11G THE PROCEEDINGS OP THE LINNEAN SOCIETY 



overlying the porphyrinic granite at Cape York, and perhaps other 

 Tertiary deposits which may occur in that locality, may be corre- 

 lated with the Miocene beds on the opposite coast of New 

 Guinea. 



Wallace, referring to this subject in his very interesting and 

 valuable work, The Malay Archipelago, says: — " It is interesting 

 to observe among the islands themselves how a shallow sea always 

 intimates a recent land connection." ..." We find that all 

 the islands from Celebes and Lombock eastward exhibit almost as 

 close a resemblance to Australia and New Guinea as the Western 

 Islands do to Asia." And again — " Australia, with its dry winds, 

 its open plains, its stony deserts, and its temperate climate, pro- 

 duces birds and quadrupeds which are closely related to those 

 inhabiting the hot damp luxuriant forests which everywhere 

 clothe the plains and mountains of New Guinea." 



Baron von Mueller's rem arks on some of the Papuan plants col- 

 lected by Mr. Macleay are also evidence in favour of the former 

 land connection of New Guinea with Australia, so that our geolo- 

 gical evidence is supported by that of zoology and botany. 



From geological data it is believed that this continent has not 

 been submerged to any great extent since the Lower Pliocene 

 period ; and we know that it has risen a little since the Upper 

 Pliocene epoch, at least in Victoria, for the lava flows of that age, 

 now forming the Werribee Plains, were submarine flows. And Mr. 

 Daintree, formerly Government Geologist of Queensland, shows, 

 in his pamphlet on the Geology of Queensland, that little upheaval 

 of this portion of Australia has taken place since the volcanic out- 

 bursts of a late Tertiary epoch. Now, it is in the Upper 

 Pliocene or Pleistocene deposits that are found the remains 

 of the gigantic marsupials — Diprotoclon, Macropus titan, 

 Nototherium, and others ; and, as their allied representatives, 

 now occupy both Australia and New Guinea, it is not improbable 

 that those gigantic animals, whose bones are found in Northern 

 Queensland, also roamed in both those countries. And, further, 

 as the luxuriant vegetation and climatic conditions which we 

 suppose to be favourable fiv the support of those immense 



