88 J. H. MAIDEN. 
are 12 or 15, which never divide or make latera] shoots, and in 
the largest trees the branches are not so thick as my wrist. The 
fruits are very like those of «mbricata, and the branches on which 
they are borne could not be distinguished from branches of that 
tree. The fruit is as large as a hat, and the kernel (in the largest 
ones) larger than the kernel of a Brazil nut, or as large as three 
large almonds ; it is, when young, sweet and agreeable, but as it 
gets old it acquires a disagreeable taste, resembling old peas and 
raw beans. I have not seen a ripe one yet. Ido not imagine 
they contain any oil, as there is no nutty flavour in the taste of 
them. I dare say that when they are old they may be very 
nourishing, but do not expect that the whites will think them 
very good food. <A large tree bears about 16 cones of different 
sizes, from that of a child’s head to that of a man’s. The trunk 
hardly tapers to the branches, and appears likely to make beautiful 
spars, from the exceeding small size of the branches. The largest 
tree [ saw was about 120 feet high, and 43 feet in diameter, but 
it is not so high or large a tree as the common Moreton Bay Pine, 
of which [ saw one tree only, 150 years old, which was 175ft. 
high and 2ft. diameter. It would not have given so long a spar 
as a Bunya of same diameter, but | fancy that it would produce 
the same amount of timber in one fourth of the time that the 
Bunya would. . . . I want some plants and seeds of Caesal- 
pinia sepiaris (Deccan thorn), to make fences with.” 
On ist April, 1844, he offered Captain King a collection 
of seeds, part of which he had received from Kew. 
October 19, 1844.—“ I send the number of the ‘ London Journal 
of Botany,’ containing the account of the ‘ Bunya Bunya.’ ” 
December 31, 1844.—‘‘ Mr. Macarthur has a great many hybrid 
Crinums just coming into flower—one opened on Friday, between 
scabrum and pedunculatum—a splendid flower, much larger than 
either parent, white with a pink stripe quite as dark, but narrower 
than in scabrum. Petals 5 inches by 1 inch. Flowers 8 inches 
across. Certainly the finest Crinum I have ever seen. You will 
d AW 
». ed Bed Nie 
