WATTLES AND WATTLE-BABES. 
16 
A number of analyses are now published for the first time. They are by 
Lowenthat’s improved process, Partly through the kindness of friends, and 
partly through the energy of the Museum Collector, there is in the Techno¬ 
logical Museum the most extensive collection of wattle-barks I know of any 
where. I have collected many with my own hands. 
They are listed in botanical order, since this has the advantage of bringing 
closely related wattles together. There is a full index and also tables at the 
end to facilitate reference. It will become evident to the reader who 
bestows a moment’s reflection on the subject that it is impossible for me to 
arrange these wattles under their local names, for the reason that some have 
several names, while the same name, also, is occasionally held by several. 
As this little book is primarily intended for non-botanists, I regret I have no 
alternative but to give what appears to be most prominence to the botanical 
names. 
1. Acacia colletioides, A. Cunn., B.F1.,* ii., 325. “Wait-a-while” (a delicate 
allusion to the predicament of a traveller desirous of penetrating a belt 
of it). 
Some bark from a very old shrub was examined by the author, and yielded 
10-50 per cent, of extract, and 4’4 per cent, of tannic acidt ( Proc . B.S., 
E.S.W., 1SS7, p. 87). It consisted of little more than fibre. This is a dry 
country Avattle, and the most favourable specimen of it is not likely to be 
ol use to the tanner, since apart from its small percentage of tannic acid it 
is but a shrub. 
New South Wales, Victoria, South and Western Australia. In the two 
first colonies, at any rate, it is not found in the coast districts. 
2. Acacia siculiformis , A. Cunn., B.F1., ii. ? 329. 
A tallish shrub merely. The bark not to be distinguished from that of 
• piavisisima (page 21). I have analysed (April, 1S90), a sample of bark 
^hjxie, bnowy Fiver, N.S.W., collected January, 1890; height, 
b to 10 teat; diameter 1 to 4 inches ; grown on granite soil. ” It contains 7*87 
per cent, of tannic acid, and yields 31*85 per cent, of extract. 
Found in the mountains and high table-lands of New South Wales 
(southern), \ ictoria, and Tasmania. 
3. Acacia tetrar/onophylla, F. v. M., B.F1., ii., 330. “ Dead Finish.” 
A sample of this bark from Tarella, Wilcannia, KS.W., from a tree 
pilose height was 10 to 12 feet and diameter 6 to 8 inches, was examined by 
the writer (Proc. JLS., N.S.W., 1888. p. 267), and gave 1496 percent, of 
nn9^ir d P °i' if™. 0 acid - 11 was collected August, 1SS7, 
* • y f ugust, 18. 8. I his is one of the usual dry-country wattle- 
barks eons^tmg almost entirely of bundles of fibre, even the hoary outside 
baik being more or less readily separable into long ribbons. 
wwS r‘ d (lc , SC A l speC j es ° ccurri,1 S in New South Wales, Victoria, 
i |- J ■ i la ’ a,1( Queensland, not found in the coast districts, nor, I 
Darlin- ^ m ° Untam ran S es - Its habitat is the country west of the 
nlaccs ^whwh^botAnW^^ 1111 * ^. lora Australiensis,” and the references given aro of the 
places at winch botanical descriptions of the various wattles may be obtained. 
IOOmT 'The oX e ^7lf“T r l n6 -f MlyBe3 K ‘ ven aro a11 calculated on the bark dried at 
100 C., the only nay in which uniform results can be presented. 
