BY THE REV. DE. W00LLS, D.D., F.L.S. 149 



covers also fallen timber. I was fortunate in detecting it in fruit 

 and flower, it belongs to that division of Bignoniacece of Jussien, 

 producing baccate fruit." This interesting plant which was 

 named in honour of Baron Field, (then Judge of the Supreme 

 Court of N. S. Wales), is found in moist and shady valleys from 

 Gipps Land to the Blue Mountains, (Frag. Phyto. Aust. Vol. IV. 

 p. 147.) and it is remarkable as being the solitary representative 

 of a genus, endemic in Australia. 



Bcea hygroscopica, which has been discovered by Dallachy in 

 moist, shady places on the higher mountains at Kockingkam Bay, 

 was fully described by Baron Mueller in 1863, and referred to 

 Cyrtandrece. The genus Bcea, according to Mr. Bentham, com- 

 prises a few Asiatic species, one of them extratropical and one 

 from the Seychelles Islands ; whilst B. hygroscopica, which closely 

 resembles the Chinese B. hygrometrica, is the only one endemic in 

 Australia, being limited apparently to the northern parts of 

 Queensland. This plant is a perennial with a short, thick woolly 

 stock and radical leaves four or five inches long, having loosely 

 branched, somewhat umbellate flowers, which are rather numerous 

 and of a blue colour. 



Since the publication of the fourth volume of the "Flora 

 Australiensis, a new species of the order was discovered at Lord 

 Howe's Island by Mr. Moore, F.L.S. , Director of the Botanical 

 Gardens. This plant is described in Baron Mueller's ''Fragmoita " 

 Vol. VII., p. 151, (1871), as a genus differing from any one 

 hitherto known in the order, though in some respects resembling 

 Conandra and Rhahdothamnus. It differs particularly from Field ia 

 and Baa in its erect and almost tree-like habit, as well as in the 

 shape and opening of the fruit. Baron Mueller has named the 

 plant Negria rhahdothamnoides, the generic name being in honour 

 of Professor Negri, the illustrious founder of the Italian 

 Geographical Society, whilst the specific name arises from its 

 likeness to Rhahdothamnus. This plant is said to attain a height 

 of eighteen feet, and is therefore probably the largest species of 



