president's address — SECTION D. 161 



to Bentham's great work, and even this only as a temporary arrange- 

 ment. The "Flora Australiensis,'' per se, is a classic, and its identity 

 should not be interfered with. 



The form of the new " Flora Australiensis " (which cannot be be pub- 

 lished until Western Australia is more thoroughly explored botanically) 

 will then fitly take the form of the most modern classification available, 

 which, at the present moment, is of course that of Engler, although 

 even that fine arrangement need not be slavishly followed in every 

 detail. 



We in Australia suffer much through our geographical isolation 

 from the great intellectual centres of the Northern Hemisphere. That 

 is our misfortune, but we should not fail in our endeavors to advance 

 knowledge of the botany of this continent, and potent help in this 

 direction would be the issue of an " Australian Flora " based on the most 

 modern lines of taxonomic research, modified, indeed, by our own 

 special knowledge of our own plants and their affinities. 



II.— THE BEGINNING OF BOTANICAL INyESTIGATION IN 

 SOUTH AUSTRALIA: THE SEACOAST. 



It is very desirable that we should be acquainted with the history 

 of botanical investigation in South Australia — to learn of the men to 

 whom we are indebted for that foundational knowledge on which we 

 build at the present day. 



The subject has a very practical side to the botanist. If he cannot 

 have access to the t\"pes described by the old workers, or consult their 

 herbaria, often, indeed, in Europe, he can do the next best thing — he 

 can go over their tracks once more, during the same month they col 

 lected and also during other parts of the year. For example, let us 

 carefully ascertain where the immortal Robert Brown collected, and 

 let us have in some public institution in the city of Adelaide a collection 

 of plants from Brownian localities. These will have a special practical 

 value to the botanist that it is not necessary for me to dwell upon in a 

 company of naturalists. I will, therefore, give some account of the 

 evidence in regard to botanical investigation in South Australia, be- 

 ginning at the basis of it all — Robert Brown's exploration in 

 the Investigator, with Flinders. I make no apology for dealing with 

 Brown's movements in detail. 



The coastline of South Australia extends from 129° to 141° east 

 longitude. Fhnders was close to the western boundary on January 

 26th, 1802, and left the eastern boundary about April 19th. Let us 

 trace any notes in his work (a) referring to botanical investigation 

 along the South Australian coastline. 



January 26th. — Let us note the horizontal cliffs in view 6, plate 

 XVII. Flinders comments on the extraordinary continuity of these 

 level cliffs, and surmises them to be the " exterior line of a vast coral 

 reef." 



(a) " A Voyage to Terra Australis," by Matthew Flinders, 2 vols, and an atlas. 



Vol. I., p. 96. 

 L 



