BY HENRY DEANE. 473 



nected by land and separated from the rest of the world. What 

 an opportunity for the developments of special forms of life ! 

 We begin with Glossopteris and Gangamopteris — we only want 

 time for the higher orders. 



The land connection continued into the lower Mesozoic when 

 the fresh-water Karoo series of South Africa, the upper Gond- 

 wana system of India, and the Ipswich and Clarence coal measures 

 of Australia, and the Argentine Mesozoic beds ranging from Trias 

 to Jurassic were laid down. Tceniopteris and Thinnfddia were 

 widely distributed. 



If South Africa and Western Australia remained connected 

 till well into the Mesozoic Age, what a likely region for the 

 Proteacece to have originated in ! In South Africa and Australia 

 the suborder Nacamentacece, which in Bentham's opinion show 

 archaic characters, has its stronghold; the other great group, 

 the Folliculares, including the Banksiece, may be assumed to have 

 developed in Australia after its separation from South Africa. 

 That tins combined land has been the centre of distribution seems 

 probable. From here a few have passed northwards in Africa, 

 and later on, by means of Tasmania and the somewhat fleeting 

 Antarctic connection with South America, members of the 

 suborder Folliculares havefound their way into Patagonia and Chili. 



The existence of such a centre explains perhaps better than 

 any other theory the distribution at the present day of the two 

 allied groups of Ericece and Epacridece, which some botanists 

 have included in one natural order, and which, judging by 

 their affinities, have probably originated in a common ancestor. 

 The Ericece have spread north to the Mediterranean and beyond; 

 the Epacridece to the islands to the north and east of Australia. 



There are some peculiarities about the distribution of certain 

 groups of the Leguminoste which look like parallelism between 

 South African and Australian development ; in both these 

 countries the Leguminoscn are remarkable for the number of their 

 species ; the Rutacece, present a similar case, for the tribe of 

 Boroniece of Australia finds its parallel in the Diosmece of South 

 Africa. Many other similar examples exist. The Casitarinece, to 



