PRESIDEXrS ADDRESS. 655 



and the leaves attributed to Betida might equally well belong to 

 say Pomaderris hHidina. 



There are many other examples which I have not time to give 

 in detail now, but I have little doubt that all or nearly all the 

 fossil leaves can be shown to possess the form and character of 

 existing ones in the brush forests at the same latitude on the 

 coast, and there is no necessity to search the world over for 

 resemblances. 



As to the statement that the Australian types are not propor- 

 tionately represented, it is only a pity that Baron Ettingshausen 

 is not better acquainted with the Australian flora of the east 

 coast. He would tind that in the dense brush forests of the coast 

 Eucalypts and Proteacece become choked out and their place is 

 taken by other types from the north. It is only necessary to 

 suppose that the vegetation of the coast extended inland as far as 

 Gunning or Vegetable Creek, a circumstance very likdy to happen 

 in the moister Miocene times, and one might have leaves pre- 

 served not of the open forest or scrub where the Australian types 

 abound, l^ut that of the brushes where the same are rare. 



It is clear from the above considerations that the existence of 

 the universal flora of mixed types assumed by Heer and Ettings- 

 hausen is not proved and that the extraordinary sorting opera- 

 tion which the "floral cHmate " w^as supposed to eflect is 

 grossly exaggerated. The absurdity of the supposition with 

 regard to Australia seems to me extreme when it is remem- 

 bered how many climates (not one alone) varying between hot 

 and cold, moist and dry, Australia possesses. Eucalypts and 

 other trees grow from east to west and from north to south of the 

 country under the most variable conditions, and they will grow 

 in other countries in the greatest luxuriance. 



Further investigation of this subject should be persisted in, 

 and the Tertiary and earlier beds of Western Australia may be 

 looked to to throw light on the subject. 



At present the facts seem to afford grounds for concluding — 



(1) That many, if not all, the typical Australian floral types 

 originated in Australia or in some land connected with it, but 

 now submerged. 



