56 AuDAS, An Eastertide in the Victorian Pyrenees, [vor'xxix 



to the mountain-top. It has been said that this tree requires 

 plenty of root moisture, but that theory did not seem to hold 

 when one viewed fine trees growing in the most arid positions, 

 sheer from the crevices of granite boulders. Observation has 

 shown that the trees grown on hilly country yield a much 

 more handsome and valuable timber than those grown 

 upon low-lying and damp localities ; but in the latter 

 places they appear to be the longest lived, and attain the 

 greater dimensions. That this tree has not been much used 

 for ornamental purposes, such as plantations and avenues, is 

 due to the slowness of its growth This timber can be put to 

 a great variety of uses, being close-grained and very hard, yet 

 still capable of being cut for the finest veneer, and taking a 

 polished surface equal, if not superior, to that of walnut. This 

 species of acacia is particularly susceptible to attacks of the 

 parasitical mistletoe, Loranthus pendiihis, which is responsible 

 for the destruction of very many trees, and in this district I 

 noted that they were also the involuntary hosts of another 

 species, L. celastroides. The distribution of these parasites is 

 largely attributed to the Mistletoe-bird, Dicceiim hirundinaccum, 

 which feeds upon insects that infest the fruit of the mistletoe, 

 and, flying off, wipes its bill upon another branch or tree, thus 

 depositing the seed in any small depression or crack in the 

 bark, where it soon springs into life, sucking its sustenance 

 from the tissues of its unwilling victim, which eventually 

 withers and decays. It is not generally known that Tasmania 

 enjoys an entire immunity from the ravages of the mistletoe, 

 and, as it is found generally throughout the other States and 

 New Zealand, it would seem that the Mistletoe-bird does not 

 visit that island. The Blackwood is also a ready prey to the 

 depredations of innumerable insects, and an entomologist 

 would probably have found them more interesting in that 

 respect ; but my attention was more particularly restricted to 

 the large bunches of brown, woody galls, which I at first at- 

 tributed to some of these ])ests. but closer examination showed 

 them to be the fungus Uryinocladium Teppcrianitm, recently 

 described by Mr. D. M'Alpine. (iroves of these trees, quite 

 dead, bore silent evidence of the work of the grim destructor 

 fire, and their formerly blackened trunks and branches had 

 assumed another mantle of beauty in the all-embracing growths 

 of the lichen Usnea barbata, var. strigosa, which were closely 

 covered with their whitish-grey fruit. The absence of flowers 

 at this time of the year is largely compensated for by the variety 

 and l)eauty of the autumnal colouring of the foliage ; and the 

 fascinating tints of the Austial Mull)erry, Hedycarya Cunning- 

 hami, of tender pale green and golden yellow, served only to 

 accentuate the l)rilliant red and vivid orange of the Blackberry. 



