90 



As regards No. 1, I can only guess at the species; No. 2 is probably E. microtlieca; 

 and how the name E. bicolor came to be given I do not know. As regards No. 3, 

 " Coolabah " is not mentioned, and it may be that the seed referred to by Dr. Koth 

 is truly E. bicolor, i.e., that both that species and E. microtlieca yield sustenance to the 

 blacks. 



In "(Die Eingeborenen der Kolonie Sud Australia,'' by Erhard Elymann 

 (Berlin, 1905), we have at p. 289 some notes on the seeds of E. microtlieca as food. 

 Following is a translation : — '' The seed is eaten everywhere where it can be 

 collected in sufficient quantity, especially therefore in the neighbourhood of Lake 

 Eyre. The seeds are no larger than sand grains, by shaking the branches of which 

 the fruit is ripe over a wooden bowl enough can be collected in a short time to 

 appease hunger. The largest quantity of vegetable foodstuff (about 1 hectolitre) which 

 I saw in the possession of an aborigine among the Central tribes consists entirely of 

 this seed." 



(At p. 297). ' The seed of E. microtlieca, Claytonia, grasses, etc., are cleaned, 

 if requisite, by winnowing, ground on a millstone with addition of water, and then 

 either made into a broth or dough. The latter is then baked in hot ashes while the 

 former is eaten without preparation.'" 



Mr. H. Clark (already referred to) many years ago gave me a quantity of seed 

 of the same species, from the Mulligan Kiver, Western Queensland, which, he informed 

 me, was a favourite article of food of the blacks. Doubtless its use is as extensive as 

 the species, which is very considerable, being only inferior in this respect to E. rostrata. 



5.^STERILE SEEDS. USE OF THE TERM "CHAFF." 



The principal quantity of what is known in the seed-trade as " Chaff " 

 (Eucalyptus) consists of sterile seeds. 



Inasmuch as in the fruits of many species the sterile seeds greatly preponderate, 

 a parcel of genuine seeds may contain many sterile ones. If a buyer desires entirely 

 fertile seed, the others must be sieved off, and he will find that he will have to pay very 

 much more for what he requires. But he will gain in the long run by only dealing 

 in fertile seed, a definite article, for at the present time the seedsman (or the seed- 

 collector) regulates his prices according to the percentage of worthless sterile seed he 

 leaves in it. 



The term " Chaff," as applied to sterile seed, is not strictly correct. " Chaff " 

 is the term more fitly applied to the broken wings of the winged seeds, which, in practice, 

 are mainly confined to the Corymbosae. It has, however, taken on a wider meaning, 

 as just explained. 



