2G 



vailingly [arc peculiar, and the meaning of which is explained 

 in the table showing their numerical relation. The term 

 " coast" includes the sea-beach as well as the adjoining plain. 

 The soil of the latter consists everywhere of an arenaceous, 

 somewhat saline clay, derived partly from tertiary and partly 

 from primary, or even plutonic rocks, and covers (in variable 

 dimensions) loose, globular limestone concretions. tSome plants, 

 characteristic of certain formations, mark this conspicuously ; 

 for example, the native tobacco, Nicotiana suaveolens, Lehmann, 

 which nourishes on soil derived from primary rocks in the 

 North, occurs here among the sandstones and marbles of the 

 hills near Ardrossan, but accompanies the debris along the 

 gullies to within a few yards of the sea shore. This seems the 

 case also with other formations, which largely explains the 

 sometimes strange intermixture of plants. But it appears to 

 me that plants prefer certain rocks less for their chemical than 

 for their physical properties ; thus plants affecting tertiary 

 soils, such as Calycothrix tetragona seem to cling as well to the 

 newer, loose aggregated limestones as to the silicious grits, 

 while the dense travertines are associated mostly with the same 

 plants that grow beside primary conglomerates, schists and 

 granite. Of these I mention Myoporum viscosum and Dodoncea 

 viscosum. By the term " general" (Gr.) those plants are denoted 

 which nourish indiscriminately on all formations, provided the 

 conditions of the surface soil be favourable to vegetable 

 growth. Examples in point are our two principal mallees, 

 Eucalyptus oleosa and E. gracilis, which cover the greatest area 

 of the Peninsula. Others are most grasses, several GToodenias, 

 Dampiera rosmarinifolia, Bursaria spinosa, Wahleribergia 

 gracilis, and almost all introduced weeds. 



A few words about the lateral arrangement of the geological 

 features may not prove superfluous in rendering the following 

 remarks more lucid. The appended diagramatic section (Plate 

 IV.) illustrates roughly the configuration of the Peninsula 

 from Ardrossan westward to Point Pearce Peninsula. The 

 distance from sea to sea is about 26 miles, and the greatest 

 elevation is attained by the double ridge at Maitland, between 

 which is Torke Yalley. The heights in the sketch, which are 

 much exaggerated, are about 300 feet in elevation, those at 

 Maitland probably above, and those at Ardrossan below the 

 average. The chief geological features are indicated in the 

 sketch. The width of the Ardrossan coast-plain is about a 

 mile ; that of Kilkerran two or three miles. The tertiaries 

 form narrow bands on the east coast, not exceeding a few 

 hundred yards in width, near the summit of the hills and fol- 

 lowing their convolutions. Those on the west coast are only 

 inferred from the vegetation, &c, and form a belt some two or 



