652 president's address. 



It is to be observed therefore that all resemblances to Austra- 

 lian existing vegetation in the Tertiary flora is looked upon by 

 Hooker, Bentham, Zittel and many others as fanciful and 

 unproved. As regards the supposed Eucalyptus Geinitzii it will 

 be noticed that the figure in Zittel's book reminds one of the 

 style of growth of a Eucalypt, but the fruits are by no means like 

 what exist at the present day. It is, however, just possible that 

 here we have something like an ancestral example of the capsu- 

 lar Myrtacece, or indeed of the whole group of the Myriacece, for 

 it may be assumed that the fleshy-fruited section of the order 

 developed by natural selection out of the hard-fruited one — com- 

 munity of type no doubt implies community of origin. There is, 

 however, an element of doubt about the whole matter, as it is 

 strongly to be suspected that the immediate ancestors of Euca- 

 lyptus in Australia had opposite leaves. 



Be that as it may, however, there is nothing to prove that in 

 Tertiary times any of the typical Australian groups existed ou tside 

 Australia. 



Pliocene fossil remains from Victoria have been investigated 

 by Professor McCoy and Baron von Mueller; also specimens 

 from Orange in this colony. The parts described consist of fruits 

 and a few leaves. But Baron von Mueller has, I believe, steadily 

 refused to classify leaves or fragments of leaves, and condemns 

 the practice. 



Some fossil plants from Dalton, near Gunning, and Vegetable 

 Creek, in New South Wales, were sent by the late Mr. C. S. 

 Wilkinson, Government Geologist, to Professor Ettingshausen, and 

 they have been examined and reported upon by him. Professor 

 Ettingshausen's two memoirs on the subject have been published 

 in English by the Mines Department of Sydney in one volume, 

 the book being edited by Mr. Robert Etheridge, Junr., now 

 Curator of the Australian Museum. 



The fossils consist almost entirely of leaves, and the strata are 

 according to Mr. Wilkinson of Upper Eocene or Lower Miocene 

 age, while those examined by Baron F. von Mueller are of Pliocene 

 age. Mr. Etheridge does not accept any responsibility as to 



