256 Essays. 



in soutli CMli and in I^'uegia. J?hormiuin is only fonnd besides in JSTorfolk 

 Island.* Gordijline lias a few species in jSTorfolk Island and one species in 

 Australia. Astelia is found in Fuegia, Oaliu, and Tasmania. Areca sapida is 

 believed to be confined to New Zealand and to Norfolk Island, but the genus 

 is found in some islands of tbe Malay Arcbipelago. The tbree genera of the 

 New Zealand tree-ferns, Cyathea, AlsopJiila, and DicJcsonia, are also found in 

 Norfolk Island and in Tasmania ; and of the New Zealand ferns, gene- 

 rally, it may be said, that tbeir southern genera and species (excluding those 

 few which are endemic) are also found in Norfolk Island, Tasmania, South 

 America, and the Antarctic Islands ; and more sparingly in Juan Fernandez, 

 Chiloe, the Falkland group, Tristan d'Aciinha, Kerguelen's Land, and the 

 Cape. 



20. Moreover, of the three great natural orders, Leguminosae, Myrtacese, 

 and Proteace®, so very common in Australia and tolerably so in Tasmania, 

 but very few are found in New Zealand, and curiously enough these few do 

 not belong to any of the great Australian genera, such as Acacia, Eucalyptus, 

 Melaleuca, Grevillea, and SaJcea. The j^.ustralian and Tasmanian species 

 alone of the genus Acacia are upwards of 260 in number ; and of Euca- 

 lyptus, Melaleuca, Grevillea, and HaJcea, each genus numbers above 100 

 species. Not a single species, however, of those great genera has been 

 found in New Zealand. Of Leguminosae, of which order Australia has 

 upwards of 900 known species, and Tasmania nearly seventy. New Zealand 

 possesses some seven or eight species, belonging to three small genera ; one 

 of which, CarmicJicelia, having five of the eight species, is confined to New 

 Zealand ; and of another, Edioardsia (if separated from Sopliora, a very small 

 genus), the New Zealand species, E. grandiflora (as has been already shown, 

 par. 19) , is only found in Juan Fernandez and south Chili. Of Myrtacese 

 (of which order Australia has uj)wards of 650 known species and Tasmania 

 thirty-six). New Zealand has only fifteen species, belonging to four distinct 

 genera, of which genera only one {Leptosperonum) is found in Tasmania; 

 and another "of them (Myrtus), which has four species in New Zealand, is 

 also not found in Australia. Of Proteacese (of which order Australia 

 has also 650 known species and Tasmania only twenty-two), two species 



* Since %vritmg the above I have seen the following in an Auckland paper {New- 

 Zealander, 2nd. September, 1864). — " Atjstealian Phoehittm tenas. — The Pastoral Times 

 of the 13th inst. says, — ' Large quantities of this plant have been found growing in the 

 mallee scrub on the Lachlan plains. The flax is thi'ee or four feet high, and from oue inch 

 to two broad. It is stronger in its fibres than the New Zealand flax, and would seem to be 

 exempt from the oily {sic) properties which render the New Zealand flax so difficult to 

 convert into useful purposes. It is beheved that by the aid of the small steamers running up 

 our rivers, w-e shaU be enabled to collect vast quantities of the article. Some specimens 

 have already been forwarded to Melbourne for the purpose of being tested.' " I have great 

 doubts, however, of its being hotanically correct. 



