<i>Cobbler's Awl</i>
in the latter colony.

White-eyebrowed S.--
<i>A. superciliosus</i>, Gould; of Western Australia.

Though related to the genus <i>Myzomela</i>, the pattern
of their colouration differs widely.

1848. J. Gould, `Birds of Australia,' vol. iv. pl. 61:

"<i>Acanthorhynchus tenuirostris</i>. Slender-billed
Spine-bill. <i>Cobbler's</i> Awl, Colonists of Van Diemen's
Land."

Ibid. pl. 62:

"<i>Acanthorhynchus superciliosus</i>, Gould. White-eyebrowed
Spine-bill."

<hw>Spinetail</hw>, <i>n</i>. an Australian bird, <i>Orthonyx
spinicauda</i>; called also <i>Pheasant's Mother</i> (q.v.),
<i>Log-runner</i> (q.v.). The name is used elsewhere for
different birds. See <i>Orthonyx</i>.

<hw>Spinifex</hw>, <i>n</i>. a grass known in India, China, and
the Pacific, but especially common on Australasian shores. The
word means, literally, <i>thorn-making</i>, but it is not
classical Latin. "The aggregated flowers form large clusters,
and their radiating heads, becoming detached at maturity, are
carried by the wind along the sand, propelled by their elastic
spines and dropping their seeds as they roll." (Mueller.)
This peculiarity gains for the <i>Hairy Spinifex</i>
(<i>Spinifex hirsutus</i>, Labill.) the additional name of
<i>Spiny Rolling Grass</i>. See also quotation, 1877. This
chief species (<i>S. hirsutus</i>) is present on the shores of
nearly all Australasia, and has various
synonyms--<i>S. sericeus</i>, Raoul.; <i>S. inermis</i>, Banks
and Sol.; <i>Ixalum inerme</i>, Forst.; <i>S. fragilis</i>,
R.B., etc. It is a "coarse, rambling, much-branched, rigid,
spinous, silky or woolly, perennial grass, with habitats near
the sea on sandhills, or saline soils more inland." (Buchanan.)

The <i>Desert Spinifex</i> of the early explorers, and of many
subsequent writers, is not a true <i>Spinifex</i>, but a
<i>Fescue</i>; it is properly called <i>Porcupine Grass</i>
(q.v.), and is a species of <i>Triodia</i>. The quotations,
1846, 1887, 1890, and 1893, involve this error.

1846. J. L. Stokes, `Discoveries in Australia,' vol. ii.
c. vi. p. 209:

"In the valley was a little sandy soil, nourishing the
Spinifex."

1877. Baron von Mueller, `Botanic Teachings,' p. 125:

"The Desert Spinifex of our colonists is a Fescue, but a true
<i>Spinifex</i> occupies our sand-shores; . . . the heads are
so buoyant as to float lightly on the water, and while their
uppermost spiny rays act as sails, the