11 
stances might be noticed, but as they will all be found in the body 
of the work, it will not be necessary to recapitulate them here. 
Although so many curious instances of representation and of 
nearly allied species are found to occur, no country possesses so 
many genera peculiar to itself as Australia, such as AEgotheles , 
Falcunculus , Colluricincla , Grallina , Gymnorhma, Strepera , Cin- 
closoma , Menurct> Psophodes , Malurus , Sericornis , Ephthianura , 
Pardalotus, Chlamydera , Ptilonorhynchus , Struthidea , Licmetis , 
Calyptorhynchus, Platycercus , Euphema , Nymphicus , Climacteris , 
Scythrops , Myzantha , Talegalla , Leipoa , Pedionomus, Cladorhyn - 
c/jws, Trihonyx , Cereopsis , Anseranas, and Biziura. 
In a country of such vast extent as Australia, spreading over so 
many degrees of latitude, we might naturally expect to find much 
diversity in the climate, and such is really the case. Van Diemen’s 
Land, from its isolated and more southern position, is cooler and 
characterized by greater humidity than Australia; its vegetation is 
therefore abundant, and its forests dense and difficult of access. The 
climate of the continent, on the other hand, between the 25th and 
35th degrees of latitude, is much drier, and has a temperature which is 
probably higher than that of any other part of the world ; the thermo- 
meter frequently rising to 110°, 120°, and even 130° in the shade ; 
and this high temperature is not unfrequently increased by the hot 
winds which sweep over the country from the northward, and which 
indicate most strongly the parched and sterile nature of the interior. 
Unlike other hot countries, this great heat and dryness is unaccompa- 
nied by night dews, and the falls of rain being uncertain and irregular, 
droughts of many months’ duration sometimes occur, during which 
the rivers and lagoons are dried up, the land becomes a parched 
waste, vegetation is burnt up, and famine spreads destruction on 
every side. It is easier for the imagination to conceive than the pen 
to depict the horrors of so dreadful a visitation. The indigenous 
animals and birds retire to the mountains, or to more distant regions 
exempt from its influence. Thousands of sheep and oxen perish, 
bullocks are seen dead by the road-side or in the dried-up water- 
holes, to which, in the hope of relief, they had dragged themselves, 
there to fall and die ; trees are cut down for the sake of the twigs 
as fodder; the flocks are driven to the mountains in the hope that 
water may there be found, and every effort is made to avert the im- 
pending ruin ; but in spite of all that can be done the loss is extreme. 
At length a change takes place, rain falls abundantly, and the plains, 
on which but lately not a blade of herbage was to be seen, and over 
which the stillness of desolation reigned, become green with luxu- 
riant vegetation. Orchidece and thousands of flowers of the loveliest 
hues are profusely spread around, as if nature rejoiced in her reno- 
vation, and the grain springing up vigorously gives promise of an 
abundant harvest. This change from sterility to abundance in the 
vegetable world is accompanied by a correspondent increase of animal 
life, the waters become stocked with fish, the marshy districts with 
frogs and other reptiles ; hosts of caterpillars and other insects make 
their appearance, and spreading over the surface of the country com- 
