88 BOTANY OF THE 



with grass^ a few creeping- plants and stunted bushes 

 on one hand^ — and on the other a hig*h^ rocky ^ well- 

 wooded island with an undulating succession of hills 

 and valleys. In those of the latter class, to a certain 

 extent only in the islands of Rocking-ham Bay^ but 

 in a ver}^ striking- deg'ree in those to the north^vard^ 

 there is so g*reat a similarity in the veg^etation^ that 

 an illustration of the botany may be taken from one 

 of the Barnard Isles^ No. III. — exhibiting- what 

 may be termed an Indo- Australian Flora. 



The upper marg-in of the coral beach is overrun 

 with Ijwmcea ^naritima, a larg-e purple-flowered 

 BossiceUj and some other leg'uminous plants^ of 

 which the handsomest is Canvallia Baueriana^ a 

 runner with larg'e rose-coloured flowers. To these 

 succeeds a row of bushes of Sccevola Kmnigiiy and 

 Tournefortia argenteay with an occasional Guettarda 

 speciosa, or Morinda citrifoliciy backed b}^ thickets 

 of Paritium Tiliaceum^ and other shrubs supporting" 

 larg'e Cotwolvidacece^ ^ vine-like species of Cissus ; 

 Guilandina Bondiic^ a prickly CcBsaljmiia, Beerin- 

 gia CwIosioideSy and a variety of other climbers. 

 Penetrating' this shrubby border^ one finds himself in 

 Avhat in New South Wales would be called a brush 

 or scrub, and in India a jung-le^ extending- over the 

 g-reater part of the island. Overhead are trees of 

 moderate size^ whose g-eneral character is constituted 

 by a nearly", strnig-ht stem/ seldom branching- except 

 near the top^ and furnished with g'lossy dark green 

 leaves. Interspersed with them there are many 



