574 PLANTS OF NEW SOUTH "WALES, 



mine on the subject was read before the Linnean Society in 

 London, in which I made a calculation, that more than a hundred 

 such plants might be found within fifty miles of Parramatta. 

 That number, I believe, is not over-estimated. Of the Dicotyle- 

 doneae not indigenous in New South Wales, there are probably 

 about 30, but as the other volumes of the Flora Australiensis 

 come under consideration, I think that the number will be 

 augmented to 150. In order, however, to form an accurate list 

 of the introduced and indigenous species, and to compare them 

 with the Floras of the Australian colonies or the Flora of 

 Australia generally, considerable attention must be paid to the 

 collection of plants in particular districts and the compilation of 

 local herbaria. During the last year or so, a great step has been 

 taken in this direction in most of the Australian Colonies, and 

 Baron Mueller, to whom this movement may be mainly attributed, 

 has commenced a full and accurate description of all plants 

 indigenous in Victoria. When this valuable work has been 

 completed, it will afford a basis for works of a similar character 

 in other parts of Australia, and then, there will be little difficulty 

 in instituting those comparisons to which I have alluded. With 

 regard to the geographical distribution of Australian plants in 

 general, Mr. Bentham has fully indorsed the views of Sir J. D. 

 Hooker, as laid down in his admirable essay prefixed to his Flora 

 Tasmania}. And thus the former concludes, that, whilst the 

 predominant portion appears to be indigenous and never spread 

 far out of it, there is evidence to show that, in remote antiquity, 

 the principal Flora had a connection with Eastern Asia on the 

 one hand, and, from the mountains of Victoria and Tasmania 

 through New Zealand to the Southern end of the American 

 Continent and thence up the Andes, on the other. 



