BY J. H. MAIDEN. 443 



and when grouDcl with oil is a very good substitute for lamp- 

 black in paint. The gas has a smell somewhat similar to 

 coal-gas, not nearly so offensive, but sufficiently strong to make 

 any escape immediately perceptible. Its illuminating power 

 appears to be very superior to coal-gas, and its light very white " 

 (Quoted by Mr. P. L. Simmonds in Journ. Soc. Arts). 



Xanthorrhcea Tateana, F.V.M., in Muell. Cens. Supp. 1, for 1885. 



Kangaroo Island, South Australia. 



Three years ago I received from Mr. J. E. Brown, the Conser- 

 vator of Forests of South Australia (now Director-General of 

 Forests of this Colony), the handsome resin of this new species. 

 It is obtainable in large pieces free from woody matter. It is 

 more or less vesicular. It breaks up and powders with the utmost 

 facility. The fresh fracture is very bright, and of a rich pure ruby 

 colour ; the powder is dead, and of the colour of excellent chrome- 

 orange. The colour of the lumps, originally of a ruby colour, 

 becomes dulled by the friction of the masses against each other, 

 and so becomes from liver-colour to chrome-orange, 



Neither in lump nor in powder has the resin any odour at 

 ordinary temperatures. 



The finely-powdered substance gives up a little colour (yellow) 

 to cold water, when digested in it. The colour appears to be most 

 marked in this species, although in other Xanthorrhcea resins there 

 is a trace of colour. When the water is heated, the resin melts 

 and becomes of a blood-red colour, the liquid becoming turbid at 

 the same time. 



Petroleum spirit extracts "1 per cent, of resin, which appears to 

 be without colour, and is without odour. Rectified spirit dissolves 

 the whole of the remainder (there is but a trace of impurity), 

 forming a beautiful ruby-coloured liquid. Benzoic acid crystallizes 

 out from the resin, and appears to be intermediate in quality 

 between that yielded by X. arhorea and X. hastilis, under similar 

 circumstances. 



