1887.] Acacias oj Southern Africa. 269 



this advice, I proceeded with the utmost caution, but, with all my care,. 

 a small twig caught hold of one sleeve. While thinking to disengage 

 it quietly with the other hand, both arms were seized by these 

 rapacious thorns, and the more I tried to extricate myself, the more 

 entangled I became ; till at last it seized hold of the hat also ; and 

 convinced me that there was no possibility for me to free myself, but 

 by main force and at the expense of tearing all my clothes. I there- 

 fore called out for help, and two of my men came and released me by 

 cutting off the branches by which 1 was held. In revenge for this 

 ill-treatment, I determined to give to the tree a name which should 

 serve to caution future travellers against allowing themselves to 

 venture within its clutches.'* 



I found a larger variety of this species in Damaraland which forms 

 there bushes often some 20 feet high. 



A. trispinosa Marloth et Engler^ a new species from Damaraland,, 

 is a low bush, 3 to 6 feet high. I named it trispinosa, on account of 

 it having three spines under each leaf. As the specimens show, this 

 species possesses not only the two recurved hooks of the hookthorn^ 

 but also a third one between these two, which is bent in the opposite 

 direction. It is a pity that Burchell did not make the acquaintance of 

 this bush, for he would have certainly supplied us with a graphic 

 account of the superiority of such an arrangement over the simple 

 system of hooks on the hookthorn. 



Another new species from Damaraland is A. dulcis Marloth et 

 Engler. It forms bushes of nearly the same dimensions as the 

 Damaraland variety of the hookthorn, but it is easily recognized by 

 its white or reddish-white bark. It is remarkable for its producing a 

 gum, which is quite different from the common acacia-gum, being: 

 sweet and eatable, so that it serves as a regular sweet-meat to the 

 natives. Hence the name dulcis. 



A. haematosylon Willd. forms shrubs or little trees, 5 to 10 feet 

 high. Burchell found it near Griquatown, since which time it ha& 

 not been recorded. I saw it in the neighbourhood of Kuruman. It 

 differs from all the other species by its slender and elastic branches,, 

 drooping like a weeping willow. 



A. Oaffra Willd. a native shrub of the Eastern districts may bo- 

 mentioned, not on account of its weapons, which are comparatively 

 small, but for its much larger leaves. 



As the last member of this series I have to mention another new^ 



species from Damaraland, which I had named inermis, on account ot 



its having no spines or prickles whatever, but the name of which has. 

 k2 



