THE AUSTRALIAN NATURALIST. 155 
with leached wood ashes. This is mentioned by Pliny in the Ist 
century. 
Let me conclude with a reference to the orange and lemon. 
It struck me in working through the plants of the Bible that 
there is no reference to these prominent fruits. The reason of 
this is that they were unknown in Bible times in the Mediter- 
ranean. The Greeks and Romans were familiar with the citron, 
which was known as the “median apple,” but they did not have 
the orange and lemon. It was only between the 12th and 13th 
centuries that the latter fruits were introduced to western Asia 
from India, and spread from there to Europe, being taken to 
Spain by the Arabs. 
After being polluted for centuries by Turkish misrule: and 
oppression, brighter times seem now in view for the land hal- 
lowed by so many sacred associations, and we may now, let us 
hope, look forward to the time foreshadowed by Isaiah (Isa. 
55 ch., 13) when “instead of the thorn shall come up the fir- 
tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree, and 
it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that 
it shall not be cut off.” 
Through the courtesy of the Government Botanist the lecture 
was illustrated with a large series of fresh and herbarium speci- 
‘mens of the plants dealt with. 
Pennant Hinus Gunny. Those of our members who joined 
in the excursions to Pennant Hills in 1892 will learn with regret 
of the devastation which has taken place in the charming gully 
which we then visited. On 3rd January, of 1924, T paid a 
visit to the place and was shocked to see the wreck which has 
been made by men cutting down timber. The spots which were 
burnt out just before our second visit had regrown, Angoplora 
cordifolia, in particular, having made fine growth, but many of 
the beautiful tall gums have been cut down and the rock pools 
and part of the bed of the stream are filled with branches and 
leaves, presenting a deplorable sight. Even the large log on the 
pic-nie ground has been cut up and removed. The most pro- 
‘minent flowering plants I found to be, in addition to A. cordi- 
folia, Tristania laurina and Lomatia silaifolia. All over the pic- 
nic ground the large burrowing wasps (Salius bicolor) were 
busy throwing the sand out of their burrows, a most interesting 
sight. 
THos. STEEL. 
