Sept., 1908.] THE VICTORIAN NATURALIST. 79 



conditions prevailed, leaving arctic species stranded, as it were, 

 on the top of every lofty mountain throughout the State. The 

 alpine flora of Victoria is, however, apparently more modern and 

 hence less striking than that of Europe, although many features 

 of similarity exist between the two. The more modern character 

 of the Victorian alpine flora is, for instance, evidenced by the 

 facts that the plain and alpine floras largely overlap, and that the 

 latter shows less type differentiation than usual. Species which 

 pass from alpine or sub-alpine regions to the plains are Arabis 

 perfoliata, Billardiera scandens, Correa Lawrenciana, Hypericum 

 japonicum, Sagina procumhens, and Stellaria pungens, although 

 species are not wanting, such as Drosera Arckeri, &c., which are 

 exclusively restricted to high alpine elevations. Little doubt 

 exists as to a land connection with Tasmania in past ages by way 

 of King Island, and this is borne out by the large number of 

 species common to the two States, Tasmania and Victoria. New 

 Zealand, on the other hand, is widely distinct in its flora from 

 that of Victoria, so that, if New Zealand and Australia were ever 

 connected, the separation must have occurred in very remote 

 ages. 



Present Climate. — The average annual rainfall of 26 inches 

 approximates to that of England, and this, coupled with its 

 warmer climate and continental connections, makes the flora of 

 Victoria somewhat more numerous and varied than that of Great 

 Britain, in spite of the smaller area of the State. The idea that 

 Victoria is much drier than Great Britain is hardly correct. The 

 chief difference is that in Great Britain a few places are exception- 

 ally wet (Ben Nevis, 151 inches per annum; one station in Lake 

 district, 177 inches per annum), whereas in Victoria a few regions 

 are exceptionally dry (the north-west portion of the Mallee). 

 The Lake district in England, and the S.W. coast of Scotland, 

 with an annual rainfall of 40 inches, correspond exactly to the 

 Otway Forest and South Gippsland, where the rainfall just exceeds 

 40 inches. Over a very large part of the east coast of England 

 and Scotland the rainfall is below 25 inches. The average for 

 London is, for instance, 24 inches — i.e., below the average for 

 Victoria ; and in one drought year, when agriculture in Essex 

 and neighbouring counties suffered greatly, it was as low as 

 16 inches. A point of great importance is that in all the wettest 

 parts of Great Britain the flora is of a special character, and 

 limited to a few bog, humus, or hygrophilous types, whereas it is 

 in the drier regions that the flora is more abundant and varied — 

 that agriculture is of most importance, and the land most 

 valuable. 



In Victoria, owing to its warmer climate, a higher rainfall is 

 required to reach the limit at which it becomes detrimental to 

 agriculture, and at which bog, humus, and hygrophilous floras 



