BY R. H. CAMBAGE. 387 



contemporaneous with the volcanic eruption of the Upper Plio- 

 cene period; that Howitt places the latest land-connection 

 between Tasmania and Victoria as possibly during that period 

 of volcanic disturbance also; and that Tate considers this par- 

 ticular volcanic period to be newer than Pliocene, and to have 

 occurred at a time when Casuarina and Banksia were growing 

 in the south-eastern part of South Australia, and that the 

 Aborigines probably witnessed the glow of internal fires from 

 the cones of these volcanoes. 



In these Proceedings for 1901 (pp.687, 688) I drew attention 

 to some trees of Casuarina Cunninghamiana Miq. (River Oak) 

 which are growing on a fresh-water creek near the head of Burrill 

 Lake at Ulladulla, and no others being in the district, it was 

 suggested (after discussion with Mr. J. J. Fletcher, B.Sc.) that 

 these few were the descendants of what had once been a greater 

 number, extending perhaps some miles down the creek, which, 

 owing to this coastal subsidence, had been nearly tilled by the 

 inflow of salt water, thus destroying all the fresh-water oak trees 

 except those which were growing on this limited area. 



The foregoing particulars are given to show the possibilities in 

 regard to C. slricta having existed in Pleistocene or perhaps late 

 Pliocene times; but what changes it may have undergone during 

 that great lapse of time it is quite impossible to say. If it did 

 not occur on these isolated coastal spots prior to the subsidence 

 referred to, then its presence there to-day has to be otherwise 

 accounted for. 



The methods of distribution which most readily suggest them- 

 selves are those by ordinary growth of seedlings near the parent 

 tree, by wind, birds and water. 



In this instance the first mode can be ignored altogether, as 

 the distance between Newport and Otford is about 40 miles, and 

 so far as is known there is not a single tree of C. stricta any- 

 where between the two places; while three large sheets of water 

 in Port Hacking, Botany Bay and Port Jackson would have to 

 be crossed. 



