ON A SUBSTANCE KNOWN AS “AUSTRALIAN CAOUTCHOUC. 105 
to result from tlie drying up of a lake covered with ZJoomonema fluitans, 
the ** vegetable turtle fat,” described by Dr. Seemann as a jelly-like mass 
ge 
The ere MANN — by Dr. Bernays, discountenances, however, 
e fou dti 
ois ure j á vits “4682 
Carbon. . sib e! deen! DER TAUS 
Hydrogen . pli. yd De . 11°6300 
8 1:190 
meni anestimetéd, m mat 316 
Oxyge 
Any residue left b a Cryptogam nien of cours e, that no exten- 
sive ehange of jompotitid had taken place in it, except the loss of 
much less hydrogen 
t may, therefore, be safely concluded that no cryptogamic growth 
could have produced a substance which is practically a hydrocarbon and 
not a carbo-hydrate. 
he next suggestion, then, t that occurs is, that it is an oozing or secre- 
tion from some plant. ae to mind the actual existence in Australia 
of the Grass-tree (Xant hiea), this suggestion deserves attention. Dr. 
Muecke, indeed, in the Adelaide Observer’ (July 3, 1869), states that 
the plant which produces the caoutchoue belongs to to the family of Grass- 
trees. After giving some account of it, he goes on to say, “ the damp 
yellow juice exudes from the knot and the bottom stalks dwing the 
summer heat, and flows on the sand, where it becomes hard, as every 
caoutchouc does.” Specimens of the plant intended by him have been 
sent to this det and prove to belong to a Cyperacea, a species of 
pi is quite out of the question as a “ gum 
plant. It, ho a. occurs on the margins of the d»pression ragad which 
the deposit is found, and its. wiry-roots are found permeating the speci- 
mens. 
The facts, as far as they go, seem to point to the depression having 
been occupied by water, upon the surface ọf which an oily matter floated, 
which drifted towards the edges, and accumulated amongst the fringing 
The evidence, however, for and against this view in the Austra- 
ian pa pers is ipit conflicting. It implies, of course, the mineral nature 
of the — ke evidence of the existence of petroleoid springs in 
A 
the neight consequently been’ sought for to to confirm it. 
ready quoted, Dr. Muecke, remarks that “ nobody would have 
thought of searching for petroleum asphaltum in a region w 
| r pet or a: m ich con- 
of a shell limestone'only, and belongs to the newest formation." 
'There is, however, nothing to desig older rocks, whieh might yield the 
petroleum, underlying the limes 
On the other hand, a writer in | the ‘Express’ (Sept. 1, 1871), speaks 
of “oily scum discovered by the Admiralty surveyors off the south coast. 
* Viti, p 
+ There i is, e^ think, some small printer's error in the decimals. The analysis, 
consequently, d ag dn up to 100 parts. The figures are, owsiki no diii 
substantially co 
t They have Dea "uM also, from mere inspection to some species of 
Restio. 
