43 



The tree nourishes on the eastern slopes of the tableland, also close to the 

 Mack brushes below, where the soil seems particularly suitable for its pro- 

 duction, doing best where well drained, the land being stony, with quantities 

 <>f decayed vegetable on the surface and rather stiff soil underneath. On 

 Forest Reserve ].<>(>-. county of Clarke, there is a large <|uan1ity growing, 

 some of which was cut in iS'.rJ by men who had been bridge-building nil over 

 the colony, who informed me that this particular lot was the best quality they 

 had come across. This is produced on the high land about 2.4(M) feet, above 

 sea-level. It is distributed over a large area of the more open country under 

 the falls, but does not reach the size it does where better protected and the 

 oil is richer. (Late Forester li. L. Siddins, of Armidale.) 



It is found all along the eastern slopes of the New England tableland in 

 1'aii- quantity and good quality. If prefers a somewhat heavy soil. It is hardly 

 ever found on granite formation, that is. where the soil is light and sandy. 

 (Forest Ouard X. Stewart. (Hen limes.) 



Tallow-wood, with the exception of the Common Box. grows more abun- 

 dantly in this district than perhaps any other Eucalypt. It is found uniformly 

 distributed through all forest land at about four trees to the acre. Other 

 hardwoods are generally in patches, or favour certain spurs, but one never 

 goes many yards in forest land without finding several of these trees. 

 < Forester W. 1'. Tope, late of Murwillumbah.) 



EXTLAXATIOX OF TLATE 144. 



A. Juvenile leaf. 



B. Flowering twig. 



c. Fruit from Booral. 



D. Fruit from \Voolgoolga, showing slightly exserted valves. 



Eucalyptus maculata, Hook. 



THE SPOTTED Gr.M. 



Hoianical Name. Mtienlala, Latin (" spotted"), in allusion to the bark. 



\'crnacnlar Name. Its almost universal name is ''Spotted Gum." 

 Occasionally one hears the name "Mottled (him," which lias the same 

 meaning'. 



Leaves. Elastic threads in Eucalyptus. 



I was so much interested with the nature and behaviour of a leaf of 

 i:it<-iilitf>liiH citrioil'ira. which I picked yesterday, that I send you the specimen 

 ! dealt with, which I have mounted on the paper. When I broke the leaf. 

 which was about ."> inches long, across the midrib, I found that there was an 

 attachment, as of a thread or filament, at each of the outside edges of the 

 leaf. On drawing apart the two broken pieces of the leaf these two threads 

 still held on, and I slowly drew them out. when, besides stretching out like a 

 (bread of india-rubber, they gradually separated or unravelled from the edges 

 of the leaf, both at the stalk end and at the tip of the leaf. The threads were 

 so elastic that I drew them out to the length of Gi and 7-j inches respectively 

 before they broke, and they then curled up like a piece of india-rubber cord 

 when the strain is taken off. and they now. after twenty-four hours, retain 

 their elasticity. ((Snnlcncrx' Chronicle. 7th February, 1903, p. !tli. ) 







'To which I replied : 



There is a small quantity of Caoutchouc in the leaves of (at least) the 

 members of the Corymbosa 1 section of the genus. It is particularly observable 

 in the widely-distributed E. corj/niltoxa. Sm. (Rloodwood). It is a common 

 thing to S(M> small boys pull apart the young leaves of that species, and a thin 

 membrane, mainly consisting of Caoutchouc, is at once obtained. (23/r>/Oi>.) 



