PRESIDENT S ADDRESS. 



787 



plants (27 of them being from Botany Bay), and contains 

 Solander's original descriptions and the habitats of the plants 

 figured. 



As it had, for some years past, been thought desirable by 

 scientific men, that a thorough examination of Central Australia 

 should be made by experts, Mr. W. A. Horn, in a most noble 

 spirit of patriotism, agreed to pay all the necessary expenses of 

 fitting out an expedition to the M'Donnell Ranges, now known 

 as the Larapintine region, to be conducted by leading men from 

 the various colonies. 



The expedition, consisting of 16 men, 26 camels lent by the 

 South Australian Government, and two horses, started in May, 

 1894, accompanied part of the way by the noble-minded patron, 

 who, after satisfying himself that everything was working 

 smoothly, returned on his lonely ride of 1,000 miles to Adelaide. 



No expedition had ever been fitted out so thoroughly, or 

 managed so carefully and with so little discomfort to its members, 

 each of whom worked so enthusiastically at the branch under his 

 particular charge, that the results as a whole were far more 

 important than those obtained by any former expedition ; but 

 no vestiges of the archaic flora or fauna, which it had been thought 

 possible might still exist there, could be found. The botanical 

 report of the work of the expedition was prepared by Professor 

 Ralph Tate, F.L.S., F.G.S., who, however, discovered little that 

 was absolutely new : the volumes, containing the whole of the 

 reports, were edited by Professor Baldwin Spencer, M.A. The 

 number of species of plants, known previously to the expedition, 

 to inhabit the Larapintine region, was 502, and that has now 

 been increased to 614. 



Space and time will not permit me to mention numbers of 

 zealous botanists, in all the Australian colonies, who have 

 devoted themselves to the furtherance of the interests of botany, 

 but I propose to conclude by giving shortly such particulars as 

 I have been able to obtain with respect to the various botanical 

 establishments maintained at each of the Australian capitals. 



