256 Report S.A.A. Advancement of Science. 



areas. In thi.s way he oIjUuiis seven regions, viz.. the Kalihari, the 

 Transvaal Hoogeveld. the Sul>-ln)[)ical Eastern Region, the Central 

 Hip;h Veld (corresponding to Bolus' (Composite Region), the Karroo, 

 the forest districts of the coast, of which Knvsna would be the 

 centre, and the small South-Western corner extending fnjni Mossel 

 Bay to the Northern end of the Cedarhergen. The forest districts form 

 a kind of intermediate zone between the sub-tropical forests of Natal 

 and the evergreen shrubs of the Cape, man\ of the trees being com- 

 mon to l)oth. It is in this remaining little corner of the Cape where 

 as he exjjresses it. " that famous Cape vegetation asserts itself in its 

 jHirest ff)rm."' which is characterised by almost innumerable kinds 

 ot little shrubs and shrublets of Proteaceae. Bruniaceae. and Eri- 

 caceae, of Phylica. Geranium. Rhus, and many others, and where 

 few real trees occur, mostly in the ravines and gorges of the moun 

 tains onlv. 



A ver\ remarkable view of the origin of our flora is a<lvanced 

 by Professor H. Christ, of Basel, in his paper entitled, " Ueber 

 Afrikanische Bestandteile der Schweizer Flora ' (1897). He con- 

 siders that at some remote period the whole or the greater part of 

 Africa was occupied by a xeroi)hilous flora of the nature of the 

 present vegetation of South Africa. 



" This flora is an old one, and deserves the name ' The Old 

 African Floral Its present distribution shows that it has been pre- 

 served in all those regions, where the xerophilous character of the 

 country remained the same, while it was displaced bv other elements, 

 wherever the desert advanced, or where moist depressions favoured 

 the development of the equatorial forest flora. The xerophilous 

 flora is the primarj one, the others are of secondary origin."' 



Quite a number of essays and larger works deal with various 

 parts of South Africa. Foremost among them being the following : 



Schinz : The vegetation of German South-West Africa. 



Sim : Flora of Caflfraria and Ferns of South Africa. 



Wood : Natal plants. 



Thode ; Account of the coast regions of Caffraria and Natal. 



Unfortunately, a few only of all these works contain any illus- 

 trations. It is. however, quite impossible for the non-botanical 

 reader to realise the salient features of a vegetation from flescriptions 

 only. Hence it was a great step in advance when Schimj)er's 

 " Pflanzen-Geographie auf physiologischer Grundlage " appeared in 

 1899, for this work is i)rovided with a large number of illustrations 

 of native vegetaticm. The chapters dealing with South Africa are 

 unfortunatelv somewhat condensed, but the figures of many of our 

 dwarf shnibs and shrul)lets give a very good idea of the appearance 

 of our vegetation to the reader, who has not seen it him.self. 



Schimper contemplated a large increase of the South African 

 part of his work in the .second edition, and as he had visited the 

 Cape in 1898 this revision would have been of the highest value 

 to the student of Cape Botany. To our deep regret, however, this 

 cannot be, for Schimper died in 1 90 [ in the midst of his labours. 



