VU1 



species already known and described. In the paper on Orchids, 

 I have given the result of my own observations in the neighbour- 

 hood of Parramatta, as well as the more elaborate review of the 

 order by Dr. F. Mueller, who by his own exertions in the field, 

 and by his descriptions of specimens forwarded to him from 

 different parts of Australia, has added many species to those 

 previously described by the illustrious author of the Prodromus 

 Flora Novce-Hollandia. As I have been incessantly occupied 

 for many years past in arduous duties limited to the district of 

 Parramatta, I have enjoyed but few opportunities of proceeding 

 far into the interior, and, therefore, most of my papers are con- 

 fined to the illustration of the Flora existing in the neighbourhood 

 of the town in which I have been engaged. AVith the exception of 

 my personal observations on the Blue Mountains, Mittagong, and 

 Ash Island, of which I have given a brief outline, my attention 

 has been directed principally to the Flora of the Parramatta 

 District, and on different occasions, I have published more than 

 thirty letters on that subject. It was my firs^ intention, when I 

 was requested by Dr. F. Mueller, and other friends, to collect 

 my papers and publish them in a connected form, to take a 

 careful review of all those letters, and add to them such species 

 of plants as had previously escaped my notice ; but upon reflection, 

 1 found that such a work would not merely occupy more time 

 than I could spare for the purpose, but that it would lead to the 

 publication of a larger volume than I considered advisable. 

 Moved by such considerations, therefore, I have selected a 

 paper, which was read before a society in Sydney, giving an out- 

 line of the vegetable productions indigenous in the district, and 

 to that I have added special papers on " the Woods," " the 

 Medicinal Plants," and " Ornamental Shrubs" of the neighbour- 

 hood. My paper on " Introduced Plants," of which we may now 

 number more than a hundred species that have appeared acci- 

 dentally amongst us, opens for consideration topics of an interest- 

 ing and practical nature, for whilst it leads to speculations as to 

 the probable causes of such importations, it also serves to indicate 

 from the character of the plants thus introduced, the adaptation 

 of similar species to the soil and climate of the colony. With 

 respect to those papers founded upon the consideration of speci- 

 mens forwarded to me from the interior, I have availed myself of 



