— 149 — 



distributed of the whole Order, and occurs so very frequently in Europe, 

 Asia and America, does not possess a single representative in Australia. 

 The genus most widely distributed over that Continent is the genus Callitris, 

 the 18 species of which take up the largest space in the volume. 



In addition to the oils of 14 species of Callitris, the authors describe 

 the oils from Actinostrobns pyramidalis, Athrotaxis selaginoides, Araucaria 

 Cunninghamii, Agathis robusta, Dacrydhim Franklinii, Pherosphcera Fitzgeraldi 

 and Phyllocladus rhomboidalis. We refer to these oils in detail under their 

 respective headings in the first section of this Report. 



It should be mentioned that the different species are shown by numerous 

 illustrations, representing the anatomical and morphological conditions of 

 the plants, and that the book also contains many excellent pictures showing 

 the conditions of growth and vegetation of the trees described. The 

 illustrations have been reproduced by microphotographic process, and 

 in some cases by photographs in natural colours. 



Analytical Notes. 



The method for the detection of foreign esters in bergamot oil pro- 

 posed in our last Report 1 ) has since then been carried out by us on a 

 large number of commercial bergamot oils, and has been extended also 

 to lavender and petitgrain oil. Briefly put, the result of these numerous 

 examinations is as follows: — 



The difference between saponification value and acid value II 3 ), in the 

 case of some samples of bergamot oils was in excess of 7, but in no 

 single instance did it exceed the figure of 10 which, according to our 

 scheme, is indicative of adulteration. All the oils, when further examined, 

 gave normal constants, and the saponification value of their evaporation- 

 residue lay within the proper limits, so that they may be pronounced 

 above suspicion. 



In the case of lavender and petitgrain oils the margin between saponi- 

 fication value and acid value II ranged from to 3. 



We were unable to detect in the oils under examination any sophisti- 

 cations with the esters of acids of low volatility or with terpinyl acetate, 

 but in the case of three of the lavender oils submitted to us for testing 

 purposes the test for glyceryl ester showed the presence of this adulterant. 



!) Report October 1910, 38. 



2 ) We estimated the acid value II as follows : after determining the saponification value 

 the contents of the saponification flask were evaporated to dryness upon the water bath, the 

 residue dissolved in about 5 cc. water and acidulated with 2 cc. dilute sulphuric acid. After 

 this 250 cc. and a further 100 cc. were distilled off with a current of steam and the volatile 

 acid content of these quantities determined with seminormal liquor. The acid value II is cal- 

 culated for the weight of bergamot oil used from the quantity of liquor required for the neu^ 

 tralisation of the entire distillate. A sketch of the apparatus required for the distillation and 

 further particulars are given in our Report of October 1910, p. 61. 



