TIMBERS. 431 
a weight which corresponds to 48lb. 10z. per cubic foot. (Baron 
Mueller gives the specific gravity of “‘Messmate” (Z. jisstl’s) as 
.865 or about 543lb. per cubic foot. (Other determinations of 
the specific gravity of timber of this species will be found in the 
tables.) This particular specimen was collected by Sir William 
Macarthur, and called by him “River Gum of Camden.” He 
describes it (No. 109, Catal. N.S.W. Timbers, Paris Exh., 
1855) as a small, quick-growing species, very elegant when in 
blossom, found only on the immediate sandy banks of rivers, and 
the inner bark used for tying grafts, and for other similar common 
purposes. Diameter, 1 to 2ft.; height, 30 to soft. His disparag- 
ing remarks in regard to this tree, ‘‘of no value for timber,” 
exactly tally with those of Dr. Woolls in regard to &. radiata 
(infra), yet this sample which has been worked up under the 
author’s supervision, works splendidly, and is good to dress and 
plane up. It is light in weight, and of a light-buff colour. It 
appears to be a useful timber, but it is only right to say that these 
remarks are based upon a small slab. 
Speaking of Z. radiata (now merged in this species), the 
Revd. Dr. Woolls calls it a brittle wood. He does not approve 
of it being merged in ZL. amygdalina for the reasons given 
in Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., v., 448, and he is not alone in 
that opinion. 
Mr. W. Archer (Proc. R.S. Tasmania, 1864) says ZL. 
radiata is called “Curly White Gum” in Tasmania, and by 
the sawyers “Bastard White Gum.’ The trunk is often 
twisted, the timber curly, and the branches weeping. (But is 
not this “weeping” appearance rather more characteristic of the 
variety Z. Risdoni r). 
Tasmania, South and East Victoria ; coastal districts of New 
South Wales (not extending far to either west or north). 
The timber of this species, or rather that of the Victorian 
“Mountain Ash,” called regzans, is one of four colonial timbers 
recommended by the Victorian Carriage Board for the manufacture 
of railway carriages. The Board reports as follows: ‘‘ Lacking 
the richness of colour of ‘Blackwood’ (Acacia melanoxylon), 
it is in appearance less attractive for carriage-building (the 
