president's ADDRESS. 835 



The south-west region possesses the following orders in the 

 greatest abundance : — 



1. Composite. 



2. Leguminos^. 



3. Ericacr^. 



4. PROTEACEiE, 



5. Iride^. 



6. Geraniace^. 



A comparison with the most abundant Australian orders shows 

 that Iridece, Geraniacece, Eestiacece, Liliacece, Butacece, and Scro- 

 phularinece, although existing, are not so prominent, and would 

 have to take a lower place, and the orders Myrtacece and Goode- 

 noviece would be substituted. The order Uricacece is represented 

 by the closely allied order Epacridece. 



With regard to the other Orders, it is to be noticed that 

 Jiestiacece, although not so abundant, are peculiarly Australian ; 

 that the suborder Boroiiiecn of Rutucece is peculiarly Australian, 

 like the Diosmece of the same order in South Africa ; and that 

 among Liliacece there is a peculiar genus — Naicolirion — which is 

 closely allied to Herpolirion of Australia, Tasmania and New 

 Zealand. 



The study of geological phenomena and the distribution of life on 

 the earth lead to two important conclusions : first, that the earth's 

 surface has been subject to repeated and extensive deformation, 

 implying a considerable amount of flexibility of the earth's crust, 

 whereby the land connections haA'e been varied at different times; 

 and secondly, that over portions of the earth's surface extraor- 

 dinary changes of climate have taken place, so much so that 

 glacial and temperate, subtropical and even tropical conditions 

 appear to have become interchanged. 



Permanence of Ocean Basins. 



In spite of the undoubted truth of the first of the above pro- 

 positions, the theory of the permanence of ocean basins and 

 continental areas holds still a very strong position in the minds 



