rj. on the Norfolk island oe 269: 
are the remains of a number of smaller fibres, about 
the sizeof thelargest kind of packthread, which have 
all been cut off too fhort'to be seen in the drawing. 
The pile of the mafs of fibres with which the body 
of the cone is covered, all point upward ; “at least to- 
wards the stalk, directly the reverse of what hap- 
pens with the scales of. the cones of other trees. 
The seeds are stuck. in among, these fibres, quite ir- 
regularly, as in the figure ;.and are nearly of the 
size of an ordinary chesnut, but nearer the fhape of 
a hazel nut. They are covered with a strong hard 
thell, which at the point is exactly of the colour and 
texture of a hazel nut; but lower down they are co- 
vered with a fhort close velvety downy coat. These 
nuts adhere quite firmly to a nucleus, which forms 
the body of the cone, being a hard, bony, or bhell-like 
substance, so hard that no knife can make any im- 
prefsion upon it. A little of the point of this nu- 
eleus appears at the point below, slightly dotted 
where some of the pile has been taken off. Not 
having more than one, I could not break this up to 
see what is in the center. This solid nucleus seems 
to be about an inch and a half diameter. The whole 
weight of the cone is ten ounces anda half. The num- 
ber of seeds in this cone are seventeen. It is pro- 
bable the natives may use them for food. 
From these particulars it will clearly appear, that 
this cone is of a kind that is totally different from 
those of the trees we have in Europe. ° It has: beea 
thus minutely described to satisfy the desires of the 
curious, x 
