654 president's address. 



Myrica, Quercus, Fagus, Cinnamomum, Banksia and Eucalyptns 

 are found to be well represented. 



I have not seen these, but I have carefully looked into the 

 matter of the Dalton and Vegetable Creek fossils, and I cannot 

 agree with the crucial determinations of Professor Ettingshausen, 

 and I believe that his conclusions as to the character of the flora 

 and its resemblance to the flora of other parts of the world are 

 utterly wrong. 



With the aid of Mr. R. Baker, F.L.S., of the Technological 

 Museum, I have made comparisons between the fossil leaves and 

 living ones, and so far as I have gone I find that the various types 

 of fossil leaves are represented among existing plants and that 

 there is no reason to go outside Australia to look for them. But 

 even supposing the existence of the northern genera in Australian 

 strata could be undoubtedly shown, Ettinghausen's deductions are 

 still not valid, for Ahius, Acer,' Quercus, 3fy7'ica, and others have 

 to-day a wide range which brings them almost into close proximity 

 to the Australian region, while species of Quercus have been 

 actually proved to exist to-day in New Guinea, which is in the 

 Australian region. 



This portion of my Address has taken up so much time that I 

 cannot on the present occasion do more than refer to one or two 

 instances of what I consider faulty identifications, but I hope that 

 during the ensuing year I may be able to present to the Society 

 some further notes on the subject. 



Fig. 1, Plate iii., in Ettingshausen's work is named Cinna- 

 momum Lfiichhardti, but the leaf represented is much more like 

 that of Smilax australis or a species of Rhipogonum,. It is 

 not safe to conclude that all leaves with the Cinnamomum 

 venation belong to that genus. Litsaea dealbata, which grows as 

 far south as latitude 34°, and on Mt. Wilson at an elevation of 

 3,600 feet, and is not indicative therefore of tropical conditions, 

 has the same venation. Baron Ettingshausen's specimens of A cer 

 are much more likely to belong to Sterculia. The Alnus fruit it 

 has been shown is probably a fragment of an Araucaria branchlet, 



