11 



Notes ON the orchids of Kangaroo island, together 



WITH a description OF TWO NEW SPECIES. 



By R. S. Rogers, M.A., M.D. 



[Read November 3, 1908.] 



Plate I. 



In view of the great public attention which has recently 

 been directed to this Island, it becomes of paramount import- 

 ance that an exhaustive study should be made of its flora 

 before settlement renders this impossible. 



Amongst the first plants to disappear before the advance 

 of the pastoralist will be the orchids, which, on account of 

 their succulence, will be eagerly sought as dainty morsels by 

 sheep and other stock. 



The number of species recorded from Kangaroo Island 

 has hitherto been exceptionally small. In 1881 I paid a 

 botanical visit to this interesting place, and on that occasion 

 added two to the few representatives of the order which were 

 then known to bloom there. These were included by the late 

 Professor Tate in those important contributions of his (the 

 outcome of a personal visit) on "The Botany of Kangaroo 

 Island," read before this Society in 1883. The following year, 

 1884, he further recorded six more species which had been 

 forwarded to him by local residents. The total number of re- 

 corded species on that date stood at fourteen. 



From that time until the present year our records have 

 been silent with regard to Kangaroo Island plants of this or- 

 der. At our last meeting, however, Mr. J. H. Maiden, 

 F.L.S. (Government Botanist of New South Wales), in his 

 valuable paper, "Contributions to the Flora of South Aus- 

 tralia," mentioned a fifteenth which I sent him in a parcel of 

 plants from Cape Borda last year. During the last quarter 

 of a century I have paid very many visits to the Island, and 

 have privately greatly augmented the known species. 



The most fruitful of these visits was made in September 

 of this year, when, accompanied by my wife, we collected in 

 the single trip 35 species, two of which are new to science. 

 We travelled by land from Kingscote along the north coast 

 by way of Stokes Bay, Middle River, Western River, and 

 Snug Cove to Cape Borda. With that point as our centre 

 we explored the surrounding country, including Harvey's Re- 

 turn, Ravine Reserve, Parrot Creek, and the Ravine de Ca- 



