30 



exist in the Australian seas. Only three species of corals are known to 

 inhabit our shores ; one of them is described as new by Mr. Woods. 



The Alcyonarian Polypes inhabiting Australian seas are, accord- 

 ing to Gray, nineteen in number ; most of them are described in two of 

 the British Museum publications : — (*) Catalogue of the Pennatularidaj, 

 and (*) Catalogue of Lithophytes, by J. E. Gray, 8vo., 1870. 



Class Hydrozoa. — Busk, in (*) Voyage of the Rattlesnake, records 

 and describes thirty-one species of Sertularian Zoophytes from Australia. 

 Thirteen are^from Bass's Straits and north coast of Tasmania, the rest are 

 tropical forms. The following works should also be consulted : — (f) 

 Johnston's " British Zoophytes" ; Allman's " Monograph on Gymnoblastic 

 Hydroids" ; Hutton, " New Zealand Sertularians", Trans. New Zealand 

 Inst., vol. v., 1872 ; Coughtrey, " New Zealand Hydroida", id. vols. vrc. 

 and vni. 



BOTANY. 



Phanerogamic Botany. — Australia had not long been colonized 

 before its flowering plants began to attract scientific attention, and 

 during the first half of this century such eminent botanists as Robert 

 Brown, Solander, Sir Joseph Banks, Cunningham, Labillardiere, Sir Joseph 

 Dalton Hooker, Bidwell, and others, laboured on the spot to elucidate 

 the Botany of Australia. In our day much has been done by other emi- 

 nent men to further the work of their predecessors. I need only allude 

 to the labours of Baron von Mueller and Bentham as instances ; and South 

 A ustralia has been distinguished by the researches of our Dr. Schom- 

 bur gk, The sum of all these labours is the (*) " Flora Australiensis" by 

 Dr. Bentham, the seventh and concluding volume of which has just been 

 issued. In the preparation of this work the author has been most ably 

 assisted fey Baron von Mueller and others, who, from their knowledge of 

 the living plants, have enabled Dr. Bentham te obviate those disadvan- 

 tages he necessarily laboured under. 



Dr. Schomburgk has given us a Synopsis of the Flora of South Aus- 

 tralia, which has been mostly compiled from the abovementioned work, 

 and an able dissertation on the physiognomy of the vegetation of this 

 col ony (." Flora of South Australia" in (*) Harcus's "South Australia," 

 1 876.) Though we may safely say that the flora of this province has 

 been well determined, for it must not be forgotten that the early botan- 

 ical investigations of Baron von Mueller were carried on in our midst, 

 yet, to quot6 tl e words of Dr. Schomburgk, " by the constantly-occurring 

 new discoveries, especially in the central parts of South Australia, the 



