55 CENSUS OF THE 



arise from this needful change of names, whenever Dr. 

 Hooker's fundamental work is to be consulted in connection 

 with this list, it becomes necessary to quote, at the end of each 

 line, the number or numbers under which the species are 

 arranged at pages Ivi.-lxxxiii. in the preface to the Flora 

 Tasmanica. 



Wide researches into the vegetation of the whole of 

 Australia, to which the writer has devoted much of his time 

 during the last 32 years, have tended to change in many 

 instances the limits assigned originally to the Tasmanian plants, 

 and have shown a degree of variability of many species much 

 higher than could have been anticipated from local studies. 

 Eliminated from the present index are several plants formerly 

 regarded as indigenous, and it is almost certain that some 

 others ought yet to be transferred from the list of indigenous 

 to that of the introduced species. A clear aspect of the 

 original vegetation becomes disturbed by mixing the 

 naturalised with the natural plants ; the number of the latter 

 may at last become fixed, but that of the former will increase 

 constantly. An enumeration of such foreign plants as are 

 settled beyond extirpation in the island will form part of the 

 next chapter of this dissertation. A few other plants, accepted 

 in Dr. Hooker's works, have also been excluded here, as their 

 specific validity remained yet obscure. They must find, if 

 necessary, a place in supplemental notes to this compilation. 

 It is also intended to continue this essay in other directions, 

 while statistic labours on the plants of the colony of Victoria 

 are progressing, inasmuch as the vegetation of each of the 

 Australian provinces can only be fully elucidated by compara- 

 tive studies. Material which Tasmanian residents, imbued 

 with scientific taste, will be inclined to secure for the purposes 

 indicated, will be gratefully utilised, and will tend to advance 

 the knowledge of the indigenous vegetation towards gi-adual 

 completion. Finally, then, also inexpensive volumes on the 

 native plants of the island and its dependencies, such as the 

 meritorious publication of the late Rev. W. W. Spicer, might 

 emanate from augmented material and extended studies for 

 educational purposes, recreative intellectual occupations, 

 utilitarian references, or further contributions to science. 



