148 
would be very acceptable. Mr. Froggatt states that it is obtained 
from the roots, and local Europeans and aborigines all make similar 
statements as to its origin. 
It is in a cake about 4 inches in diameter, and 1} inches in thickness. 
The smell is something like bees-wax, but at the same time it has an 
exceedingly disagreeable and persistent odour which is not easily 
_described. It reminds one of the smell of the fabric known as cordu- 
roy. It is of especial interest because it is of aboriginal preparation. 
Its colour is that of a dirty dark bronze-green, or almost of a slaty 
colour with a little green init. To the naked eye it looks very lke 
finely chopped hay or grass-seed cemented into a compact mass. It is 
exceedingly tough, a sharp blow with a hammer on a cold chisel being 
necessary to fracture it. 
Petroleum spirit extracts 3°2 per cent. of a colourless fixed oil or fat, 
which possesses a little of the disagreeable odour of the original sub- 
stance. The solvent extracts no resin. As the substance has been 
made up into cakes by the blacks, and is to that extent not an absolutely 
natural product, it may be that the fat, or a portion of it has been 
introduced. 
The substance was then digested in alcohol, which extracts a trans- 
parent, hard, golden-yellow resin, possessing some odour, and which 
appears to be an interesting substance. The amount of this resin is 
67°53 per cent., and it darkens on keeping. 
Water digested on the residue dissolves out 6-9 per cent. of colouring 
matter and salts. It contains no arabin. The remainder, 23°] per 
cent., consists of dirt and particles of chopped grass. This also is 
quite free from gummy matter. 
Summary— 
Fat, soluble in petroleum spirit et | 
Resin, soluble in alcohol seed ae . MTS 
Extractive and salts, soluble in water 6°9 
Accidental impurity ... voi ie we) Zoe 
100°4 
A second sample, treated with alcohol direct, yielded 70°8 per cent. 
to that solvent, Proc. Linn. Society, N.S.W. [2], iv, 639 (1889). 
Following is my report on an allied substance recently collected by 
the Horn Expedition to Central Australia. 
No. 1. ‘‘ Portion of an ants’ nest consisting of sand agglutinated by 
gum from Triodia pungens, formed around the base of the grass, and 
continued as cylinders around leaves and flower stalks. Tempe 
Downs.” This substance has the appearance of a lump of reddish- 
brown clinker. When treated at a very low temperature the resin 
melts (even in the flame of a match), and in its crude state would make 
a useful cement. When the resin has burned away, the residue consists 
of sand, principally quartz with ferric oxide, the latter beg removed by 
dilute hydrochloric acid. This ferric oxide assists to give the original 
mass its reddish-brown appearance. When the original substance 
is treated with alcohol (rectified spirit), the resin readily dissolves, 
leaving the sand, which differs in no way from that obtained by burning 
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