384 
Miscellanea. 
branches, are furnished with the filamentous articulate ramelli 
characteristic of the genus. These ramelli are very minute, 
scarcely J of a line long, horizontally patent, whorled, rising 
from broad bases or slightly foliaceous expansions, many times 
dichotomous, with patent axils; their lower part thick, with 
short joints, the upper gradually attenuated, with long joints. 
Stichidia borne on the ramelli, sessile, oblong, subobtuse or 
slightly mucronate, containing a double row of 3-parted tetras- 
pores. Colour of the frond pale red, of the ramuli rosy.—The 
habit of this plant is something like that of Naccaria Wigghii, 
especially in the club-shaped branchlets; but it is a true species 
of Dasya. 
(To be continued.) 
PROGRESS OF DISCOVERY IN AUSTRALIA. 
(From the London Colonial Gazette , March , 1845 .; 
The following extracts from a file of Perth (Western Australia) 
papers, which we have this week received, do not add much that 
is positive to our knowledge of Australian geography, but they 
are pregnant with suggestion. The really curious native tradition 
(III.), reported by Mr. Armstrong, would be still more important 
if it could be ascertained to have existed among the natives pre¬ 
vious to the settling of the white men amongst them. So long 
as there remains uncertainty on this point the suspicion will ob¬ 
trude itself that the legend is but a native version of the story of Abel 
told them by some settler. The coincidence between the “ mano 
Colorado ” of Yucatan, and the “ red hand” of North-West Aus¬ 
tralia (II.) is suggestive. From Easter Island to New Guinea we 
find the islands of the Pacific occupied at the time of their earliest 
discovery by two co-existing races—the black and brown races. 
In many islands we find what appears to be a mulatto race. The 
canoes with high stems, carved, and inlaid with mother of pearl, 
appear originally to belong to the black race, the proa with its 
outrigger to the brown ; but occasionally we find each race adopt¬ 
ing the peculiar vessel of the other. The relations of these two 
races are in general hostile ; but the existence of a mulatto race, 
