141 



its range may be at present stated as from the most northern trcjpical portion of Australia^ 



extending from the West Kimberleys in Western Australia along the Northern Territory 



to North Queensland. 



Western Australia. 



Mueller first recorded the species from Western Australia from the Prince Regent's 

 River, collected by Bradshaw's Expedition. See Proc. Linn. Soc. N.S.W., xvi, 469 

 (1891). 



Subsequently W. V. Fitzgerald reported " A small forest of Messmate or Stringy- 

 bark was observed in sandy loam and among quartzites on the Packhorse Range." 

 (Kimberley Report, p. 12, 1907.) 



Some of his specimens are labelled " Messmate Creek (presumably named after 



this tree), Packhorse Range," and Packhorse Range generally. (W. V. Fitzgerald, No. 



1,214.) The locality is, of course, considerably south of the Prince Regent's River. 



Mr. Fitzgerald (MSS.) adds Charnley River in West Kimberley, and says it is called 



" Messmate " and " Stringybark," and that it is found in sandy soil overlying quartzite 



and sandstone. 



Northern Territory. 



It is frequently referred to as " Stringybark " by Leichhardt in his " Overland 

 Expedition from Moreton Bay to Port Essington." It is the Stringybark of the Gulf 

 Country, and he notes it both in what is now Northern Queensland and the Northern 

 Territory. I have seen a specimen of his labelled " West Coast of the Gulf." Dr. 

 H. I. Jensen says, in a letter to me, " Stringybark occurs, as in the Northern Territory, 

 on poor sandy granite and sandstone soils, but not abundantly." 



The following specimens are before me : — • 



Bathurst Island (G. F. Hill, No. 466); Melville Island (Prof. Baldwin Spencer); 

 Darwin (Nicholas Holtze, Prof. Baldwin Spencer). 



" The common Stringybark from Port Darwin to inland slopes, several hundred 

 miles from the coast. Always on poor soil — coastally rather stunted in porcellanite 

 and laterite formation. At the Adelaide River, Stapleton, Batchelor, and in the hill 

 belt generally, exceedingly well developed and reaching very large size, 70-80 feet or 

 more high, and 3 feet or more in diameter on granite, quartzite, and sandstone." (Dr. 

 H. I. Jensen.) (G. F. Hill, No. 340.) 



"Large Eucalypt, hard wood." Batchelor Farm (C. E. F. Allen, No. 224). 

 " Stringybark Box, white flower," Pine Creek (Dr. H. I. Jensen). Pine and Horseshoe 

 Creeks (E. J. Dunn and R. J. Winters). 



Edith Creek and track generally to Katharine River (Prof. Baldwin Spencer). 



Speaking generally, but with especial reference to Darwin, Dr. Jensen writes : 

 "On the granite country we. get Stringybark {E. tetrodonta), BloodiviQod {E. latifolia), 

 E. setosa, Salmon Gum (?), Ironwood (? Tristania suaveolens), E. miniata, and patches, 

 of E. phoenicea." 



