Apart from their geological value, the deductions of Baron von Ettings- 
liausen have a very important bearing upon the origin of the living Elora not 
only of Australia, but also of other portions of the glohe, and are thus of 
special interest to botanical science. The Baron points out that the Tertiary 
Flora of extra-tropical Australia is, as regards character, essentially distinct 
from the present living Elora of Australia, nor does it closely resemble in 
general any other living flora, but that it is nearly related to the Tertiary Elora 
of Europe, North America, and the Arctic Regions. He also states, what the 
investigations of Yon Unger, Professor O. fleer, and other Palaeontologists 
confirm, that the Tertiary Flora in general contains the elements of all the 
living floras of the globe. This conclusion he first based upon the occurrence 
in the European Tertiary Elora of Alnus , Betula, Quercus , Sequoia , Acer, 
Finns, and other genera peculiar to the Northern Hemisphere, together with 
Casuarina, Grevillea, BanJcsia, Dryandra, Leptomeria, Eucalyptus, and other 
genera peculiar to the Southern Hemisphere. The American and Asiatic 
Tertiary Floras show the same, and it is now proved that the Tertiary Elora 
of Australia does not make any exception to it. 
These important observations, taken in connection with the fact 
which I have elsewhere drawn attention to, that geological evidence tends to 
show that the higher parts of the Great Coast Range of Eastern Australia 
have not been submerged since the commencement of the Mesozoic era, may 
warrant the belief that the origin of the Australia Elora may be referred as 
far back as the Triassic Period. This portion of Australia, therefore, having 
presented a land surface from so remote a period, affords one of the most 
interesting regions of flic globe for the investigation of the evolution of its 
Flora and Fauna. 
I have the honor to be, 
Sir, 
Your obedient servant, 
C. S. WILKINSON, 
Geological Surveyor-in- Charge. 
To IIatihie Wood, Esq., 
Under Secretary for Mines. 
