14 NORTH AUSTRALIAN EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 



and Allan Cunningham. It is however ray utmost desire to get to- 

 gether as much of the treasures of the North Australian Mora as T 

 possibly can; and I trust only that Providence will grant me hTe and 

 health to bear the tropical heat, and the privations and fatigues which 

 are inseparable from such journeys of discovery. 



"I left Melbourne in the beginning of this month, and might have 

 collected at that favourable season hundreds of plants in the envi- 

 rons of Sydney; but as only a few days were allotted to me for 

 making my preparations, I was almost entirely deprived of the pleasure 

 of botanical wanderings over the classical ground traversed by Banks 

 and Solauder and Eobert Brown, where so much extensive information 

 may be gained by studying the plants on the places where they were 

 first discovered ; and although you are so closely acquainted with every 

 one of them, I think I may venture a few remarks on the specimens 

 which I gathered in a walk on the north shore and along Botany Bay ; 

 for to any one who only saw the Flora of Victoria or South Australia, 

 the increase or the diversity of Epacridece^ Diosme(jB^ Froteacece^ Medi- 

 ac€(B^ and Cyperoidem must be striking; nor can he fail to be sur- 

 prised by the paucity of Compositce, This remark can however only 

 apply to the near vicinity of Sydney, for Mr. Moore, from whom I have 

 gained much valuable information and manifold assistance during my 

 brief stay, informs me that Composite are abundant to the westward, as 

 may be reasonably expected. A large proportion of the plants, described 

 at the beginning of this century, I saw for the first time then ; and should 

 the Flora of Yictoria ever be continued by myself, it will be highly in- 

 teresting to proceed from Sydney to Cape Howe, in order to trace the 

 southern limits of many of the New South Wales plants. The boggy 

 nature of the country, between the Snowy Eiver and Cape Howe, frus- 

 trated my attempt to go so far east from Victoria. Of all natural 

 orders in Australia Biosmea and Proteacea produce the most restricted 

 plants as regards localities. Thus, all the following I had, for the first 

 time, an opportunity of observing here i—Zieria pauciflora, remluta^ 

 Boronia ledifolia, B, pimata, Crowea mligna, Eriodemon salicifolius, 

 E, laxifoUus, Philolheca, Conospermtm longifoliim, 0. laxifoUum, Iso- 

 pogon anethifolius^ /. anemonifolius ^ PetropJiila pedunculata^ Lomatia 

 silaifolia, Xylomelum pgriforme, several very fine Grevilleas and Pe?'- 

 soo}iias, EaJcea gibbosa^ etc. The examination of these plants has not 

 been without use to me ; for instance, I found that my Zkria pauci- 



