inodorous, and transparent masses in the air, and furnishing as much as sixty gallons from a single tree. [Illustration: VEGETABLE LIFE ON THE AUSTRALIAN PLAINS. 1. Acacia verticillata. 2. Casuarina equisetifolia, or "Black Boy Tree." 3. Corypha Australis, or "Australian Palm."] Finally, I may refer to the _Dryandra_, whose foliage is very graceful, and its conformation very varied. Sometimes it is found as a bush, three to seven feet high; and sometimes, as in the _Dryandra repens_, creeping along the ground. On the more temperate heights the traveller encounters some plants of a fantastic character: as, for instance, the _Doryanthes excelsa_, with its upright gigantic leaves, more than 6 feet long, and from 2½ to 3½ inches broad; from their centre rises a strong stalk, 15 or 18 feet high, terminated by a compact and voluminous cluster of great deep-red flowers. There, too, are found the magnificent arborescent ferns, _Alsophila Australis_ and _Dicksonia Antarctica_. The trunk of the former aspires to a stature of 25 to 90 feet; that of the second, to 12 to 28 feet; and in both the stems are terminated by a cluster of immense flowers, which give to these plants a quite distinctive character. Nor must we quit the Australian Flora and its marvels without alluding to the _Corypha Australis_, which begins to make its appearance at the mouth of the Snowy River. It is a gigantic palm, growing solitarily, or in thin groups, in low, cool, and even moist places. Its trunk probably attains to 140 feet in height; and the top of its stem is crowned by a gorgeous crest of fan-shaped leaves, which are employed in the manufacture of straw hats. CHAPTER VII. ANIMAL LIFE IN THE PRAIRIES OF THE OLD WORLD:--HERBIVOROUS ANIMALS. To the prodigal Flora of the Tropics, which we shall soon see displaying in the virgin forests its exuberant fecundity, corresponds a Fauna no less rich, and marked by a singular variety.