8 



to entering the sea). Then several creeks, viz., Buxton's, 

 Meredith, Cygnet, and Wye. Then comes the Great Swan 

 River, and over a tier of hills the Apsley. These two form an 

 extensive port 12 miles in length and four or five miles in 

 breadth, and enter the head of Oyster Bay by a common mouth 

 close to Freycinet's Peninsula ; the only other river is the 

 Douglas, near the coal mines. I have never collected plants 

 to the north of Douglas Eiver ; it is, I suppose, 100 miles 

 from thence to the north-east corner of the island, and the 

 granite formation will be found in some places no doubt, 

 where it is likely the plants allied to those of Gipps Land 

 exist. Our climate is dry and mild, it is reckoned the most 

 salubrious of any district in the island. The rain in 1864 was 

 31-16in. ; 1865, 19-66iu. ; 1866, 24-99in. ; average for the three 

 years, 25-27in. 



Like all other parts of Australia, droughts are long and 

 often occur ; thus the rivers are swollen torrents in heavy rain 

 and dry beds in summer ; their beds are often densely filled 

 with shrubs. 



The united collections offered not merely material for ex- 

 tending our knowledge of the range of the species, but they 

 comprised even a number of plants (indicated in the subjoined 

 enumeration by asterisks) not recorded in Dr. Hooker's great 

 work as existing within Tasmanian territory, adding also the 

 genera Euphorbia, Donatia, and Ixiolaena to the described 

 Tasmanian vegetation. 



Eeserving for the supplemental volume of the Australian 

 Flora more extended notes on these interesting plants, I beg 

 meanwhile to place a succinct record thereon before the Eoyal 

 Society of Tasmania, in order that residents there, who cherish 

 a desire for promoting scientific objects, may be encouraged to 

 reveal to us still further the rich vegetation which surrounds 

 them. For researches in this direction Tasmania possesses 

 rare advantages, because few spots in the world can boast of 

 possessing so extensive a work on its vegetation as that which 

 ever will remain a monument of Dr. Hooker's genius and of 

 the sedulous zeal of Mr. Eon. Gunn, Dr. Milligan, and Mr. 

 W. Archer. 



The advancement of Phytographic labors should be an aim 

 of each country. Without accurate definition of its plants we 

 cannot reduce any observations on their industrial, therapeutic, 

 or economical value to any solid basis, not to speak of the in- 

 formation thus arising as a never-ceasing source of delight, as 

 an ever-elevating inspiration for religious reflection. 



*Comesperma defoliatum. — F. Muell. Plants of Vict. L, 189. 

 Southport, C. St. In external appearance similar to C. caly- 

 megum ; in internal structure very distinct. 



