4 
main material is obtained from our museum collections and from tbe notes which 
accompany them. These collections were commenced by me in Australia already in 
1847, and their augmentation has continued uninterruptedly ever since. The supply 
of copies of the new volume alluded to has been duly received from the Agent- 
General so far as the Victorian Government is entitled, and a number of the copies 
have been distributed to public institutions. During the year my own preliminary 
labors for the seventh volume have been continued, comprising connected researches on 
the Grasses of Australia, of which we possess, according to our collections, about 250 
species ; further, on Rushes, Sedges and allied plants (the difficult order of Restiaceae, 
numbering alone about 70 species), on Najadeso and cognate groups, on Palms and 
various other monocotyledonous plants, the Cyperacese alone remaining yet to be 
finally examined here for the seventh volume, since the Liliace® and cognate plants, as 
well as all the Ferns, have undergone already previously my local scrutiny. The vast 
material accumulated under my hands for arrangement has enabled me to assign to 
numerous genera, species and varieties now at last a settled systematic position, 
involving unavoidable and extensive changes in previous appellations, as reference to 
my recent writings on grasses and some other orders of plants will amply testify. 
Nor should be lost sight of the fact, in estimating the task involved, that the grasses of 
Victoria, or indeed any other of our plants, could only be systematically elaborated in 
conjunction with those of any other part of Australia, and that again the Australian 
species, as a whole, could not be properly and permanently defined except in com- 
parison with those of all other parts of the globe. Most likely the seventh volume of 
the Australian Flora will appear in 1875 ; but it requires to be followed by a supple- 
mental volume on the cotyledonar plants, for which my manuscripts and notes are 
largely prepared ; then, subsequently, will also be due two volumes on Mosses, 
Lichens, Alga:: and Fungi, for the elaboration of which, however, even the continued 
sacrifice of a considerable share of my yearly official income would not provide all 
the needful books, journals and instruments. 
It fell also to my share during the year to furnish a botanical appendix to the 
creditable works of Mr. F. A. Campbell, of Geelong, on the New Hebrides and 
Loyalty Islands, from collections there formed on my suggestions, by the author, 
during his visit to those groups. By such means we have obtained the first connected 
records of the insular vegetation of those spots of the globe, after the lapse of more 
than a century since their discovery. Such opportunities for research should also be 
seized on by other travellers, and especially by educated settlers residing on these 
islands, as thereby will be gained not merely an advancement for phytographic science, 
but also a closer acquaintance with the natural productions of any of the Pacific 
insular lands, to the advantage also of Australian industries and commerce. 
For the department of Mines, from material considerately placed at my 
disposal by IL Brough Smyth, Esq., have been furnished some additional contributions 
towards \ ictoria.ii vegetable palaeontology, by which further became known the 
vegetation of our pliocene period, remarkable for its densely umbrageous trees of 
almost tropical types, which, as very recently ascertained, spread over very extensive 
areas, where in the present creation nothing of the past physiognomic grandeur of 
the vegetation is left. The eighth volume of the Fragmenta Phyiographice Australia 
Inis so far advanced as to render its conclusion by the tnd of 1874 possible. As 
originally designed, this work has been reserved for the promulgation of absolutely 
new observations. To render these accessible to all nations alike, au ancient lammagre. 
taught at every 
dinar 
school, is chosen for its construction. With 
. . . an extraor- 
lnjustice it has been repeatedly and pointedly made to appear on public 
occasions, as if this was the only language adopted for my scientific writings ; whereas 
all my other works are written in the English, and not in any other language ever 
sinre ( am in Australia. 1 he new volume of the Fragmenta can, however, not be 
illustrated in the manner of most of the former ones, unless a special sum is anew 
uo\ mod for lithographic and xylographic plates, illustrative to my various works; 
fair progress such would engage almost exclusively the time of 
years or more the lithograms of the Victorian plants, 
carried from the Thalamiflone to the Monoclilamydese, 
nor could the necessary 150 small woodcuts for a flora of 
vith any intentions for 
au artist. Thus since four 
which as yet have only been 
C0l dd not be continued 
Victoria be pr 
witl 
orm be prepared, nor special illustrations be furnished of the Grasses and Eucalypts, 
i extensive analytic details, although all this was so long intended, and would signally 
piomo.e scientific application to industrial and pastoral pursuits. 
