BY J, J. FLETCHER. 683 



(possibly four) ill Southern South- Australia, six (?) iu New South 

 Wales; three in the Northern Territoiy; and only one (// rubella) 

 in Central Australia, but with P. guentheri (?) as an outlier near 

 the Fraser Range. 



The opinion of Sir Joseph Hooker that " South-western Aus- 

 tralia is the remnant of the more extensive and more isolated 

 portion of the continent in which the peculiar flora was princi- 

 pally developed " has met with universal acceptance among 

 botanists. Professor Tate in subdividing Australia into botanical 

 subregions, has applied the name Autochthonian to the south- 

 west corner of West Australia, whose internal boundary coincides 

 with the rainfall limit of 25-30 inches per annum. 



In his very able Summary of the results of the Horn Expedition 

 to Central Australia, Professor Baldwin Spencer discusses the 

 interesting question of the claim of the botanical Autochthonian 

 province to be considered also a zoological Autochthonian province. 

 From the evidence afforded by the Vertebrata, Professor Spencer 

 arrives at the conclusion that " we find no great [zoological] 

 Autochthonian region occupying the western and south-western 

 part of the continent." 



The revised lists of the Batrachia of Tasmania and West 

 Australia now brought forward are certainly a little more satis- 

 factory than those at the disposal of the author of the Summarj^ 

 But such additional evidence as they afford only goes to strengthen 

 Professor Spencer's position. South-western Australia is now 

 practically isolated except on the north, but there is clear evidence 

 of former relations with Victoria and Tasmania and with the 

 Centre. Its batrachian fauna, as we know it, is a poverty-stricken 

 one, with but little if any marked character of its own, and may 

 well be mainly if not altogether of derivative origin. 



The second or north-western group of species seems to have 

 very little (one species P. yuentheri) in common with the south- 

 western group; but more diligent collecting would probably alter 

 this state of things to a considerable extent. At present all that 

 need be said of it is that the fauna of tlie north-west stands in 

 sharp contrast to that of the south-west by the presence of no 



