president's address — SECTION D. 183 



flora occupies an excessively dry region, which is an impassable barrier 

 to the interchange of Autochthonian and Euronotian tj'pes. He points 

 out the high state of specific luxuriance in many of the Eremian genera. 



The paper summarises the history of the Australian floras, viewed 

 chronologically, and traces it from Cretaceous times. 



" A Census of the Indigenous Flowering Plants and Vascular 

 Cryptogams of Extra-tropical South Australia." Tate (Proc. E..S., 

 S.A., XII., 67-128, 1888-9), with a map and definitions of Eremian 

 and Euronotian regions and sub-divisions. The flora to date includes 

 101 orders, 553 genera, 1,935 species. 



In 1890 Tate published his " Handbook of the Flora of Extra- 

 tropical South Australia, containing the flowering plants and ferns " 

 (Education Department, Adelaide. Small 8vo., pp. 303). It con- 

 tains a key to the system of South Australian plants ; a classified list 

 of the native species, with annotations indicating their distribution 

 within the lorovince (with a map) ; explanation of specific names ; 

 index of the orders and genera, with explanation of the generic names. 

 The whole forms an admirable condensed manual, for which South 

 AustraUan students cannot be too grateful to the author's memory. 



He divides the State into the Eremian and the Euronotian regions, 

 and defines them in the following terms : — 



1. The Eremian or desert flora, which occupies the arid region 



of Central Australia, and corresponds with the " saltbush 

 country " of the pastoraUst. The region is approximately 

 limited by the rainfall line of lOin. 



2. The Euronotian flora, which is dominant in the more humid parts 



of temperate Australia, excepting the extreme south-west. 

 He then divides the Eremian region into five districts, and the 

 Euronotian into seven, for particulars of which my audience is referred 

 to the handbook. 



5. " Report on the work of the Horn Scientific Expedition to 

 Central Australia." 



Part I. : Introduction, narrative, summary of results, supplement 

 to Zoological Report, map ; September, 1896. Part III. : (/) Geology 

 and botany ; March, 1896. Both edited by W. Baldwin Spencer. 



This work gives a better and more scientific account of Central 

 Australia than any other I know. The narrative is written in the 

 simplest language, and the whole work is a charming addition to any 

 Australian scientific library. 



It is a report of detailed scientific exploration of the country in 

 the vicinity of the Macdonnell Ranges, and it is indispensable to the 

 botanist. 



Pages 1-136 of Part I. are taken up with " Through Larapinta 

 Land " (by Professor Spencer) ; a narrative of the expedition. " The 

 Great Finke Basin, which, adapting the native name of the river, may 

 be spoken of as Larapinta Land." 



(/) Part II., Zoology, February, 1896 ; Part IV., Anthropology, September, 1896, 

 do not further concern us on the present occasion. 



