Another variety of manna is the secretion of the pupa of an insect of the Psylla family, and obtains the name of lerp among the Aborigines of the northern districts of the colony. At certain seasons of the year it is very abundant on the leaves of the E. dumosa, or Mallee scrub, and these are occasionally whitened over with the profusion of this material, so that the shrubby vegetation has the appearance of being iced. It is found in masses of aggregated cones, each covered with a filamentous material like wool, and has a color varying from an opaque white to a dull yellow. Beneath the little dome, or shield, which presents on the concave a somewhat reticulated character, the pupa remains until ready for its further development, when it escapes by forcing its passage through the apex of the cone. The woolly material alluded to is composed of solid filaments, more or less striated transversely, and in some instances distinctly corrugated or beaded. They give a faint series of colors by polarized light, and when submitted to the action of iodine, immediately become intensely blue. These varieties of manna are of no medicinal value; and, apart from their consideration as objects of natural interest and curiosity, have obtained but little notice."
Large quantities of this bush-sugar can be collected with ease, in the proper season, in the north-western parts of the colony, as well as in some localities in the east; and it furnished formerly, during the summer months, a portion of the food of the natives.
Lieut.-Col. Mundy gathered it near Bathurst, in New South Wales. He says:—"It sounds strange to English ears—a party of ladies and gentlemen strolling out in a summer's afternoon to gather manna in the wilderness; yet more than once I was so employed in Australia. The substance is found in small pieces, on the ground under the trees, at certain seasons, or in hardened drops on the surface of the leaves. It is snowy white when fresh, but turns brown when kept, like the chemists' drug so called; is sweeter than the sweetest sugar, and softer than Gunter's softest ice-cream. The manna is seldom plentiful; for birds, beasts, and human beings devour it, and the slightest rain or even dew dissolves its delicate compounds. . . . . . . Hundreds of quails were to be found within a few paces of the manna-fields."[1]
Manna as it is found in Tasmania is mentioned also by Lieut. Breton.[2]
At my request, and, I know, under unusual difficulties, the Government Botanist has hurriedly prepared the following list of vegetables commonly eaten by the natives of Victoria. Though it makes no claim to completeness, it adds materially to our knowledge of the food-resources of the Aborigines, and it will be studied with great interest in all parts of Australia. The list is as follows:—
"1. Tubers of numerous terrestrial orchids belonging to the genera Dipodium, Gastrodia, Thelymitra, Diuris, Prasophyllum, Microtis, Pterostylis, Lyperanthus, Cyrtostylis, Caladenia, and Glossodia.
