194 Linnaan Society 



are first parboiled and then dried, the eflfect of which is to dissolve 

 what starch exists in the cells surrounding the nodules. 1 he dis- 

 solved starch flows over the surface of the nodules, from which when 

 dried it is undistinguishable, and consequently when iodine is ap- 

 plied to salep the mass appears to become iodide of starch. If the 

 nod!Ues, however, after this action of iodine, be removed, they are 

 seen to retain their original vitreous lustre. 



The author remarks that these nodules of Ophrydecs are, as far as 

 his observations extend, absent in the tubercles of the other tribes 

 of Orchidacpce. 



Read, a paper entitled " Some Data towards a Botanical Geogra- 

 phy of New Holland." By Dr. John Lhotsky, late of the Civil Ser- 

 vice, Van Diemen's Land. Communicated by Prof. Don, Libr. L.S. 



The author commences his paper with the observation, that it was 

 the lot of Mr. Brown to become connected in an almost exclusive 

 way with the Flora of New Holland, he having been the first to illus- 

 trate its vegetable riches in an extensive and philosophic manner. 

 Notwithstanding the important discoveries since made, his re- 

 marks, and especially those upon the botanical geography of that 

 country, (published nearly twenty years ago,) have been confirmed 

 by subsequent observations. The great approximation toM^ards the 

 European Flora, in that part of the country first explored by the 

 author, agrees perfectly with the following observation of Mr, Brown : 

 " It appears that a much greater proporticm of the peculiarities of the 

 Australian Flora exist in this, which I have therefore called the prin- 

 cipal parallel (between 33° and 35° S. latitude), and that many of 

 them are nearly confined to it.*'* The author proposes the follow- 

 ing geographical division of the Flora of the south-eastern part of 

 New Holland. 



1st. The coast vegetation. — This class of vegetation clothes the 

 almost moveable sand of the coast, and the rocks of sandstone of the 

 coal formation, or skirts the ponds of salt or brackish water. JSpa- 

 cris, Boronia, Lamhertia, Astroloma, Xanthorrhcea, Hakea, Banhsia, 

 &c. are the most characteristic genera, forming usually a dense 

 shrubbery of stiff and harsh plants. Of trees, scarcely any but 

 species of Eucalyptus are to be met with. 



2nd. Vegetation of the rocky gullies near the sea coast. — Such lo- 

 calities are generally characterized by small creeks or springs of fresh- 

 water, of which the localities of the former class are mostly devoid. 



* General remarks, geographical and systematical, on tlie Botany of 



Terra Australis, p. 580. 



