252 Dr. Smith's Specific Characters of 



C. nanum. Curt. Mag. t. 1032, 

 Pultenaea nana. Andr. Repos. t, 434. 



M. Labillardiere originally discovered this plant on the south- 

 west coast of New Holland, at the foot of the mountains, in a 

 loamy soil, near a spot where, after being tantalized with find- 

 ing many salt springs, his party had just met with an ample sup- 

 ply of fresh water. This welcome refreshment, of which he 

 speaks feelingly in his book, seems to have suggested a name for 

 his plant, which he had properly determined to constitute a new 

 genus. He called it Chorizema, evidently, as I presume, from 

 •xpps a dance, or joyful assembly, and §p& a drink, in allusion 

 to the circumstance just mentioned. This occasioned me to take 

 the liberty of changing the gender of the name, which lie had 

 made feminine, and I have taken the further liberty of changing 

 the i for an o, an alteration which the derivation seems to au- 

 thorize, and indeed to render indispensable. I trust I shall now 

 be justified in the eyes of my friend Dr. Sims, see Curt. Mag. 1032, 

 whose ingenious derivation of the word in question from ^ /a a 

 mischief or punishment, " from the inconvenience its spinous 

 leaves must occasion to the naked-footed dancers of that coun- 

 try/' would have seemed very probable, had there been nothing 

 to guide us to the other ; but in that case the name must have 

 been Chorozemia, as well as of the feminine gender. 



I have never seen a specimen of Chorozema nanum, but from 

 the figures and descriptions I find no solid specific distinction 

 between that and the ilicifoliwn. If I am wrong, I shall be glad 

 to be corrected. My specimens of the latter were gathered by- 

 Mr. Menzies, near King George's Sound, on the west coast of 

 New Holland, latitude 35 south. 



2. C. tri- 



