PAST, PRESENT^ AND FUTURE OF THE AUSTRALIAN FLORA. 133 



that the main divergence in the two great works — the Flora of 

 Bentham and the Census of Mueller — is due to the position of 

 the Monochlamydese amongst the natural orders, for whilst the 

 former places them separately (Vols. V. and VI. partly), the 

 latter distributes them amongst the petalliferous orders. 

 His reasons for this departure are given in the preface of his 

 Censtcs, in which he expresses his conviction "that so long as 

 the Monochlamydeas remain isolated and associated with 

 the Gymnospermeas, we must necessarily have an imperfect 

 natural system." And then he adds, as showing the in- 

 consistency of the arrangement in the Flora, "Even amongst 

 the Thalamiflora3 and Calyciflora3 represented in Australia, 

 Ave have already not less than fifty-eight genera which are 

 entirely apetalous, or contain species in which the corolla 

 remains undeveloped." 



The Monochlamydese, as given in the Flora are twenty- 

 one, viz. : — 



1. Phytolaccaea*. 



2. Chenopodiacciie. 



3. Amarantacese. 



4. Paroiiychiaceie. 



5. Polygonacete. 



6. Nyctagiiiese. 



7. Myristicese. 



8. Moiiimiacea!. 



9. LauriueEe. 



10. Proteaceiy. 



11. Tliymeleje. 



12. Eleagnaceie. 



13. Nepenthaceffi . 



14. EuphorbiaceiB. 



15. UrticetTe. 

 1(1 Casuarine9e. 



17. PipeiaceiB. 



18. Aristulochiacefe. 



19. Cupuliferae. 



20. SantalaceEe. 



21. Balauophoreae. 



In order to meet the views of the Field Naturalist's Club 

 in Victoria, Baron von Mueller has published a System of 

 Victorian PUoits, according to the dichotomous method of 

 Lamarck, but this system was not chosen by the Baron at 

 his free will, nor is such an arrangement likely to prove 

 useful in the ultimate mode of settling the natural orders of 

 Australia. In the botany of the future, the alliances of 

 Nature wnll be preferred to the ingenious contrivances of art, 

 and therefore it may justly be presumed that no system 

 which is beset with the danger of leading astray through the 

 misunderstanding of any solitary characteristic, will obtain 

 adoption in the general Flora of the future. The Baron's 

 work must have given him a vast amount of labour, as it 

 was " to be rendered alike available for elementary schools 

 and 'for high educational institutions; it was to serve the 

 amateur gatherer of plants in the field as well as the pro- 

 fessional investigator in the exercise of stern duties, and yet 



