12 ON THE PROTEACEjE OP JUSSIEU. 



(comprehending for the present under this name all the 

 many-seeded plants of the order),^ which is chiefly found 

 on the east coast, and makes very little progress towards the 

 west, advances to the utmost limit of south latitude, and 

 there ascends to the summits of the highest mountains. 



23] Genera consisting ot one or very few species, and 

 which exhibit generally the most remarkable deviations from 

 the usual structure of the order, are the most local, and are 

 found either in the principal parallel, or in the highest latitude. 



The range of species in the whole of the order seems to 

 be very limited; and the few cases which may be con- 

 sidered as exceptions to this, occur in the most ex- 

 tensive genera, and in such of their species as are most 

 strictly natives of the shores. Thus Banhsia integrifolia, 

 which grows more within the influence of the sea than any 

 plant of the order, is probably also the most widely ex- 

 tended, at least in one direction, being found within the 

 tropic, and in as high a latitude as 40°. It is remarkable, 

 however, that with so considerable a range in latitude, its 

 extension in longitude is comparatively small : and it is 

 still more worthy of notice, that no species of this family 

 has been found common to the eastern and western shores 

 of New Holland. 



The celebrated traveller Humboldt is the first who has 

 expressly pointed out a remarkable difference in the distri- 

 bution of the species of plants. 



He observes that, while the greater number grow irre- 

 gularly scattered and mixed with each other, there are some 

 which form considerable masses, or even extensive tracts, 

 to the nearly absolute exclusion of other species. Of plants 

 growing thus in society, the greater number occur in the 

 temperate zones ; and of these, the most decided instances 

 will readily present themselves to every botanist. I venture 

 to add, that such as exist within the tropic, are found, either 

 at considerable heights or on the sea-shores. 



To this class very few of the Proteaceas can be said to 



' In the systematic part of the present Memoir, the Australian species of 

 Umbothriim are separated under the generic names of Enightia, Lomatia, and 

 SteuQcarpus. — Edit. 



