60 ON THE CLASSIFICATION OF EUCALYPTS, 



the study of our Eucalypts. But, after all, as the learned Baron 

 himself would acknowledge, the system is only an instalment 

 towards the object sought after, for as certain trees are as variable 

 in their bark as others are in their leaves, his sectional arrange- 

 ment does not hold universally. There are exceptions, for 

 instance, to the Leiopthloice ; for E. hcemastoma, E. saligna, E. 

 viminalis, E. stellidata, and E. punctata are sometimes half- 

 barked, whilst instances occur in which E. tereticornis has fibrous 

 bark. The different kinds of Box are not always half-barked, and 

 so some of the Hemiphloice incline to the Leiophloice in extreme 

 age. I have noticed this peculiarity in E. largijiorens, and in 

 some of the blackbutts (E. pUularis). The fibrous-barked trees, 

 such as blood-wood, stringy-bark, and mahogany, are less liable to 

 variation in the bark ; but in the woolly-butt (E. longifolia), of 

 which the Baron regards the bark as wrinkled, somewhat fibrous 

 and persistent, I have seen old trees which might have been 

 mistaken for E. tereticornis, their trunks having completely shed 

 their bark and become similar to gum-trees. This species, how- 

 ever, is well defined by its large flowers and fruits, usually 

 in threes ; but the specific name longifolia is scarcely applicable 

 to the trees as they advance in age. The iron-bark group {Schizo- 

 phloice) is less liable to variation in the nature of its bark than 

 any of the preceding sections ; and yet in some forms of 

 E. paniculata the bark is less rough and deeply furrowed than in 

 its allies, whilst in exceptional cases, when it goes under the 

 popular names of "Iron-bark Box," and "Bastard Iron-bark," the 

 wood and fruit are those of iron-bark, but the bark less rugged. 

 Some years ago, when the late Mr. Thomas Shepherd was residing 

 with Mr. Bell, at Cabramatta, he called my attention to a tree 

 which, so far as its general characters were concerned, appeared 

 to be an iron-bark, the shape of the buds, flowers, and fruit being 

 similar to those of E. paniculata, and the wood being, in the 

 opinion of the workmen, like the ordinary iron-bark of the neigh- 

 bourhood. Mr. Shepherd called the tree "Black Box" and "Iron- 

 bark Box," and entertained an idea that it might be an undescribed 

 species. Although I have had specimens of this tree for some 



