40 "ENDEAVOUR" 



SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. 



Which of these types of growth characterises the typical 



A. crucial is it is at present impossible for me to determine. 



In regard to colour, A. crucialis, A, tasmanica and A. billardi 

 agree in being of a light fawn-brown. My original specimen of 

 A. macrocarpa is of a very dark red-brown, and other specimens 

 in the Australian Museum are described as "dark brown," but 

 as already mentioned the specimen lent to me by the Curator is 

 very pale, whether naturally or from the operation of some 

 bleaching agent is unknown. 



The general form of the hydrothecse is very similar in all 

 these species. In A. macrocarpa they range from '29 to '33 mm. 

 in length, in A. tasmanica from '35 to '39, and in A. billardi 

 from '41 to '48, the last-named being, however, narrower in front 

 view than either of the others. A. crucialis ranges according to 

 Billard, from '31 to '34 mm., but Ritchie says from '27 to '34. 

 In A. macrocarpa each side of the border has near the front a 

 single triangular tooth, and between it and the lateral sarcotheca 

 there is a large smooth-edged convex lobe, sometimes much 

 developed. In A. tasmanica and A. billardi (as seen in exact 

 side view), this lobe is not visible, and the border between 

 the lateral tooth and the lateral sarcotheca? is straight, except for 

 slight siuuations, as mentioned in the descriptions. The two 

 angular lobes, which in A. billardi are situated behind the 

 lateral sarcotheca?, are not developed in A. macrocarpa and 

 A. tasmanica. The iutrathecal tooth, first noted by Ritchie, is 

 found in many of the hydrotheca? of both A. tn*nt<niica and 

 A. billardi, though in both it is often wanting ; in A. macrocarpa 

 I have not found it so far. 



There is a characteristic difference between the mesial 

 sarcotheca of A. tasmanica and those of the other two forms. 

 In A. macrocarpa and A. billardi this organ rises at a wider 

 angle than does the front of the hydrotheca, so that the terminal 

 portion is distinctly prominent, the sarcotheca does not much 

 exceed half the length of the hydrotheca, and the aperture is 

 more or less oblique, being obviously formed by the transverse 

 terminal aperture cutting into the lateral one. In A. tasmanica 

 the sarcotheca, though considerably longer, does not project, but 

 continues adnate to the hydrotheca throughout its length, it is 

 often slightly swollen at the end, and it is abruptly truncate at 

 an angle perpendicular or nearly so to the hydrotheca. The 

 lateral sarcothecae do not differ much ; those of A. macrocarpn. 

 are conspicuously directed outward, the others somewhat less so. 



