IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

Otago Witness, Issue 4049, 20 October 1931, Page 7

IN TOUCH WITH NATURE

By

PELORUS JACK.

J. Drummond,

F.L.S., F.Z.S.

Although Pelorus Jack is mentioned in. “ The Animals of New Zealand ” and in the “New Zealand Official Year Book” as Risso s dolphin, Grampus griseus, »ts official title is still indefinite. While following steamers through Pelorus Sound, evidently with some delight, if not curiosity, it came sufficiently elose to the surface to give passengers a glimpse of its graceful form, and snapshots were taken of it, but it was too quick in its movements to enable its identity to be established. In the first edition of “ The Animals of New Zealand,” it was placed amongst the belugas, or white whales. These are about 12 feet lonv. are inhabitants of northern seas, and are. seldom seen in these parts. They are easily tamed. Pelorus Jack’s friendliness for steamers in the waters he lived in fitted in with the docile disposition of these small whales, w’hich, in Hudson Bay and Davis Strait, are hunted for their oil.

In edition of “ The Animals of New Zealand,” further descriptions of Pelorus Jack led to its being classed as a goose-beak whale, Ziphius cavirostris. This cetacean is between 15 and 20 feet long, coloured black, varied with white. Rare and solitary, the goose-beaks, in me respect, coincided with the hitbits of Pelorus Jack, which remained a goosebeak until it was protected under Order-in-Council in 1904, as Risso’s dolphin. Grampus griseus, and as Risso’s dolphin it is illustrated in the fourth edition of “ The Animals of New Zealand.” Risso’s dolphin has no beak like the common dolphin s. It is from 10 to 13 feet long, has long, pointed breast-fins, and a high, sickle-shaped back-fin. Its range ismainly in the Mediterranean Sea and in the North Atlantic, but it has no fixed limits, and it may come to southern latitudes.

Air E. L. Tronghton. of New South Wales. who has made the latest investigations into Pelorus Jack's identity, examined a male and a female Risso’s dolph'n stranded near Sydney. He states that whiteness seems to have been the prevailing impression made on people who saw Pelorus Jack, while the two Risso’s dolphins he examined were almost uniformly black. The general shape of Pelorus Jack's body, particularly the triangular appearance of the fore part, shown in photographs, does- not aceord with the obtusely rounded head and shoulders of Risso’s dolphin. As Pelorus Jack has not been seen for 15 years, and as no remains of it have been found, Mr Troughton regrets that its identity must remain a mystery. All he can do is to state that is may have been a large dolphin belonging to a genus allied to Risso’s dolphin. To the public Pelorus Jack isPelorus Jack, the most famous creature of the Seven Seas: but men of science like to label interesting individuals with the names they give, and doubt as to Pelorus Jack's official name tantalises them.

The stranded mammals that attracted Mr Troughton's attention mark only the second recorded recurrence of Risso-’s dolphin on the Australian coast. The male was 9ft 71in long, the female 9ft lOin. The female was first seen by a member of the Manly Life-saving Club. Standing in the shark tower at noon, he saw sharks attacking the dolphin. The sharks seemed to be winning the battle. Leaping sometimes 4ft out of the water, the dolphin was stranded in a corner near rocks at South Steyne. Manly, where members of the club captured it. The male also was driven ashore by sharks, bleeding from many wounds. It was retained rn the water by members of a surf club until it could be examined by zoologists from the Australian Museum. While it was held in the water three large whale sharks went within 10ft of the shore and savagely snapped pieces from their victim.

The two individuals were not together.. The male was captured two years after the capture of the female. Mr Trough ton is not definite on the point, but he suggests that both were weakened by sickness or by prolonged attacks during regular’ migrations southward around Australia or across to New Zealand. The presence of a second individual, of the opposite sex. after two years, about the same time of the mouth, seems to him to imply the use of a warm current in an annual migratory movement. His conclusion is that Risso’s dolphin, believed to be rare, is quite plentiful over a vast range, but probably it seldom comes inshore except when ill or subjected to concerted attacks.

It is less than 100 years since cetaceans, small like Pelorus Jack, huge, like the blue whale, sometimes more than 90 feet long, were recognised as mammals, not fishes. Wltales, porpoises, and dolphins constitute the order cetacea, all with fishlike bodies, tail-fins composed of a pair of horizontal flukes, and characters that link them to the mammals. Merely a fragmentary pedigree has been worked out for the cetaceans- The fossil records seem to show that they are aberrant mammals, descendants of typical land mammals. but adapted to life in the sea. The fore limbs were converted into paddles. The hind limbs have disappeared. Instead of a tail, there is a flattened fin. Changes have taken place in the skull. The cetaceans' resemblance to fishes is accounted for by the theory that both groups acquired an external form best suited to an active life in the sea.. Cetaceans, unlike fishes, have no gills. They come to the surface to breathe by lungs. They are warm-blooded, and they suckle their young. Their blood system is on a plan that enables them to store a large supply or purified blood, to be drawn upon when they are submerged. Their enormous tail flakes provide locomotion; their paddles guide them through the water. According to the latest anatomical research, whales show an unmistakable affinity to the hoofed mammals, particularly to the swine.

The starry clematis, whose flowers, as white as snow, now light up some of our forests. and adorn tall manuka trees, looping from branch to branch and forming delicately

beautiful chains and garlands, delighted John Reinhold Forster, botanist on Captain Cook’s second voyage, in Queen Charlotte Sound 158 years ago. Since his time it has been noted by almost every distinguished botanist or explorer who has visited New Zealand. Favouring the outskirts of the forests, it spreads its sweet influence from John o’ Groat’s to Land’s End, that is. from North Cape to Stewart Island, usually in. the lowlands, but sometimes ascending to 2500 feet above sealevel. If planted in rich, loamy soil with good drainage, it grows well in cultivation. A. sun-worshipper, it uses its highly-sensi-tive leaf-stems to coil around twigs and , branches spirally, drag itself up to the top of a tree, and allow the sunshine to : full on its flowers.

Urewera Maoris believed that this lovely plant was one of the three firstborn children of the star Antares and of the star Kigel in Orion, it was the duty of these three children to show, by the appearance of their flowers, that the cold of the winter had passed away, and that the warmth of spring had come. Maoris may not believe these pretty legends now, but in the north they still call the clematis pua-wananga, which has been translated as the sacred or sanctified flower. Urewera Maoris pronounce the word poa-nanga, and apply it to the flowers alone. For the complete plant they have a more musical name, pikiarero. Forster named it officially Clematis integrifolia. Later it was found that this name had been already taken by a clematis in the northern hemi sphere, and the New Zealander was named Clematis indivisa, a title it has held ever since.

Facing hardship and perils, but always enthusiastic and indefatigable, Allan Cunningham, superintendent of the Sydney Botanical Gardens, while exploring the district between the Bay of Islands, Hokianga. and Whangaroa, collected a smaller, slenderer, and rarer clematis, which he named Clematis parviflora, the smallflowered clematis. He saw it growing in thickets on the skirts of the forests. Some 10 years later the Rev. W. Colenso, Bidwill, and other botanists collected it :n different parts of the North Island. It is reported to be more plentiful on the Little Barrier Island than anywhere else. It grows oil the Three Kings and from North Cape to the East Cape and Hawke's Bay, but often is very local, and nowhere is in abundance. In the South Island it is rare. Clematis foetida, not uncommon in lowland districts from the North Cape to the southern part of Otago, produces very numerous small yellowish flowers, which Mr T. F. Cheeseman describes as. strongly odorous, but certainly not feetid.

The male linnet, at this season, when his fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love, puts on a blood red cap and vest, which make him a fine fellow. He wears these all through the summer. For the autumn and the winter he wears a brown cap and vest. His modest mate, disdaining personal adornment, dresses in homely browns all the year round. When the mating season is over, linnets congregate in flocks and fly about the country. They seem to be increasing in New Zealand. As they are shy in disposition, and not noisy, they may be more plentiful than they seem to be. It is stated that thennests and eggs were found in New Zealand before the birds were seen. Gorse, broom, hedgerows, and shrubs are the favourite sites' for a nest, in which there may be found six pale green or blue eggs, ornamented with red or purple spots, streaks, and blotches.