652 
president's address. 
It is to be observed therefore that all resemblances to Austra- 
lian existing vegetation in the Tertiary flora is looked upon by- 
Hooker, Bentham, Zittel and many others as fanciful and 
unproved. As regards the supposed Eucalyptus Geinitzii it will 
be noticed that the figure in Zittel's book reminds one of the 
style of growth of a Eucalypt, but the fruits are by no means like 
what exist at the present day. It is, however, just possible that 
here we have something like an ancestral example of the capsu- 
lar Myrtacece, or indeed of the whole group of the Myrtacece, for 
it may be assumed that the fleshy-fruited section of the order 
developed by natural selection out of the hard-fruited one — com- 
munity of type no doubt implies community of origin. There is, 
however, an element of doubt about the whole matter, as it is 
strongly to be suspected that the immediate ancestors of Euca- 
lyptus in Australia had opposite leaves. 
Be that as it may, however, there is nothing to prove that in 
Tertiary times any of the typical Australian groups existed ou tside 
Australia. 
Pliocene fossil remains from Victoria have been investigated 
by Professor McCoy and Baron von Mueller ; also specimens 
from Orange in this colony. The parts described consist of fruits 
and a few leaves. But Baron von Mueller has, I believe, steadily 
refused to classify leaves or fragments of leaves, and condemns 
the practice. 
Some fossil plants from Dalton, near Gunning, and Vegetable 
Creek, in New South Wales, were sent by the late Mr. C. S. 
Wilkinson, Government Geologist, to Professor Ettingshausen, and 
they have been examined and reported upon by him. Professor 
Ettingshausen's two memoirs on the subject have been published 
in English by the Mines Department of Sydney in one volume, 
the book being edited by Mr. Robert Etheridge, Junr., now 
Curator of the Australian Museum. 
The fossils consist almost entirely of leaves, and the strata are 
according to Mr. Wilkinson of Upper Eocene or Lower Miocene 
age, while those examined by Baron F. von Mueller are of Pliocene 
age. Mr. Etheridge does not accept any responsibility as to 
