428 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. 
Goode Island, the place was made bright and gay by a thick 
growth of Gomphrena flaccida, R.Br., and a talier growth of 
Plumbago zeylanica, Linn. On Thursday Island and Hammond 
Island all damp spots were made gay by the pretty, pure white 
flowers of Buchnera tetragona, R.Br., and other species of this 
genus ; the blue flowers of Lobelia Douglasiana, Bail., and Wahlen- 
bergia cgneucalas, A.DC.; the neat little Vandellia aleinoides, Benth., 
and Stylidiwm aliginosum, Swartz., and the curious « Sundew ” 
Drosera indica, Linn., with its rosy flowers, and long, narrow, 
often-curled, glandular leaves. One of the brightest flowers of 
these islands is Haemodorum coccinewm, R.Br., which is found 
amongst the broken rocks on the sides near the base of the hills; 
the leaves are grass-like, and the flowers, which are of a deep, red 
colour, are borne in broad, terminal panicles; the species is one 
well worthy of garden culture. In the shady scrubs the ground 
was brightened by the flowers of Asystasiu australasica, Bail., and 
other Acanthacee. 
A SKETCH OF THE THURSDAY ISLAND FLORA. 
This enumeration of Thursday Island plants which were ob- 
served by myself during last June, and to which I have added 
those that have at various times reached me for determination, 
and also those recorled by other botanists as indigenous on the 
island, is given as a basis upon which a flora might be compiled 
by some resident there having the leisure for the work. The flora 
of all the islands of Torres Straits will, I think, be found to be 
very similar, differing according to the amount of moisture ; those 
situated like Thursday Island, wanting a permanent water supply, 
having the smaller number of species. ‘This difference, however, 
may not be so great as it appears at first to persons paying a visit 
at the dry season or during a drought, for there is ioe time 
enough during the wet season, and “the time it would take to 
exhaust the supply of moisture from rainfali in the ground, for a 
large number of plants to spring up and pass through all their 
stages of existence on islands wanting a permanent water supply, 
whereas on the more favoured islands these same plants may be 
met with on the damp land all the year round. 
Where I have not seen the plant on the island, but have received 
specimens from others, or find the habitat recorded by other 
botanists, the name of collector or recorder is given in parenthesis. 
DYCOTYLEDONS. 
Menispermacez. (Moonseed Family.) 
Tinospora smilacina, Benth. 
A glabrous twiner, with leaves somewhat resembling those of a 
Sarsaparilla (Smzlax) or Pepper vine (Piper), and short racemes of 
red drupes. Ripe in June. (E. Cowley, 1893). 
