TIMBERS. 479 
289. Eucalyptus maculata, Yook., (Syn, £. variegasa, F.v.M.; £. 
peltata, Benth.); N.O., Myrtacez, B.FI., iii., 254 and 258. 
‘* Spotted Gum.” 
There is great demand for this timber, which is used for ship- 
building, bridges, girders, naves of wheels, cart and buggy shafts, 
cubes for street paving, staves, shingles, and general building pur- 
poses, where a strong, close-grained, and durable timber is 
required. Baron Mueller, however, points out that it seems to 
vary in quality according to the locality in which it grows. It is 
the coarsest-grained timber of the Eucalypts, and the timber is 
very readily recognised. A sample of wood of this species from 
eastern New South Wales may be thus described: Dark yellow ; 
contains large gum-veins, and is inclined to split. The figure has 
a very pretty wavy appearance, which extends from the heart to 
the sap. Diameter, 2ft. 
The Rev. J. E. Tenison-Woods points out that the Queens- 
land Government will not allow this timber to be used for 
telegraph poles. 
At the London International Exhibition of 1862, a piece of 
this timber from the hull of the steamer Wrlliam IV. was 
exhibited. With the exception of some slight charring on the 
mere surface of the timber in the immediate vicinity of the boilers, 
the entire fabric of this vessel is as substantial and sound as when 
she was built in the year 1830. 
There is no doubt that the ‘“‘Spotted Gum” timber of 
Captain Ward’s Sydney Mint Experiments (1858) belongs to this 
species. Specific gravity, 1.035; value of E, 485,500; of S, 2006. 
There is also in the Museum a specimen originally labelled Z. 
goniocalyx (Spotted Gum), a sample of which was tested in the 
Mint Experiments of 1861 (p. 12). It has a specific gravity of 
1.17; value of E, 574,500; of S, 2604. It is stated to be a 
‘timber of great strength and durability in dry situations, but not 
much prized.” It came from Brisbane. It is a heavy timber, cross- 
grained, tough to work, brown, inclining to walnut, and with but 
little figure. The author has no doubt the timber is the produce of 
£. maculata, which is also vernacularly known as ‘“‘ Spotted Gum.” 
