634 NOTKS OK Tilt: NATIVE FLORA OF X. S. WALES; ix., 



States of Australia, and one species in New Caledonia. f In this 

 connection it is interesting to note that a third plant, A. mollis 

 Benth., Avhich is also regarded as a variety of A. correifolia by 

 Maiden and Betche (These Proceedings, 1902, p.56), and which 

 bears white flowers, occurs on the somewhat isolated Warrum- 

 bungle Ranges, a group of mountains lying just over 100 miles 

 to the south-west of the Nandewars, and which, as pointed out 

 by Dr. Jensen, bear close resemblance to them in their physio- 

 graphic features, as well as being made up largely of alkaline rocks. 



This hypothesis, therefore, that A. correifolia may have had an 

 extensive range as far back as late Tertiary time, and that the 

 varieties Mulleri and mollis are adaptations to environment as a 

 result of the latest uplift, appears to have some reasonable grounds 

 for consideration, which, however, must only be regarded as being 

 put forth tentatively for the present. 



The third suggestion, that the plants of var. Mulleri now found 

 on the Nandewars may have become stranded owing to change of 

 climate, seems also to be worthy of investigation. It must not 

 be overlooked that the home of this variety to-day is in Victoria, 

 largely in the Buffalo Ranges, and that, so far, it has only been 

 recorded from two localities in New South W'ales, one being 

 fairly near Victoria, at Lobb's Hole, in the Kiandra district, 

 and the other 400 miles northerly, but at an elevation of over 

 4,500 feet. Viewing the distribution of this plant or variety 

 alone, there seems ground for assuming that, in prehistoric time, 

 its range was more continuous between Kiandra and the Nan- 

 dewars and that its disappearance from the intervening area may 

 have resulted from some climatic change along this line. If it 

 originated as a cold-loving plant, it may not be necessary to claim 

 such great antiquity to account for its distribution, as it may 

 have developed since the uplift in late Tertiary time. 



A change of climate from cold to warm might have been pro- 

 duced in two ways: one being by a lowering of the mountain- 

 levels by either tectonic movement or denudation, and the other 

 by a general raising of temperature through the closing of a 



tJi.Fl., Vol. i., p. 331. 



