16 ANNIVERSARY ADDRESS. 
indeed to that of this Colony ; yet how very different is the vege 
tation. Here, within our coast ranges, moist, densely-woodel ; 
jungle forests prevail, in which a great profusion of ferns ant 
several kinds of palms abound; there, for the most part, vey 
little is to be seen but an apparently parched-up small-growing 
description of scrub, in which there is but very little trace of fem 
This remarkable difference in the coast flora of these two countries , 
is wholly due to position and climate, for although the tempers 
ture of both places is almost identical, the rainfall is doublein the 
former to what it is in the latter. The jungle forests, as I under 
stand the term jungle to mean trees, shrubs, and climbing plants, 4 
and undergrowth intermingled into a dense mass, could not ee 
in so dry a country as Western Australia. It follows that there 
are natural laws which govern the rainfall of a country, and 
alter these to any very appreciable extent is beyond the power of 
man. This opinion I know is a debatable one, and I shall be very 4 
pleased if any fellow member will take the subject up andj — 
deavour to prove that I am in error. If the inference which } 
present or future, will not alter to any great degree the rainfall oF 
temperature of this climate. 
I must now trespass"on your patience for some minutes while ' 
say a few words relative to certain views advocated by = : 
illustrious Darwin in his work on “Insectivorous Plants.” 
opinions held by this author on this subject, and so powe 
enforced in the work referred to, have been accepted by VV 
many of the most distinguished naturalists of the present ia 
and it may seem somewhat presumptuous in me to question 
some of the conclusions arrived at; but when any man, howawt 4 
great, ascends into the realm of uncertainty for arguments in ~ 
port of his theory, he cannot be astonished at any effort which may 
be made to controvert them. I am in the unhappy position @ 
being unable to acquiesce in the doctrine that the plants Or 
insectivorous, or those that are said to derive their nourishmet! : 
from animal matter, captured through the agency of their 
