XXXll. ABSTRACT OF PROCEEDINGS. 



groups or families, but every line is worth reading even 

 now. His classical paper on " Kingia" (a Western Aus- 

 tralian Grass-tree) was not published till 1827. He also 

 published a paper "On the Asclepiadacese" in the Memoirs 

 of the Wernerian Natural History Society, published at 

 Edinburgh in 1811. This is valuable to the Australian 

 botanist, although representatives from other regions of 

 the world are included. Then we have his "Observations 

 on the Natural Family of Plants called Composite " in 

 Trans. Linn. Soc, 1817, and similar works on certain genera 

 and species of Cruciferse, Leguminosse, Myrtacese, Com- 

 posite and Orchidese, in Hortus Kewensis (2nd Edition), 

 all of which contain descriptions of some Australian plants, 

 and were available a century ago. 



My "Records of the earlier French Botanists as regards 

 Australian Plants" in Vol. xliv of our Journal, p. 123 

 (1910), give botanical bibliographies of the publications 

 (some of them de luxe) embodying the results of these 

 expeditions, together with notes on the botanists concerned 

 so that it is easy to pick up the excellent French researches 

 to which Australian botanists are especially indebted. 



Thus our workers a century ago knew not only of La 

 Perouse, but also of Bruny d'Entrecasteaux, Nicholas 

 Baudin and Louis de Freycinet in the ranks of Commanders, 

 and Bossieu de la Martin iere, Prevost, Labillardiere, Riche, 

 Ventenat, Leschenault de la Tour, Desfontaines, Bonpland 

 and Adrien de Jussieu, to mention only the principal 

 botanists concerned with the botanical treasures brought 

 home by the French. And so, in the brief portion of time 

 that could be allotted to meat this symposium I offer some 

 account of the botanical workers, and the principal works 

 available to them, about a century ago. 



Geology. — Sir Edgeworth David, k.b.e., d.s.o., f.r.s., 

 referred to the great work carried out by early geologists, 



