48 NORTH AUSTRALIAN EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 



been brought by him into notice ; and even when I enumerated plants 

 common at Port Jackson, it must be deserving of remark, which of them 

 advance to sub-tropical or even tropical latitudes. But this sketch 

 could hardly be extended beyond the bare enumeration, and if I am at 

 all entitled to venture any remarks upon such limited material, they 

 must not be viewed as conclusive; for even at Moreton Bay the brief- 

 ness of our stay rendered it impossible to extend my botanical excur- 

 sions beyond a few miles from the Brisbane Eiver, and it is but justice 

 to state, that through Mr. Hill's local knowledge, I was enabled to add 

 many a plant to the collection, which otherwise, in such a flying visit, 



might have escaped ray notice. 



On the mainland, although not falling exactly within the tropics, 

 the tropical forms outnumber far the rest, and in the shady ravines, 

 full of humidity, the characteristic vegetation of the more southern 

 latitudes of Australia almost entirely disappears. One of the most 

 striking facts appeared to me to be the scantiness of the Compoutm^ 

 which form here, as in the tropical isles afterwards visited, an ex- 

 ceedingly small proportion of the vegetation. The genera SoViva and 

 SjjilantJies appear new to Australia; Sapindacem and EupJiorhiac€<s in- 

 crease, as might be expected ; but Epacride(B I saw represented only 

 by a species of Leucopogon and AcrotricTie^ and Troteace<2 by Grevillea 

 rohusta and a Batihsia. 



Orcliide(2 include many terrestrial ones from the South, whilst 

 under the influence of the genial climate also the parasitical species 

 occur, and form a prominent feature in the vegetation. Along with 

 them the single forms of Platycerium grande^ the numerous LianaSy Ca- 

 ladiuniy etc, impart a luxuriance and grandeur to the scenery unusual 

 in Australia. Mosses and Lichens are vastly on the decrease, and 

 were almost wanting in the isles towards Torres' Strait, which promises 

 but a very poor harvest of them on the north coast. 



The dry sandy ridges and the swamps of Moreton Island produce, 

 on the contrary, a vegetation almost alike to that of Fort Jackson, as 

 may be observed in the enumeration which I prepared ; stiU FandajiuSy 

 Spermacocey Brugniera^ Mucuna, Canavalia^ Vigna^ Dioscorea^ etc., re- 

 mind of the tropics. EpacridecB are particularly numerous, Treman- 

 drem wanting. 



The vegetation of the islands which we visited on our way to Torres' 

 Strait (isles off Cape Bedford, Howick's Group, Cairncross Island, Al- 



