CXXV1U FLORA OF TASMANIA. 



in the Botanical Gardens and Expeditions ; and amongst private individuals, to Sir William M "Arthur ; 

 George M'Leay, Esq. ; G. Bennett, Esq., and the distinguished naturalist, W. S. M'Leay, Esq., of 

 Sydney. 



P.S. At a meeting of the Linnaean Society, held on the 3rd of November, and after the 

 printing of this Essay was completed, I heard an admirable paper read on the Geographical 

 Distribution of Animals in the Malayan, New Guinea, and Australian continents and islands, by 

 Mr. Alfred Wallace, who is still indefatigably investigating the zoology of those countries. The 

 total absence of information as to the vegetation of New Guinea precludes my attempting any 

 botanical corroboration of one of Mr. Wallace's most striking facts, viz. the complete difference 

 between the zoology of Celebes and Borneo. These countries are separated by the Straits of 

 Macassar, which are very deep, and the former belongs to the Australian zoological province, but 

 the latter to the Malayan. The Straits of Lombok, to the south of those of Macassar, again, are, 

 though only sixteen miles broad, also very deep, and separate in that latitude the Malayan from the 

 Australian zoological province. 



In Mr. Wallace's paper (which I have not seen) he appears to have adopted the same general 

 views regarding the distribution of animals which I have promulgated for that of plants in the 

 Introductory Essays to this and the New Zealand Flora ; and establishes it on independent evidence 

 of his own obtaining and of convincing strength. Mr. Wallace has further arrived independently at 

 the same conclusion regarding the permanence of vegetable as compared with animal forms, which 

 I have put forth at p. xii. in note. 



I would further observe here, to avoid ambiguity, that my friend Mr. Darwin's just completed 

 work "On the Origin of Species by Natural Selection," from the perusal of much of which in MS. 

 I have profited so largely, had not appeared during the printing of this Essay, or I should have 

 largely quoted it. 



Kew, November, 4, 1859. 



