EY THE REV. J. E. TENTSOX- WOODS, F.G.S. 337 



E. creJjra, is a most valuable tree because it will grow almost 

 anywhere, aud the wood is much esteemed for nearly every 

 purpose. I am not at all sure that an attentive observation 

 would not show that this species is no more than a slight variety 

 of the A^ictorian Iron Bark, E. leucoxijlon. It would be very 

 hard indeed to draw any clear line of distinction between them, 

 except in the anthers, which in E. crehra are all fertile, and in 

 the Victorian Iron Bark have the outer row of filaments destitute 

 of anthers. As far as the habits of the two trees are concerned, 

 nothing could be more similar. An attentive study of E. 

 leucoxijlon has shown that it varies in a most remarkable degree, 

 and especially in that which is usually regarded as a good and 

 permanent specific distinction, that is, the bark. Baron von. 

 Mueller in the " Eucalyptographia," mentions that the Victorian 

 Iron Bark is the same as the White Grum of South Australia. 

 Prom "Western Victoria, that is west of the Grampian and 

 Victorian Ranges, such a thing as an Iron Bark tree is not known, 

 but instead we have, in all the poor soils a miserable tree, useless 

 in its wood and with a ragged deciduous bark, which comes off 

 in long strips. This tree is also found on the clay pans and wet 

 ground of the Murray scrubs, and more or less abundantly it is 

 found throughout the colony of South Australia for at least 100 

 miles north of Adelaide, that is over about 40,000 square miles 

 of country. Climate and soil we may say are the causes which 

 make the two strongly marked varieties, for as soon as we get 

 into stony quartzose ridges, somewhat above 700 feet over the 

 sea level, at once the white gum becomes Iron Bark ; the wood 

 is excellent, nay, one of the best, and the trees could not be more 

 unlike White Grum. This remarkable fact is surely worthy of 

 study and shows how much we have still to learn about the 

 variability of our Eucalypts. 



E, gracilis, F. v Muell. This Eucalypt affords a good instance 

 of the local distribution of some of the species. It is nowhere 

 abundant, but it is found in desert portions of the colonies from 



