A ROUND-THE-WORLD BOTANICAL EXCURSION 427 



similar to that conducted by our own Department of Agriculture at 

 Washington. 



While Brisbane is a business city, inclined to emphasize the prac- 

 tical side of everything, the fine arts are not entirely ignored. There is 

 a large art gallery, a fine library and museum, and, in the town hall, 

 a splendid organ upon which regular recitals are given, as in Sydney. 



Eockhampton, about 400 miles farther north, is situated on the 

 Tropic of Capricorn; its principal newspaper is the Capricomian. 

 Here, too, I at once sought the director of the botanical garden, Mr. 

 Simmons, who continued the same generous hospitality and helpfulness 

 which had made previous work so successful. The cycad collection in 

 the garden was not very extensive, probably because cycads are so abun- 

 dant in this vicinity that it does not seem worth while to bring them in. 



Mr. Simmons took me out in a carriage, and within less than an 

 hour's drive, showed me Cycas and Macrozamia growing together. The 

 owner of the land, Mr. Snell, is related to the Snell who gave Snell 

 Hall to the University of Chicago, and so we were acquainted at once. 

 The study was rapid and satisfactory, for, just to let me see the anat- 

 omy of a trunk or structure of a bud, Mr. Snell chopped down plants 

 which would have been the pride of the conservatory in Kew or Berlin. 



About 40 miles from Eockhampton, at Maryvale and Byfield, 

 Bowenia spectabilis var. semdata is very abundant, forming a dense 

 but easily penetrated undergrowth in the ever-present eucalyptus bush. 

 This small cycad richly deserves its specific name, spectabilis, for the 

 leaves are smooth, have a rich dark green color, and retain their beauty 

 for several days after they have been cut off. It seems strange that 

 Bowenia is almost never found in greenhouses. 



At Springsure, about 200 miles west of Eockhampton, a fine cycad, 

 Macrozamia Moorei, is being exterminated because it causes " rickets " 

 in cattle, a disease which usually proves fatal. 



Ever since I landed at Sydney, botanists had advised me to visit the 

 Cairns district for a view of genuine tropical vegetation. Although 

 Cairns is 700 miles north of Eockhampton and without any railway 

 connection, it seemed worth while to make the trip by the small coast- 

 ing boats. In density, the Cairns jungle surpasses anything I had ever 

 seen in the Mexican tropics. The profusion of palms, tree ferns and 

 various vines and epiphytes was bewildering. Along the streams 

 Angiopteris, a remarkable fern, small specimens of which are occasion- 

 ally seen in greenhouses, reaches a tremendous size, with leaves nearly 

 twenty feet long and stalks as large as a man's arm. At Herberton, 

 near Cairns, a beautiful tree fern, Dicksonia Youngii, is so abundant 

 that it forms almost impenetrable jungles. Besides, in open places, all 

 three genera of cycads found in Australia may be secured within a 

 single day's tramp. 



