THE VICTOEIAN NATURALIST. 79 



lontha Cockchafer, which preys on the foliage and ultimately 

 destroys the trees. As another cause of the destruction to 

 eucalypts, the Baron alludes " to the local increase of Phalan- 

 gistse (opossums, &c.), after the gradual disappearance of the abori- 

 ginal hunters." These, feeding on the leaves, are supposed to be 

 as injurious to the trees as the insects already mentioned, though 

 in the settled districts this is not noticed, as so many opossums 

 fall victims to Australian sportsmen. In Western Australia, 

 E. cornuta (Lab.) is a favourite with these marsupials, as they get 

 fat on the somewhat mellaginous flower. Sir Thomas Mitchell 

 ( "Tropical Australia," p. 127) alludes to a remarkable whiteness 

 found on E. jwpulifolia (Hook.), which is said to be an extremely 

 beautiful production formed by some insect of the Coccus 

 kind.* Something similar has been found on other eucalypts, 

 and no doubt indicates an unhealthy condition of the trees. 



There can be no doubt that in some parts of Australia 

 eucalypts are rapidly diminishing. In the settled districts it is 

 easy to account for their disappearance by the progress of cultiva- 

 tion, the frequency of ringbarking, the destruction of seedlings 

 by cattle, and the planting of exotics All these causes are in 

 operation, whilst in all probability the consumption of wood for 

 fuel and industrial purposes exceeds the natural growth of timber 

 in the forests. New South Wales has been very extravagant in 

 the use of her eucalypts, and it is only by making forest reserves, 

 by raising seedlings in nurseries for transplanting, and by pre- 

 venting the wanton destruction of large and valuable trees, that 

 compensation can be made for past folly. Even now the want 

 of good timber is felt in some of the colonies, and large sums of 

 money are sent out of the country for the importation of that 

 article, and were it not for the great consumption of coals and gas 

 for domestic purposes it would be difficult to supply the large 

 towns with firewood. With regard to floods and drought and 

 other visitations of nature man has but little control, but in the 

 progress of science superfluous waters may be carried off to some 

 extent by artificial channels, and arid lands may be improved by 

 irrigation for the purpose of tree- planting. If opossums are 

 really as injurious to eucalypts as some represent, means may be 

 adopted to treat them as native dogs and kangaroos have been 

 treated, so that their numbers may be diminished in districts 

 where their presence is regarded as detrimental. As eucalypts 

 are most valuable trees, whether considered in an industrial, 

 medicinal, or hygienic point of view, it is highly important to 



* Some of the forests on the high land to the south are supposed to have 

 perished from some kind of Coccus, but the late W. S. Macleay, F.L. S., the 

 great entomologist, was of opinion that insects were rather the effeci than the 

 cause of disease, and that the trees were in an unhealthy state before the insects 

 began to increase. 



