BY CUTHBERT HALL. 515 



E. stricta chemically has some relationship to the E. cneorifolia- 

 group, yet, morphologically, it has a close relationship to the 

 Peppermint-group, and possesses reniform anthers; and the form 

 of the seedling strongly supports this The seedling of E. apicu- 

 lata also shows its affinity to the Peppermints. It is worth while 

 to draw attention to the fact that the majority of the species 

 with reniform anthers, belong to this group or to the Stringy- 

 bark-group with entire cotyledons. The members of this group, 

 too, are confined to the Dividing Range and Coastal Districts of 

 Eastern Australia, and some occur also in Tasmania, in other 

 words, in places where the rainfall is fairly abundant, and the 

 climate cold or temperate. Some of them, such as E. coriacea, 

 occur in Alpine regions. The deep purplish-red coloration of 

 the cotyledons and leaves seems to be connected with this climatic 

 preference, and may be in response, but cannot be solely due to 

 resistance to cold, because, in E. co7'iacea and E. stellulata, two 

 most characteristic Alpine species, it is practically absent. 



Let us now take the three large groups, ii.c\ c", c^. These may 

 be considered to merge, more or less, one into the other, as I 

 have arranged the grouping mainly by the size of the cotyledons. 

 The primary leaves are generally smooth, and either petiolate or 

 sessile, and, if the latter, generally glaucous. Those wdth the 

 longer cotyledons and glaucous, sessile leaves generally occur in 

 the cold, mountainous regions; and it has been argued that the 

 glaucous bloom is a protection against cold, but against this we 

 must remember that the same condition is also found in species 

 in the dry, hot parts of Australia, and especially of Western 

 Australia, and, in that case, the argument cannot hold. Included 

 in these groups are the " Ironbarks " and " Boxes," with anthers 

 opening in pores; but the majority of the remainder have parallel 

 anthers. While many of the members of these groups occur in 

 the cool, mountainous and warm, moist, coastal regions, yet the 

 great majority of these with the very small cotyledons occur on 

 the western slopes, and in the hot, dry interior, and they seem to 

 be a response to the dry conditions. I would here point out 

 that, although the coastal and mountain regions of Eastern Aus- 

 tralia enjoy a high average rainfall, yet even there it is no un- 



