22D APRIL.--The clouds continued to lower, and a great change in the
temperature accompanied this visible change in the sky, but the mercurial
column remained uncommonly steady. Arrangements for a concentrated party
engrossed my attention so fully this day, with the insertion also of our
late work on the general map, that even the newspapers from the colony
lay unread. Mr. Kennedy took a ride across the river in a S. S. E.
direction, and found a fine grazing country with open forest, as far as
he went, which was about twelve miles. On the banks of the Balonne,
during my absence, they had found, besides a small bearded CYPERUS, a new
creeping PSORALEA [*], and a new species of Acacia, which Mr. Bentham has
named A. VARIANS.[*] Thermometer, at sunrise, 41°; at noon, 76°; at 4 P.
M., 77°; at 9, 61°;--with wet bulb, 56°. Mean elevation of this camp
above the level of the sea, being 50 feet above the river, 623 feet.

[* P. ERIANTHA (Benth. MS.) prostrata, canescenti-pubescens, foliis
pinnatim trifoliolatis, foliolis ovatis oblongisve dentatis, pedunculis
elongatis multifloris, floribus inferioribus remotis superioribus
approximatis, calycibus pube molli albida dense tomentosis, legumine
molliter villoso.]

[* A. VARIANS (Benth. MS.) glabra, pallida v. glauca, ramulis
subangulatis, phyllodiis oblongo-lanceolatis v. inferioribus late
obovatis summisve linearibus, omnibus basi longe angustatis apice obtusis
v. oblique mucronatis subimmarginatis vix obscure glanduliferis
uninervibus tenuiter reticulato-penniveniis, capitulis sub 20-floris
solitariis subracemosis v. in racemos foliatos dispositis, calycibus
truncatis, legumine glabro crasso sublignoso. Very near A. SALICINA, and
possibly a mere variety; but the phyllodia are generally considerably
broader, and the inflorescence different.]