U)8 DESCRIPTION OF THE MUSEUM. 



branches unconfined at 20 feet from the ground 

 and sometimes reach the vaulted roof, are ranged 

 different ligneous vegetables, as the oriental 

 coronilla, the indigo-tree, a very beautiful col- 

 lection of geraniums, etc., and on the shelves 

 before the windows, alpine plants which bloom 

 in February. In the beginning of May, the most 

 curious trees, such as the meterosideros, the me- 

 laleuca, the eucalyptus, the leptospermum, the 

 banksia and the mimosas (1), are placed in the 

 oval inclosure before the amphitheatre, the dupli- 

 cates, and stocks of inferior size, in the seed- 

 garden, and the other shrubs and vivacious plants, 

 on the terrace in front of the green-house. On 

 the northern side of the building the ground- 

 floor is occupied by workshops, and that above 

 by the lodgings of the gardeners, and a labora- 

 tory for the preparation and packing of seeds. 



Though this green-house is spacious and con- 

 venient it might have been more advantageously 

 constructed; it should have been lighted from 



(1) The eucalyptus, banksia, mimosa and casuarina, are the largest 

 trees of New Holland, where they are used in the. ship-building. M. de 

 la Billardiere and M. Perron observed in Van Diemen's Land eucalyp- 

 tuses from 160 to 180 feet in height, and z5 feet in circumference. The 

 savages hollow these trunks by fire and inhabit them, which does not 

 arrest their vegetation. See Labillardiere's Voyage in search of La Pe- 

 rouse, vol. r. p.i3i ; Peron's Voyage of Discovery, vol. i. p. 232; 

 Freycinet, idem. p. 4o„ 



