NOTKS AND EXHIBITS. 283 



Dr. J. B. Cleland showed, and ottered some preliminary obser- 

 vations on, a sample of manna from a plant of Kunzea, which he 

 proposed to have analysed. It was apparently an exudate con- 

 sequent upon the boring of insect-larvae; and its occurrence upon 

 Kunzea was veiy unusual. • 



Mr. E. Cheel exhibited, on behalf of Mr. Stead, a specimen of 

 \iog-moH&[S'phagnum sp.). obtained from the mountain ranges, 

 between Jenolan Caves and Oberon; it is used for packing the 

 eggs of Trout foi- transport, after they have been stripped from 

 the parent fishes. 



Mr. Fred Turner exhibited, and offered observations on, a 

 specimen and samples of the fruit of Nitraria Schoberi Linn., 

 from north-west Victoria. This curious and interesting shrub 

 occurs in many of the dry, hot inland parts of Australia, and 

 mostly on saline tracts of country. In the summer months it 

 usually produces quantities of fruit about the size of a small 

 cherry. When ripe, the fruit is very juicy and has a salty but 

 not a disagreeable flavour, and is eaten by both the white settlers 

 and the aborigines. The latter are very fond of the fruit, which 

 they call " Karambi," and consume large quantities without 

 ejecting the very hard putamen, which has a sharp point at the 

 apex. The blacks, however, never appear to suffer from appen- 

 dicitis or other gastric troubles after freely eating of it. This 

 species of Nitraria is also found in Western Asia and Northern 

 Africa. Healso showed a specimen oiSolanumpetrophilumF.v.M., 

 a suspected poisonous plant in the Warren district, New South 

 Wales. Mr. Turner also exhibited some grasses from New Cale- 

 donia, portion of a collection that had been forwarded to him for 

 identification and report as to their economic value. The species 

 shown were also indigenous to Australia, and comprised ll)Andro- 

 po(/un annulatus Forsk., which is fairly common in the coast 

 districts of Queensland and North Australia; and the exhibitor 

 made the first record of it for New South Wales. {1)Andropoijon 

 pertusus Willd. Turner's figure and description of this species 

 appear in the Government "Agricultural Gazette "( Vol. i v., p.82), 

 25 



