258 



Honorary Physician to the Adelaide Hospital, etc., the lead- 

 ing authority on South Australian Orchids. He collected 

 this species at Cape Borda. 



The Tastnania.n Element in the Kangraroo Island 



Flora. 



Tate (1) deals with this matter so far as certain species, 

 which he enumerates as not known in any other part of South 

 Australia, are concerned. In the same paper he deals fur- 

 ther with the Tasmanian element, and adds : — 



The number of its (Kangaroo Island) peculiar species and 

 those of Tasmanian origin entitle it to a siibregional rank. 



He further states : — 



The absence of a large number of species, alien and endemic, 

 widely spread over the continent would seem to imply isolation 

 before immigration of the extra- Australian species and those 

 endemic ones of marked exotic genera to the shores of the adja- 

 cent mainland. The isolation was, without doubt, subsequent to 

 that of Tasmania, though prior to the advent of man in Austra- 

 lia, botanical isolation being secured against man's aggression by 

 reason of his inability to cross the Straits. 



He also states that of 348 Australian species inhabiting 

 Kangaroo Island, 203 occur in Tasmania. 



I have not time to bring these figures up to date, but 

 will only point out that enumeration of the few species (pre- 

 cisely 100) collected by Dr. Rogers and me in Kangaroo 

 Island from four localities, gives us 67 Tasmanian species. 

 Species collected at more than one of the four localities have, 

 in these figures, been enumerated more than once. 



Tate further says that Kangaroo Island is the meeting- 

 ground of Tasmanian and Western Australian species. At 

 Proc. R.S.S.A., xiii., 119, he shows the affinity of 

 Kangaroo Island plants and those of South Eyre Peninsula, 

 and observations in these two directions might well occupy 

 the attention of a young South Australian botanist now that 

 enumeration of the floras is better defined than when Tate 

 first made his statements. 



Tepper's paper, "Discovery of Tasmanian Plants near 

 Adelaide" (Journ. Linn. Soc, xx., 72), may be referred to. 



I have drawn attention to alien species bv asterisks ; com- 

 pare Tate (1). 



Port Aug-usta. 



Malvace^ — Sida corrugata, Lindl. 



ZYG0PHYLLACE2E — Nitraria Schoberi, L. Fruits purple 

 when ripe and saline to taste. 



Sapindace^ — Dodonaea viscosa, L., var. attenuata, 

 F V. M . Twenty feet high, and with stem diameter of 6 in. 



Leguminos^ — Cassia eremophila, A. Cn?in., var. platy- 

 poda, Beiifh. 3 to 4 ft. high. Cassia Sturtii, R. Br., var. 



