from New South IFales. 135 



Therefore, this 3 ear they have burned as much of the mallee 

 as they could to admit of tlie young mallee springing up." 



The only published notice of this substance I have met 

 with, is contained in Westgarth's Australia Felix, page 73, 

 where it is mentioned in the following terms : — " Mr Robin- 

 son, the chief protector (of the Aborigines), ascei'tained dur- 

 ing his expedition, in 1845, to the north-west of Australia 

 Felix, that the natives of the Wimmera prepai'e a luscious 

 drink from the Laap, a sweet exudation from the mallee 

 {Eucalyptus dumosa.) This liquor is manufactured in the 

 months of February and March, on Avhich occasions there 'S 

 commonly a festival and adjustment of mutual disputes." 



Tlie substance to which these observations refer, diflFers 

 very strikingly in its external appearance, from all the other 

 species of manna. It consists of numerous small conical 

 cups of the average diameter of one-sixth of an inch, with a 

 more or less distinctly striated structure, and covered ex- 

 tei'nally with a number of white hairs curled in various 

 directions. These hairs are not distributed over the whole 

 external surface of the cup, but are generally attached to the 

 middle portion between its base and apex. The cup itself is 

 generally sharply acuminated, and bears a pretty close re- 

 semblance to some of the smaller species of patella. Its in- 

 terior is pretty smooth, its exterior rough, and its edge per- 

 fectly regular and round. The cup and hairs are translu- 

 cent, except on the edge of the former, which is frequently 

 opaque. No traces of attachment to the leaves of the plant 

 were to be detected, and though fragments of leaves, obvi- 

 ously those of a species of Eucalyptus, were found in the 

 substance, none of them had any of the cups attached to 

 them. The cups were not generally isolated, but usually 

 adhered loosely to one another by the edges, and this attach- 

 ment was always such that the mouths of the cups were in 

 one plane, and there can be little doubt that it was by this 

 surface they were attached to the leaves. The hairs, when 

 examined under the microscope, were found to be distinctly 

 organized. Each hair formed a uniform tube, which, under 

 a high magnifying power, presented a granular structui'c, 



