Austral English Part 220

Rock Lily, n. See under Lily.

Rock-Ling, n. a marine fish. The Australian R. is Genypterus australis, Castln., family Ophidiidae. The European R. belongs to the genera Onos and Rhinonemus, formerly Motella.

Of the genus Genypterus, Guenther says they have an excellent flesh, like cod, well adapted for curing. At the Cape they are known by the name of "Klipvisch," and in New Zealand as Ling, or Cloudy-Bay Cod.

Rock-Native, or Native, n. a name given to the fish called a Schnapper when it has ceased to "school." See Schnapper.

Rock-Parrakeet, n. an Australian Gra.s.s-Parrakeet(q.v.), Euphema petrophila, Gould.

It gets its name from its habitat, the rocks and crags.

Rock-Pebbler, n. another name for the Black-tailed Parrakeet. See Parrakeet.

Rock-Perch, n. the name given in Melbourne to the fish Glyphidodon victoriae, Gunth., family Pomacentridae, or Coral-fishes. It is not a true Perch.

Rock-shelter, n. a natural cave-dwelling of the aborigines. See Gibber-Gunyah.

1891. R. Etheridge, jun., in `Records of the Australian Museum,' vol. i. No. viii. p. 171 (`Notes on Rock Shelters or Gibba-gunyahs at Deewhy Lagoon'):

"... The Shelters are of the usual type seen throughout the Port Jackson district, recesses in the escarpment, overhung by thick, more or less tabular ma.s.ses of rock, in some cases dry and habitable, in others wet and apparently never used by the Aborigines."

Rock-Wallaby, n. the popular name for any animal of the genus Petrogale (q.v.). There are six species--

Brush-tailed Rock-Wallaby-- Petrogale penicillata, Gray.

Little R.-W.-- P. concinna, Gould.

Plain-coloured R.-W.-- P. inornata, Gould.

Rock-W., or West-Australian R.-W.-- P. lateralis, Gould.

Short-eared R.-W.-- P. brachyotis, Gould.

Yellow-footed R.-W.-- P. xanthopus, Gray.

See Wallaby.

1884. Rolf Boldrewood, `Melbourne Memories,' c. viii. p. 58:

"A light, active chap, spinning over the stones like a rock wallaby."

1888. Rolf Boldrewood, `Robbery under Arms,' p. 119:

"They rode and rode, but Warrigal was gone like a rock wallaby."

1894. R. Lydekker, `Marsupialia,' p. 43:

"The Rock-Wallabies are confined to the mainland of Australia, on which they are generally distributed, but are unknown in Tasmania. Although closely allied to the true Wallabies, their habits are markedly distinct, the Rock-Wallabies frequenting rugged, rocky districts, instead of the open plains."

Roger Gough, n. an absurd name given to the tree Baloghia lucida, Endl., N.O. Euphorbiaceae.

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 382:

"Scrub, or brush bloodwood, called also `Roger Gough.'"

1896. `The Australasian,' Aug. 28, p. 407, col. 5:

"Who were Messrs. James Donnelly, James Low, and Roger Gough that their names should have been bestowed on trees? Were they growers or buyers of timber? Was the first of the list any relative of the Minnesota lawyer who holds strange views about a great cryptogram in Shakespeare's plays? Was the last of the three any relative of the eminent soldier who won the battles of Sobraon and Ferozeshah? Or, as is more probable, were the names mere corruptions of aboriginal words now lost?"

Roll up, v. intr. to gather, to a.s.semble.

1887. J. Farrell, `How he died,' p. 26:

"The miners all rolled up to see the fun."

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Miner's Right,' c. xx. p. 185:

"At the Warraluen and other gold towns, time after time the ominous words `roll up' had sounded forth, generally followed by the gathering of a mighty crowd."

Roll-up, n. a meeting. See preceding verb.

1890. Rolf Boldrewood, `Miner's Right,' c. x.x.xv. p. 308:

"Making as much noise as if you'd hired the bell-man for a roll-up?"

Roly-poly Gra.s.s, or Roley-poley, n.

name given to Panic.u.m macractinium, Benth., N.O. Gramineae; and also to Salsola Kali, Linn., N.O. Salsolaceae. See Gra.s.s.

1859. D. Bunce, `Travels with Dr. Leichhardt in Australia,'

pp. 167-8:

"Very common to these plains, was a large-growing salsolaceous plant, belonging to the Chenopodeaceae, of Jussieu. These weeds grow in the form of a large ball... . No sooner were a few of these b.a.l.l.s (or, as we were in the habit of calling them, `rolly-poleys') taken up with the current of air, than the mules began to kick and buck... ."

1865. Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods, `History of the Discovery and Exploration of Australia,' vol. ii. p. 468:

"A salsolaceous plant growing in the form of a ball several feet high. In the dry season it withers, and is easily broken off and rolled about by the winds, whence it is called roley-poly by the settlers."

1889. J. H. Maiden, `Useful Native Plants,' p. 100:

"Roly-Poly Gra.s.s. This species produces immense dry and spreading panicles; it is perennial, and seeds in November and December. It is a somewhat straggling species, growing in detached tufts, on sand-hills and sandy soil, and much relished by stock."

1896. Baldwin Spencer, `Horne Expedition in Central Australia,' Narrative, p. 13:

"On the loamy flats, and even gibber plains, the most noticeable plant is Salsola kali, popularly known as the Rolly-polly. It is, when mature, one of the characteristically p.r.i.c.kly plants of the Lower Steppes, and forms great spherical ma.s.ses perhaps a yard or more in diameter."

Roman-Lamp Sh.e.l.l, name given in Tasmania to a brachiopod mollusc, Waldheimia flavescens, Lamarck.

Roo, a termination, treated earlier as the name of an animal. It is the termination of potoroo, wallaroo, kangaroo. See especially the last. It may be added that it is very rare for aboriginal words to begin with the letter `r.'

1790. J. White, `Voyage to New South Wales' [Observations at the end, by Mr. John Hunter, the celebrated surgeon]: