THE VICTOKIAN NATURALIST. 141 



eating the floors and to keep the goods dry in the wet season 

 should floods occur, the Hindoo had conceived the plan of 

 getting into the store by cutting out some of the flooring. The 

 first night he did not succeed in getting through, but his marks 

 were observed by the manager, who determined to teach tlie 

 would-be robber a lesson, more particularly as the Hindoos were 

 unacquainted with some of the peculiarities of Australian vegeta- 

 tion. Accordingly he went into the scrub and cut down some 

 stinging trees, and carefully placed them so that the coolie, 

 creepiiig up to his unfinished work of the night before, would 

 come in contact with them. As he wore very little clothing it is 

 needless to say the lesson was effective. 



One of the most curious, and at the same time valuable, trees 

 growing in the open country is the Bottle-tree, Sterculia 

 rupestris, so called from the trunk of the tree being thick and 

 rotund at the bottom, and gradually tapering to a bottle-neck 

 above. This tree is capable of withstanding the severest 

 droughts, and when all other vegetation has disappeared the 

 Bottle-tree still flourishes. It is then its value becomes apparent. 

 The trunk, being composed of a soft, spongy, moisture-laden fibre, 

 affords sustenance when cut down for starving stock, which 

 greedily eat it, and its contained moisture to some extent over- 

 comes the terrible thirst of the unfortunate animals. It is in 

 times of stress that the value of protecting our native flora 

 becomes more apparent, and such valuable trees as these 

 Sterculias should be jealously guarded as a last resource in times 

 of drought. 



The " Lawyer " Palms, Calamus rmielleri, form a great 

 hindrance to one's progress through the scrubs. They climb in 

 all directions, and should one try to force his way through them 

 he is soon hooked up by the thorny tendrils which this palm uses 

 to climb its neighbours in the forest. They derive their name 

 from the tenacity of their grip, which resembles that of their 

 human namesakes, but they are, nevertheless, charming and 

 extremely graceful objects in the landscape. 



The many varieties of fig-trees (genus Ficus) form a consider- 

 able portion of the vegetation of these northern scrubs, and a 

 number of species are parasitic — that is, they grow on other trees, 

 to which they firmly attach themselves, and slowly but surely 

 strangle their foster-parent, eventually assuming their foster- 

 parent's shape. They will even envelop rocks in their rambling 

 roots, as depicted in the slide. Most trees bear their fruit 

 on the smaller branches and twigs, but here one of the figs 

 produces its fruit in compact bunches on the main trunk. The 

 fruit is very dry, and only eaten by birds or rats. It is probable, 

 were cheap labour available, much could be done among the fig- 

 trees in the way of rubber-getting, as the juice of the bark when 



