(3 
In the present l ? lora of Australia* the principal member has been 
extraordinarily developed ; the principal element must, therefore, have 
undergone a manifold differentiation of its constituents, so much the more as 
itself, as already stated, did not occupy a predominant- position during the 
Tertiary Epoch. The generic relations of both are plainly expressed through 
the Proteacese, the Myrtacese, Ceratopetalum and Fittosporum. Through the 
co-members the floras of the earth are linked one to the other. Hence we 
see even the Elora of Australia connected with those of the other parts of the 
world through numerous genera, of which up to the present time Fteris i 
Araucaria , Fa (jus, Coprosma, Taberncemontana, Fremna, Flceocarpus. JJal- 
bergia, and Cassia may lie referred to as regards the Tertiary Flora of 
Australia. These belong to the co-elements of the latter, as do also the genera 
Myrica, Betula, Alnus, Quercus, Salix , Castanopsis, Cinnamomum, Lauras , 
Knightia, Cordia, Magnolia, Bombax, and Sapindus, all wanting in the 
present Elora of Australia, but indicating the relationship of its Tertiary 
Elora to the Tertiary Eloras of the other quarters of the globe. 
So much for the general relations of the flora. The detailed examin- 
ation of it, however, offers some data which places in the clearest light the 
above-mentioned generic connection between the living flora and a common 
original flora. The Fag us risdoniana from the Tertiary strata of llisdon, in 
Tasmania, differs so slightly from the Fag us Beucalionis, Unger, from the 
European and North American Tertiary strata, that the identity of the one 
with the other may indeed be conjectured. Fagus Moorei at present living 
in Australia, is no doubt, a descendcnt of F. risdoniana, just as the European 
F. sylvatica and the North American F. ferruginea now living, have 
descended from F. Beucalionis, which is in itself only a progressively 
developed form of F. Feronicc, Unger. This close affinity between the various 
species of beech in Europe, North America, and Australia is not to be accounted 
for by immigration, nor by any absurd hypothesis as to a connection in 
former times between the continents of Europe and America with Australia, 
but simply through the Tertiary Elora, which contains the still more closely 
connected arcliitypes of these species. The F. risdoniana is descended from 
* The Generic Connections of the Australian Flora. Denkschriften, loc. cit. xxxiv Bd. Guided by the 
opinion that in the floras of the px-esent time the floi'al elements of the Tertiary times cannot have disappeared 
without leaving some vestage behind, I have made an attempt in this treatise to divide the Flora of Australia 
into members, and to trace each of these back to a floral element. Thus the numerous characteristic plants of 
this flora were i-eferred to the principal member, and the East Indian, Oceanic, American, European, and African 
forms to the co-members, in which, of course, only the indigenous species were taken into account, to the exclusion 
of all immigrants or introduced species. As these, from their character of non-Australian species, could not have 
found their way into the present flora of Australia othei-wise than through the Tertiary Floxa, the conclusion was 
arrived at from the facts themselves, that in the Tertiary Flora of Austx-alia a mixture of floral elements similar 
to that in Europe existed — a conclusion which is directly confirmed in the present treatise. 
