from New South Wales. 243 



that it is a spojitaneous production of the mallee or gum- 

 scrub when very young, say a foot or eighteen inches high, 

 and that it grows on either side of the leaf; that old mallee, 

 or mallee about eighteen inches high, does not produce lerp. 

 Therefore, this year they have burned as much of the mallee 

 as they could to admit of the young mallee springing up." 



The only published notice of this substance I have met 

 with is contained in Westgarth's 'Australia Felix, page 73, 

 where it is mentioned in the following terms ; — " Mr, 

 Eobinson, the Chief Protector (of the Aborigines), ascer- 

 tained during his expedition in 1845, to the north-west of 

 Australia Felix, that the natives of the Wimmera prepare a 

 luscious drink from the Laap, a sweet exudation from the 

 mallee {Eucalyptus dumosa) . This liquor is manufactured 

 in the months of February and March, on which occasions 

 there is commonly a festival, and adjustment of mutual 

 disputes." 



The substance to which these observations refer differs 

 very strikingly in its external appearance |from all the other 

 species of manna. It consists of numerous small conical 

 cups of the average diameter of one-sixth of an inch, with 

 a more or less distinctly striated structure, and covered 

 externally with a number of white hairs curled in various 

 directions. These hairs are not distributed over the whole 

 external surface of the cup, but are generally attached to the 

 middle portion between its base and apex. The cup itself 

 is generally sharply acuminated, and bears a pretty close 

 resemblance to some of the smaller species of patella. Its 

 interior is pretty smooth, its exterior rough, and its edge 

 perfectly regular and round. The cup and hairs are trans- 

 lucent, except on the edge of the former, which is frequently 

 opaque. No traces of attachment to the leaves of the plant 

 were to be detected, and though fragments of leaves, obvi- 

 ously those of a species of Eucalyptus, were found in the 

 substance, none of them had any of the cups attached to 

 them. The cups were not generally isolated, but usually 

 adhered loosely to one another by the edges ; and this 

 attachment was always such that the mouths of the cups 

 were in one plane, and there can be little doubt that it 

 was by this surface they were attached to the leaves. The 

 hairs, when examined under the microscope, were found to 

 be distinctly organized. Each hair formed a uniform tube, 

 which, under a high magnifying power, presented a granular 

 structure, with inmerfect indications of transverse stria3. 



