72 THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 



beneritli, slightly or liardly acuminate.l, callous -gi and ularly dentic- 

 ulated, ascendingly costate, subtle- veined. Peduncles usually nbseiit, 

 seldom elongated. Pedicels ^-1 inch long, very thin, bearing one 

 or two minute almost lanceolar bracts near or below the middle. 

 Hypocidycine bracteoles none. Lobes of the calyx from a broad 

 base oblong semiovate, usually about three times longer than tlie 

 undivided basal portion, rarely reduced to four in number, the two 

 outer si'ine>\hat smaller. Corolla deciduous, aliout g- inch long, 

 rather meuiln-anous; its color not recognisable in a dried state; the 

 segments Itroadly sessile, nearly cuneate-ovate. Siamens inserted 

 ^long the base of the corolla, but free from it; the membranous 

 connate pm-tion of the stamens about as long as the nntliers 

 :and only i)artial]y divided into very short filaments; anthers Forming 

 a few irregular rows, about ^\ inch long, yellowish. Style about 

 4- inch long. Ovary adnnte in its lnwer portion, jaivly ^--celled. 

 Fruit from hardly ^ to rather more than ^ inch broad, almost; 

 •conipletf'ly superior; septa thin; placentas very prominent. Seeds 

 from 24 ^(^ 3o ^^^^^^ long, somet'mes verging into an almost 

 globular form, outside broAvii, reticulated by copious close impressions; 

 niiiisten'-nl testa mucilaginous; embryo white, somewhat shorter 

 than the alb'.nnen. 



This notable and pretty plant is dedicated to E. Du Faur Esq., 

 r.i\.G.S., one of tlie first originators of tl'.e Australian Geographical 

 Society, who not only devoted as a member of its administrative 

 Council much attention to the Society's Expeditions into ]!!few 

 Guinea, but wlio also nidicld perseveringly in later years llie cause 

 ■of the lo'ig-Iost Dr. Leichardt and the unfortunate cumpanions 

 of that renowned and lamented exjjlorer. 



AuSTRAniAN PaMADOXES. 



'• But this is New Holland, where it is summer with us when it is 

 winter in Eu'.ope, and r/ce I'ersa; where the barometer rises before 

 bad weather, and falls before good; where the north is the hot wind 

 and the south the cold; where the humblest house is fitted up witli 

 cedar; where the fields are fenced with mahogany; and myrtle-trees 

 arc burnt for firewood; where tlie swans are black and the eagles 

 white; where the kangaroo, an animal between the squirrel and the 

 deer, has five claws on its fore-paw.s, and three talons ou its hind 

 legs like a bird, and yet hops on its tail; where the mole lays egg.s, 

 and has a duck's bill; where there is a bird with a broom ia its 

 mouth instead ( f a tongue; where tliere is a fish one half belonging 

 to the genus Faja and the other to tliat of Squalus; where the 

 pear> are made of wood, with tlie stalk at the broader end; and 

 wheie the cheiry grows with the t*tone on the outside.^' From 

 " Fides New South Wales," p. 461. 



