196 J. H. MAIDEN. 



The genus Agathis and its resin is of so much interest to us 

 in Australia that I give the following unpublished letter from 

 me to the Director of the Royal Gardens at Kew, dated 8th 

 July, 1892:— 



"In article cxciv. (March, 1891) of the Kew Bulletin, you 

 desire to settle the origin of a supposed Dammara resin in the 

 Kew Museum which came from Canala, in New Caledonia. 



" Mr. J. Brazier is a resident of Sydney well known to me. 

 Some five or six years ago he gave me samples of resin which he 

 obtained from Canala, telling me that he had given the rest to 

 Professor Moseley years back. He informed me that your sample 

 and mine came from the same tree, and formed part of a larger 

 mass which he picked off the bark. The resin is palpably from a 

 Dammara when examined. He said it was from a very high 

 tree, whose trunk was so long that he could not obtain a twig. 

 He was certain the tree was not an Araucaria ; the resin also is 

 different from that of Araucarias. 



"Like you I have arrived at the conclusion that it was obtained 

 from D. lanceolata, and following are my notes on the subject, for 

 I have taken an interest in the resin : — 



In Plantes utiles de la JVouvelle Caledonie, by E. Viellard, 8vo. 

 pp. 76, are some notes on Dammaras. U D. Moorei, Lindl. Cette 

 conifere acquiert des proportions gigantesques; son tronc droit, sana 

 branches, s' eleve a 30 et 40 metres de hauteur et mesure souvent 

 1-50 m. de diameter. . . D. ovata, Moore. Tronc tres rameux 

 et generalement moins eleve que le precedent. . . . Le Z>. 

 lanceolata differe du D. ovata par son tronc plus robuste. . . . 

 Peu commun dans les bois des montagnes a Kanala." 



"Ainsi qu' on peut le voir, chacune de ces trois especes a sa 

 zone de vegetation. Le D. Moorei habite la partie nord de la 

 Caledonie. Le D. ovata le sud, et enfin le D. lanceolata les mon- 

 tagnes du centre. 



"Du tronc de ces arbres decoule en abondance une resine. . 

 connue dans le commerce sous le nom de Kaori (the French spell- 



