490 ISLAND LIFE 



the country, and all highly characteristic Australian forms, 

 — Acacia, Eucalyptus, Melaleuca, Leucopogon, Stylidium, 

 Grevillea, and Hakea. These are entirely absent from New 

 Zealand, except one species of Leucopogon, a genus which 

 also has representatives in the Malayan and Pacific Islands. 

 Sixteen more Australian genera have over fifty species 

 each, and of these eight are totally absent from New Zea- 

 land, five are represented by one or two species, and only 

 two are fairly represented ; but these two — Drosera and 

 Helichrysum — are very widespread genera, and might have 

 reached New Zealand from other countries than Australia. 



But this by no means exhausts the differences between 

 New Zealand and Australia, No less than seven Austral- 

 ian Natural Orders- — Dilleniacea?, Buettneriacese, Polygaleae, 

 Tremandrese, Casuarineae, Hsemodoracese, and Xyridese are 

 entirely wanting in New Zealand, and several others which 

 are excessively abundant and highly characteristic of the 

 former country are very poorly represented in the latter. 

 Thus, Leguminosse are extremely abundant in Australia, 

 where there are over 1,000 species belonging to about 100 

 genera, many of them altogether peculiar to the country ; 

 yet in New Zealand this great order is most scantily repre- 

 sented, there being only five genera and thirteen species ; 

 and only two of these genera, Swainsonia and Clianthus, 

 are Australian, and as the latter consists of but two species 

 it may as well have passed from New Zealand to Australia 

 as the other way, or more probably from some third country 

 to them botli,^ Goodeniacese with ten genera and 220 

 species Australian, has but two species in New Zealand — • 

 and one of these is a salt-marsh plant found also in Tas- 

 mania and in Chile ; and four other large Australian orders 

 — -Rhamnese, Myoporine?e, Proteacea? and Santalace?e, have 

 very few representatives in New Zealand, 



We find, then, that the great fact we have to explain 

 and account for is, the undoubted affinity of the New Zea- 



^ This accords with the general scarcity of Leguminosa? in Oceanic 

 I>(lands, due probably to their usually dry and heavy seeds, not adapted to 

 any of the forms of aerial transmission ; and it would indicate either that 

 New Zealand was never absolutely united with Australia, or that the union 

 was at a very remote period when Leguminos* were either not differen- 

 tiated or comparatively rare. 



