THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 189 



their bark is of a bronze green, very smooth in appearance, and 

 shiny, as if it had been rubbed over with oil. The leaves grow in 

 bunches at the extreme top of the tree, and they are of a dark 

 rich green colour and shiny, and reflect the sun very brightly, 

 which gives them a pretty appearance as they blow about in the 

 breeze. The trunk is curiously grooved, the grooves running up 

 the tree longitudinally, hence its name. The wood is very hard, 

 and largely used in fencing and buildings. There is a particular 

 kind of beetle, a specimen of which I was unable to procure, 

 which seems to lay its eggs on or just under the bark of this tree 

 — they vary in number from one to about a dozen — and the 

 young larvae, when hatched, commence burrowing their way under _ 

 the bark, the burrows going parallel to one another for some 

 distance, and as they increase in size in consequence of the 

 insects' growth they gradually get further apart, and eventually 

 end in a hole where the larvae has burrowed more into the centre 

 of the tree. Those I saw were in the dead wood, and the resi- 

 dents assured me that they had never seen similar burrows in the 

 green timber. 



The local names of the various eucalyptus trees in this district 

 are mostly similar to those in Victoria, but the names, such as 

 White Gums, Red Gums, E. calophylla, Peppermint, Woollybutts, 

 &c., are applied to different trees to those they are applied to 

 here. The finest timber is in the southern coastal district, 

 especially towards Albany, where there are large forests of 

 splendid trees, mostly Jarrah and Karri, Eucalyptus diversicolor. 

 Elsewhere there is plenty of forest land, but the timber is, com- 

 paratively speaking, small, and it deteriorates as one proceeds 

 inland. 



One of the White Gums sheds its bark in very small patches, 

 which gives it a ragged appearance, and looks as if the trees had 

 been pitted by a heavy passing hail-storm. There is a curious tree, 

 locally called Christmas Tree, Nuytsia floribunda , it has a thick 

 stem, and grows to about the height of 30 feet ; the wood is very 

 resinous, soft and brittle ; it bears large masses of small reddish- 

 yellow coloured flowers, which sometimes nearly cover the tree, 

 and have a very beautiful appearance ; the roots have a sweetish 

 taste, so much so that pigs are fond of them and soon tear up 

 and eat any they can get at in the sandy soil in which the trees 

 grow, and I was informed by residents that sheep are fond of 

 the grass which grows close to these trees ; the leaves are small 

 and grow in dense bunches. In the swampy land very large 

 specimens of the Swamp Ti-tree, Melaleuca, grow, far larger than 

 I have ever seen in Victoria. Their branches grow very irregu- 

 larly, while the wood is tough and often much knotted. I was 

 shown the remains of one large dead tree on Mr. Richardson's 

 property at Serpentine which had been struck by lightning and 



