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THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 63 
tropical regions, and in Australia and the adjacent Islands, 
excluding New Zealand. In Bentham’s ‘‘Flora Australiensis’’ 
there are about 313 species recorded, and these are also given 
in Mueller’s ‘‘Census’’ published in 1889. Since the publi- 
cation of the ‘“‘Census’’ about 117 species have been added, 
which makes a total of about 430 species or varieties recorded 
for Australia. Of this number the National Herbarium at 
Sydney contains 366 species or varieties. 
By far the greatest number of species of Australian Wattles 
belong to the Phyllodineous group, which, instead of develop- 
ing true leaves, produce phyllodes, a term derived from the 
Greek phullow (pronounced ful-lon), a leaf, and eidus (pro- 
nounced i-dos), form, and which, therefore, means having 
the form or semblance of a leaf. 
Although the phyllodes are not leaves in the true sense of 
the term, yet they perform all the functions of a leaf. Many 
of the Phyllodineous Acucias, instead of developing the dilated 
phyllodes as in A. longifolia or A. prominens, produce either * 
long and slender and acutely pointed phyllodia as in 4. cala- 
mifolia or A. pugionformes; or, in the case of A. gumperina 
and several others of this group, the entire foliage of the 
plants consists of needles, somewhat resembling those of the 
common English Furze or Gorse. Several of the Acacias are 
of extremely ancient renown, as representatives of the genus 
occur in Egypt, Arabia, and Palestine. One or two of them 
are referred to in the Old Testament under the name of 
Shittah-Tree, the produce of which was the Shittim-Wood 
employed for constructive purposes, and has been identified 
as Acuciu seyul. This species also yields the common gum- 
arabic, and apparently it is the only timber in the depertl 
where it is still found in the driest situations. 1t abounds 
in the sultry Oasis, the Plains of Shittim (Moab, Num. 25, 1). 
It is a very hard and close grained wood, of a fine orange- 
brown colour. The wood-work and furniture of the Ark and 
the Tabernacle were made of this timber. 
Nearly all the Egyptian and Arabian species, and’ also a 
number found in tropical regions, produce -perfect leaves of 
the pinnate and doubly-pinnate type, as is seen in the  pi- 
pinnate group of Australian species, such as A. farnesiana, 
A. decurrens, and A. baileyana, etc. Several Australian 
species also produce timber of considerable value, as, for ex- 
ample, the “‘Blackwood’’ (A. melanowylon), ‘Raspberry Jam- 
Wood”’ of West Australia (A. aewminata), and A. péuce, a 
native of Central Australia, which produces a dark-coloured 
wood..of special value, as well as other species too numerous 
to mention here. Several species are cultivated very exten- 
sively in America and South Africa, chiefly for the tannins 
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