Nov., 1928 
The Queensland Naturalist. 
87 
lowland forests (0-1000 feet) consists of littoral forests, 
mangroves and beach trees of much the same species as 
in Australia and tropical Asia ; savannah forests in which 
cocalypts predominated at least in the Territory of 
Papua, and rain-forests and jungles very similar to the 
vine scrubs of North Queensland, but with a more Malayan 
character. The foothill forests (1,000-5,500 feet) were 
mostly rain forests similar to those of Queensland, but 
true oaks (Quercus), and an undergrowth of Balsams 
(Jmpatiens) and Begonias represented plants not found 
in Australia. The mid-mountain forests (5,500-7,000 feet) 
might be termed the country of the conifers — Araucaria, 
Agathis, Podocarpus, Dacrydium, Phyllocladus and Libo- 
cedrus all being found here. The mossy forests (7,000- 
11,000 feet) were characterised by dwarf trees covered 
with mosses, filmy ferns, lichens, liverworts, and selagin- 
ellas. Vaccinium and Rhododendron were the two most 
characteristic genera. The highest zone, that of alpine 
forests and grassland, had been described on several 
occasions. The Wollaston expedition found a few Rhodo 
dendrons bushes up to nearly 13,000 feet; above this a 
a daisy (Myriactis) and a few grasses were the only 
flowering plants; 14,200 feet was found to be the lower 
limit of perpetual snow and ice. The alpine grasslands 
and forests of the Owen Stanley Range had been described 
by Sir Wm. Macgregor. 
The flora of New Caledonia was then briefly touched 
on. New Caledonia has remained since 1853 the chief 
French possession in the Pacific. It is the largest island 
in the Pacific exclusive of course of New Guinea and 
New Zealand. It has a length of 248 miles and an average 
width of 25-30 miles. It is very mountanious, but the 
mountains did not rise to any great height, the two highest 
peaks being Mt. Painie, 5,413 feet, and Mt. Humboldt, 
5,316 feet. The flora of New Caledonia was noted on 
account of the extreme degree of endemism, and the high 
percentage of woody plants. Most interesting was its 
collection of conifers and taxads, two genera, 
Callitropsis and Austrotaxus, being confined to the island. 
The latter was especially interesting, as representing the 
only very near ally in the southern hemisphere of the 
Yews of the north. Various French, English, and German 
botanists had worked on the flora, the work of French- 
men naturally predominating. The most recent work of 
any consequence was that of Compton, who spent prac- 
tically the whole of 1914 in the country. The lecturer 
visited the island in 1923 on behalf of the Arnold Arbor- 
