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appaarance, only having green tufts of spathulose leaves 

 surmounting each horn-like branch. The leathery aspect 

 of the plant is singular, and the tout ensemble of it bespeaks 

 it the melancholy denizen of a solitary beach ; yet it is, 

 nevertheless, profitable in its hermit-like life, yielding in 

 grateful return for the scanty nutriment it obtains from the 

 rock, a most bounteous and fragrant gum-resin. This may 

 be readily gathered, as it is exuded in the usual nodules of 

 large size, and lies under the shrub, ready to the hand 

 of industrious commercial enterprise. A leading peculi- 

 arity of this plant is that the whole tree, bark, wood, 

 and pith, is highly charged with this aromatic juice; 

 to an extent, perhaps, unprecedented in the gum-yielding 

 tribes, or in any resiniferous or balsamiferous tree. Not 

 only is it present in the usual place, between the layers of 

 new and old wood (alburnum and liber), but also every- 

 where else. In one of the dried specimens, Dr. W. showed 

 that in the wounded parts of the plant, wherever the apex 

 of a branch or bark had been broken, the fracture was 

 sealed up by the exudation, as if it had been thickly coated 

 with varnish. A small specimen of the gam was produced. 

 of a beautiful transparency and bright conchoidal fracture. 

 The whole plant burns rapidly, yielding a fragrant perfume 

 from its loaded frame. It at first appeared to belong to a 

 natural class or family of plants — the turpentine or balsam- 

 bearing — but as there was no flower to examine, and 

 only the anatomy of the vegetable skeleton and the 

 resinoid secretion to furnish data, the true nature could 

 not be ascertained, nor the consequent description given. 

 In the Glasgow Herald, an account of a coral plant 

 was mentioned, which had been shown to the Philoso- 

 phical Society there, by Dr. Maclagan, of Edinburgh. 

 Dr. Watson wrote to Dr. Maclagan, a few days ago, and 

 received a very polite note by return of post, stating some 

 interesting particulars respecting the plant, which, there- 



