `barracuda' or `snoek,' and exported from the colony into Mauritius and Batavia as a regular article of commerce."

Snowberry, n. a Tasmanian name for the Wax-cluster (q.v.).

Snow-Grass, n. Poa caespitosa, G. Forst., another name for Wiry grass (q.v.).

See also Grass.

1875. Wood and Lapham, `Waiting for the Mail,' p. 31:

"Tethering my good old horse to a tussock of snow-grass."

Snow-line, n. In pastoralists' language of New Zealand, "above the snow-line" is land covered by snow in winter, but free in summer.

Soak, or Soakage, n. a Western and Central Australian term. See quotation.

1895. `The Australasian,' Sept. 7, p. 461, col. 1:

"`Inquirer.'--The term soak in Western Australia, as used on maps and plans, signifies a depression holding moisture after rain. It is also given to damp or swampy spots round the base of granite rocks. Wells sunk on soaks yield water for some time after rain. All soaks are of a temporary character."

Soak-hole, n. an enclosed place in a stream in which sheep are washed.

1881. A. C. Grant, `Bush Life in Queensland,' vol. i. p. 82:

"Parallel poles, resting on forks driven into the bed of the water-hole, were run out on the surface of the stream, forming square soak-holes, a long, narrow lane leading to the dry land."

Soldier, or Soldier-Ant, n. "one of that section of a colony of some kinds of ants which does the fighting, takes slaves, etc." (`Century Dict.') In Australia, the large red ants are called Soldier-Ants. Compare Bulldog-Ant.

1854. G. H. Haydon, `The Australian Emigrant,' p. 59:

"It was a red ant, upwards of an inch in length--`that's a soldier, and he prods hard too.'"

1865. W. Howitt, `Discovery in Australia,' vol. ii. p. 308:

"The pain caused by a wound from this grass-seed is exactly like that from the bite of a soldier-ant."

Soldier-bird, or Poor Soldier, or Old-Soldier bird, n. another name for the Friar-bird (q.v.).

1859. D. Bunce, `Australasiatic Reminiscences,' p. 62:

"The notes peculiar to the Ornithorhynchus paradoxus, or platypus, wattle-bird, and leather-head, or old soldier bird, added in no small degree to the novelties... .

The wattle-bird has been not inaptly termed the `what's o'clock,'--the leather-head the `stop where-you-are.'"

[Mr. Bunce's observations are curiously confused. The `Soldier-bird' is also called `Four o'clock,' but it is difficult to say what `wattle bird' is called `what's o'clock'; the `notes' of the platypus must be indeed `peculiar.']

1896. Mrs. Langloh Parker, `Australian Legendary Tales,'

p. 108 [Title of Tale]:

"Deegeenboyah the Soldier-bird."

Sole, n. The name is given to various Australian fishes. In Sydney, to Synaptura nigra, Macl.; in Melbourne, to Rhombosolea bassensis, Castln.; in New Zealand, to Rhombosolea monopus, Gunth., and Peltorhamphus novae-zelandiae, Gunth.; in Tasmania, to Ammotretis rostratus, Gunth., family Pleuronectidae. Rhombosolea monopus is called the Flounder, in Tasmania. See also Lemon-Sole.