43 



The tree flourishes on the eastern slopes of the tableland, also close to tlin 

 blaik brushes below, where the soil seems laarticularly suitable for its pro- 

 fluction, doing best where well drained, the land being stony, with quantities 

 of decayed vegetable on the surface and rather stiff soil underneath. On 

 Forest Reserve l,fiG2, county of Clarke, there is a large quantity growing, 

 some of which was cut in ]892 by men who had been bridge-building all over 

 the colony, who Informed me that this particular lot was the best quality they 

 had come across. This is produced on the high land about 2,400 feet above 

 «ea-level. It is distributed o\er a large area of the more open country under 

 the ffjlls, but does not reach the size it does where better jirotected and the 

 .soil is richer. (Late Forester R. Ij. Siddins, of Armidale.) 



It is found all along the eastern slopes of the New England tableland in 

 fair quantity and good quality. It prefers a somewhat heavy soil. It is hardly 

 ever found on granite formation, that is, where the soU is light and sand.\-. 

 (Forest Guard A'. Stewart, Glen Innes. ) 



Tallow- wood, with the exception of the Common Box, grows more abun- 

 dantly in this district timn perhaps any other Eucalypt. It is found uniformly 

 distributed through all forest land at about four trees to the acre. Other 

 hardwoods are generally in patches, or favour certain spurs, but one neyer 

 goes many yards in forest land without finding several of these trees. 

 (Forester W. P. Pope, late of JIurwillumbah.) 



EXPLANATION OF PLATE 144. 



A. Juvenile leaf. 



B. Flowering twig. 



c. Fruit from Booral. 



D. Fruit from Woolgoolga, showing slightly exserted valves. 



Eucalyptus maculata, Hook. 



The Spotted Gu-m. 



Botanical Name. — Maculata, Latin (" spotted"), in allusion to the bark. 



Yemacnlar Name. — Its almost universal name is "Spotted Gum." 

 Occasionally one hears the name " Mottled Gum," which has the same 

 meaning. 



Leaves. — Elastic threads in Eucalyptus. 



I was so toiuch interested with the nature and behaviour of a leaf of 

 Eucalyptus citriodoru. which I picked yesterday, that I send you the specimen 

 T dealt with, which I ha\e mounted on the paper. When I broke the leaf, 

 which was about 3 inches long, across the midrib, I found that there was an 

 attachment, as of a thread or filament, at each of the outside edges of the 

 leaf. On drawing apart the two broken pieces of the leaf these two threads 

 still held on, and I slowly drew them out, when, besides stretching out like a 

 thread of india-rubber, they gradually separated or unravelled from the edges 

 of the leaf, both at the stalk end and at the tip of the leaf. The threads werf 

 ,so elastic that I drew them out to the length of 6i and 7i inches respectively 

 before they broke, and they then curled up like a piece of india-rubber cord 

 when the strain Is taken oflf, and they now, after twenty-four hours, retain 

 their elasticity. (Ctnrdencrs' Chronicle, 7th February, 1003, p. 92.) 



iTo which I replied : 



There is a small quantity of Caoutchouc in the leaves of (at least) the 

 members of the CorymbosiE section of the genus. It is particularly observable 

 in the widely-distributed E. coryrnbosa, Sm. (Bloodwood). It is a common 

 thing to see small boys pull apart the young leaves of that species, and a thin 

 membrane, mainly consisting of Caoutchouc, is at once obtained. (23/5/03.) 



