22 Diagnostic Notes on New or 



Some of the cocoons now exhibited contain a less amount 

 of the spongy coating over the capsule than others, evidently 

 showing that one of its uses is to supply nourishment during 

 their imprisonment, for by placing one of these in the sun for 

 a day or two, the young leeches penetrate the cocoon. 



I may state, in conclusion, that my observations have ex- 

 tended over five years. 



Art. IV. — Diagnostic Notes on New or Imperfectly Known 

 Australian Plants. By Dr. Ferdinand Mueller. 



[Read before the Institute 26th May, 1858.] 



Olacine.<e. 



Ximenia exarmata. 



Glabrous, thornless; leaves herbaceous, ovate or oblong, 

 almost blunt; peduncles generally 3-7-flowered, rarely 

 1-2-flowered ; petals outside smooth. 



On low stony ridges near the rivers Sutter and Mackenzie. 



A tall shrub with spreading branches. Leaves flat, 1-2 

 inches, petioles 3-4 lines long. Petals lanceolate, yellowish, 

 2| lines long, inside white-bearded. Filaments hardly 1 line 

 long, glabrous. Anthers 1^ line long, linear. Style short, 

 glabrous. 



Evidently, according to Forster's brief description, allied 

 to the New Caledonian Ximenia elliptica. The genus was 

 previously unknown as Australian. 



ERYTHROXYLEjE. 



Erythroxylon Australe. 



Glabrous ; stem shrubby ; leaves small, obovate or oblong, 

 cuneate, blunt, flat, opaque, nearly membraneous, with 

 indistinct areolate veins, and a short petiole ; their lower 

 side paler ; stipules membraneous, deciduous, as long or 

 shorter than the leafstalk, combined into a solitary del- 

 toid binerved one; peduncles as long as the flowers, 

 solitary or in fascicles, at the base with two deltoid or 

 round bracteols; lobes of the deeply five-cleft calyx 

 deltoid lanceolate; petals ovate-orbicular; styles 3, rarely 

 4, free ; stigmas hemispherical ; drupe ovate, red, three- 

 celled. 



