Tas. 8512. 
AGATHIS VITIENSIS. 
Fiji Islands. 
ConIFERAE. Tribe ARAUCARIEAE. 
Aaatuis, Sulisbury; Benth. et Hook. f. Gen. Plant. vol. iii. p. 436. 
Agathis vitiensis, Benth. et Hook. f. ex Drake, dil. Fl. Ins. Mar. Pacif. (1892) 
p. 353, nomen; Masters, Handl. Conif. Roy. Gard. Kew, p. 61 (1896); 
ed. ii. p. 67 (1903); Warburg, Monsunia, p. 186 (1900); affinis A. macro- 
stachyae, Warburg, sed ramis glabris, amentis masculis minoribus, strobilis 
majoribus et seminum alis differt. 
Arbor excelsa, resiniflua. Rami laeves, subquadrangulares. Folia opposita 
vel subopposita, lanceolata, apice acuta vel obtusiuscula, basi attenuata, 
9-12°5 em. longa, 2-3°5 em. lata, supra viridia, subtus pallidiora interdum 
pruinosa, sessilia, striata, coriacea. Amenta mascula extra-axillaria, cylin- 
drica, 3 cm. longa, 1°5 em. lata, apice obtusa, basi rotundata, perulata ; 
pedunculi 7-8 mm. longi, cum axe confluentes; filamenta 3 mm. longa, 
horizontalia, in connectivum cuneatum producta; antherarum loculi 7, 
cylindrici, connectivi basi penduli, filamento paralleli et aequilongi. 
Strobili globosi, 8°5 em. longi, 9°5 cm. diametro; squamae lignosae, dense 
imbricatae, circiter 5 em. latae, 4 cm. altae, apice crassiores, rhombiformes, 
ab axi solutae. Semina solitaria, integumento membranaceo utrinque in 
alam producto; ala altera parva, angusta, altera magna, cultriformis.— 
Dummara vitiensis, Seem. in Bonplandia, vol. ix. (1861), p. 259, nomen, et 
Fl. Vitiensis, p. 265, t. 76 (1865). D. longifolia, Lindl. ex Gord. Pinet., 
Suppl. p. 28 (1862).—J. J. Cuark. 
The Dammar which forms the subject of our illustration 
is endemic in mixed forest in the Fiji Archipelago, where it 
is known as the Dakua, and is abundant in the islands of 
Vanua Levu and Viti Levu, though it also occurs, but less 
plentifully, in the Islands of Ovalau aud Kaduvu. From 
Ovalau some particularly fine individuals have heen re- 
ported; one of these hada diameter of five feet ; others had 
attained a height of from eighty to a hundred feet, with 
sixty feet of clean stem. The bark in A. vitiensis peels off 
like that of the Australian gum-trees, the shreds being 
whitish outside, red on the inner surface. The wood, which 
serves much the same uses as deal, is employed by the Fijians 
for house-floors, and for masts, booms and spars. Unfamili- 
arity with its value has led to neglect as an article of com- 
merce of the gum which the tree exudes. In the interior of 
the larger islands, however, this gum, made into pastilles or 
SerremBer, 1913. 
