472 Gelehrte Gesellschaften. — Inhalt. 



Hopwoodi. — The Secretary read a paper entitled „Botanical Sketch in 

 connection with the geological features of New South Wales", by Mr. Robert 

 Fitzgerald. The Botany of the above area may be grouped into :*) ^ 1. That 

 of the sandstone or poor country represented by the Proteaceae, Epacrideae, 

 and Xanthorrhoeae ; 2. Eastern slopes of coast range represented by Urticaceae 

 and Palmae ; 3. Cold mountain sands represented by Doryphorae, Filices, and 

 Myrtaceae ; 4. Interior plains represented by Chenopodiaceae and Compositae. 

 How has the distribution of the vegetation originated V That the Australian 

 continent has risen slowly is gathered from numerous proofs, among others, 

 the horizontality of the strata being very manifest. In its uplifting, the 

 outer rim of the continent was slightly more elevated than the interior, and 

 what between a once inland sea. marshes, and mud, and a once probable 

 greater rainfall, Mr. Fitzgerald surmises that to this latter much of the 

 physical features depend. Whence the coal seams? Are they not the remains 

 of vegetation borne from a continent which has been eastward of Australia ? 

 — New Zealand, Norfolk, and Howe's Island being outliers. The most 

 typical Australian vegetation is the group Proteaceae — a very ancient 

 family, extending back to the secondary period of Geology, from which time 

 Australia apparently has never been submerged. The remarkable close 

 relationship and insensible gradation, so that there is great difficulty in 

 separating species of Eucalyptus, Banksia, &c., point out that none , or few, 

 of the connecting links have been lost , as must necessarily have been the 

 case had repeated submergence and elevation occurred. Many curious 

 problems as to the fertilisation of the Proteaceae, including Stylidieae and 

 Goodeniaceae , yet await investigation. The group of the Palmae and 

 Urticaceae possibly may have had an Asiatic origin, through the Malayan 

 Archipelago. They ajjpear not to be truly of Australia, but themselves 

 colonists long established. Among the third group Doryphora holds a con- 

 spicuous place, and is evidently of Australian derivation. The peculiar vege- 

 tation of the fourth group, Chenopods and Compositae, are rapidly becoming 

 one of the past, and the small species even now are giving place to intro- 

 duced grasses and weeds. Apart from the four groups in question, as regards 

 the Acacias and Eucalyptus, they have the widest distribution and com- 

 plicated genera. They both appear to be genera at theii* zenith, having 

 existed long enough to pass into redundant forms, but not long enough to 

 have been exposed to vicissitudes and decline. Their absence from Howe's 

 Island and New Zealand shows they in all likelihood did not belong to the 

 supposed submerged eastern continent, nor are they old enough to be found 

 along with the Laurel and other remains of the gold drift. **) 



*) Cfr. hierzu Bot. Centralbl. 1881. Bd. VII. p. 41 f. — Red. B. 

 *♦) From the Journ. of Bot. New. Ser. Vol. XI. 1882. No. 231. p. 95-96. 



Inhalt: 



"Wise. Orlginal-ivrittliellungen . ! öeleiirte G-esellsoh aften: 



Massalongo, Saxifraga Rocheliana neu für 



Italien, p. U9. 

 Stelzner, Zur Erinnerung an Dr. P. G. Lorentz, 



p. 450. 



Botanleobe Grärten \in<i Institute : 



Linnean Soc. of London : 



Fitzgerald, Bot. Sketch of New South 



Wales, p. 472. 

 Henslow, Staminndy, p. 471. 

 Holmes, Cinchona Bark of Bolivia, p. 471. 

 Jackson, Duboisia Hopwooiti, p. 471. 



Eichler Bot. Garten u. Museum zu Berlin, | Systematisolies InlialtsverzeiolinieB 



p. 468. 



von Bd. IX. 



Corrigenda : 



PatT. 300, Zeile 11 von oben lies nach Herbstholzbildung unter dem Ein- 

 "' ' flu s s künstlich v er minder ten Rin dendruc kes. 



„ 34 von oben lies statt dem Verf de Vn'es. 

 l 340, , 14 von unten lies statt Substanz-Verlauf Substanz, Verlauf. 



Verlag von Theodor Fischer in Cassel. — Druck von Friedr. Scheel in Cassel. 



