i877*j 
12 7 
Notices of Books . 
flora, both fossil and recent, of interesting regions concerning 
which our knowledge is a mere sketch, even if accurate. We 
observe that the Society is engaged with the formation of a 
museum, which we hope will become rich in local collections in 
all departments. This is the more important as many plants 
and animals in the colonies may soon become extirpated, owing, 
on the one hand, to the wanton destruction perpetrated by 
ignorant men, and on the other to the importation of aggressive 
plants and destructive animals. The Society pays also consi- 
derable attention to the acclimatisation of products which may 
be of commercial value. 
Among the papers communicated we may point out as parti- 
cularly interesting one by the Rev. J. E. Tenison Woods, F.L.S. 
and F.G.S., on the “ Physical and Zoological Relations between 
Australia and Tasmania.” The author compares especially the 
eastern portion of the Australian continent with the island. He 
considers that Tasmania unites, in her natural history, features 
which are characteristic of distinct provinces in Australia. 
Eastern Australia he divides into three zones ; — The coast 
region, characterised by a genial humid climate, with a vegeta- 
tion in the temperate regions of almost tropical luxuriance, and 
generally Asiatic in its features, becoming more decidedly so as 
we advance northwards. The second zone is the table-land 
with the mountains, having a distinct vegetation, alpine in the 
southern portions, and in the northern more essentially Australian 
and less Asiatic than the coast regions in the same latitude. 
The innermost or desert zone extends to the south coast, except 
where mountains intervene. It is more characteristically and 
peculiarly Australian in its features than the other zones, and 
possesses fewer forms common to other countries. The two 
first-mentioned regions are well represented in Tasmania, with 
modifications which tend to show that its separation from the 
mainland is not of very recent origin. The climate is much 
affected by the gap of Bass Straits, and the vegetation is much 
less luxuriant and less tropical in character. Its affinities seem 
to point rather to Polynesia or New Zealand than to Asia. The 
large and beautiful diurnal Lepidoptera common in Eastern 
Australia are either rare or totally unknown in Tasmania. The 
land-shells of Tasmania are all strongly-marked species, with 
very little affinity with those of the East coast, but having 
analogues in New Zealand. 
This volume also contains a catalogue of the plants of Tas- 
mania, drawn up by Baron Mueller. About fifty species have 
been discovered since the completion of Dr. Hooker’s great 
work in i860. 
