BY J. H. MAIDEN. 583 



*' In the Orange and Bathurst districts both trees flourish on 

 hills of Silurian slate, but, generally speaking, E. hcBinastoma 

 takes the higher land of the two. 



" Working miners use both trees for timbering shafts, but for 

 fuel E. JuEmastoma is preferred, as it burns well when only half 

 dried. 



" If there is any doubt as to whether a tree is White Brittle 

 Gum, as E. hcemastoma is sometimes called in localities where 

 both trees grow, an axeman who has worked much among them 

 can settle the point by a few blows with the axe, E. hcemastoma 

 being the more brittle of the two. 



" Around Ophir and Orange the White Brittle Gum seems to 

 flower later than E. hcemastoma. ^^ 



The foliage is most commonly duller-coloured than that of 

 either Gunnii or viminalis, but often undulate-leaved, a character 

 rather common in Gunnii. Sometimes the whole of the tree 

 (including the bark) is of a glaucous cast, and hence is known by 

 local residents as Slaty Gum, but it is not to be confused with 

 the true Slaty Gum, which is a form of E. polyanthemos. 



While an extreme form of var. maculosa seems distinct enough 

 in the higher parts of the Blue Mountains, it is simply impossible 

 to separate the species from the variety. The suckers are some- 

 times rather narrow ; this would seem to show aftinity to E. 

 vimiiialis, and is but additional evidence of the aflinity of that 

 species to E. Gunnii. We have also specimens from the Southern 

 Ranges that we cannot with certainty j^lace under E. Gunnii 

 (typical form) or its var. maculosa, though they belong to E. 

 Gimnii without doubt. From the Blue Mountains, Barber's 

 Creek, Southern New South Wales, and from various localities 

 in Victoria, we have a form with almost hemispherical calyx, and 

 as large as normal Gunnii ever is. The suckers are those of var. 

 maculosa. 



The aflinity of var. maculosa is very close to that of var. 

 ncervula. I have a perfect series of the former from the south 

 (Wingello) and from the west (Mt. Victoria), which shows how 

 very close these relations are, and how impossible it is to remove 

 the two varieties from the same species. 



