133 



MACLEAY SXSTEM OF 



1*9, however, observed in both the botany and zc Dlogy of 



Australia. 



There " we do not find in the great masses of vegeta- 

 tion, either Ihe majesty of the virgin forests of America, 

 or the variety and elegance of those of Asia, or the deli- 

 cacy and freshness of the woods of our temperate coun- 

 tries of Europe. The vegetation is generally gloomy and 

 sad ; it has the aspect of our evergreens or heaths ; the 

 plants are for the most part woody ; the leaves of nearly 

 all the plants are linear, lanceolated, small, coriaceous, 

 and spinescent. The grasses, which elsewhere are gene- 

 rally soft and flexible, participate in the stiffness of the 

 other vegetables. The greater part of the plants of 

 New Holland belong to new genera; and those inclu- 

 ded in the genera already known are of new species. The 

 natural families which prevail are those of the heaths, 

 the protae, compositae, leguminosse, and Myrthoideae ; the 

 larger trees all belong to the last family."* 



The prevalent animals of Australia are not less pecu- 

 liar. It is well known that none above the marsupialia, 

 or pouched animals,»are native to it. The most conspi- 

 cuous are these marsupials, which exist in great varieties 

 here, though unknown in the elder continent, and only 

 found in a few mean forms in America. Next to them are 

 the monotremata, which are entirely peculiar to this por- 

 tion of the earth. Now these are animals at the bottom 

 of the mammiferous class, adjoining to that of birds, of 

 whose character and organization the monotremata large- 

 ly partake, the ornithorynchus presenting the bill and 

 feet of a duck, producing its young in egg3, and having, 

 like birds, a clavicle between the two shoulders. The 

 birds of Australia vary in structure and plumage, but all 

 have some singularity about them — the swan, for instance, 

 is black. The country abounds in reptiles, and the pre- 

 valent fishes are of the early kinds, having a cartilaginous 

 structure. 



Altogether the plants and animals of this minor conti- 

 nent convey the impression of an early system of things, 

 such as might be displayed in other parts of the earth 

 about the time of the oolite. In connexion with this cir- 

 cumstance, it is a fact of some importance, that the geog- 

 nostic character of Australia, its vast arid plains, its little 

 diversified surface and consequent paucity of streams, 

 * Prichard. 



