shore none are visible which at all approach the limit of perpetual snows.

CLIMATE. Heat and moisture prevail, and render the climate a warm, and from the productions, it is likely, a peculiar one. An anomaly exists in the distribution of the seasons. It is customary for the south-east monsoon to bring the dry season to the space over which it blows from May to October inclusive. The northwest monsoon prevails for the remaining months of the year and accompanies the rains. The reverse happens over the extent of this region, for though the monsoons are not so powerfully felt at its eastern extremity, the climate is everywhere the same. In the south-east monsoon the rains are heavy and frequent, and the deposition must be very considerable.

FLORA.-Approaching this region from the eastward, the character of the flora as distinct from the Polynesian is very evident; palmæ become more numerous through chamærops, caryota, and areca; pandanus has many species; leguminosa, though more abundant than in the Polynesia Region, and compositæ are not frequent, a proof of the usually moist state of the atmosphere; cycas first appears at New Ireland, and rhizophora in the rivers of the Feejees. However, it is a flora, with the exception of the Moluccas, almost unknown.

Papua or New Guinea.-Forest covers everywhere this large and fine, but unhealthy, island, and presents a variety which perhaps makes it the most prolific of vegetable forms in the world. The vegetation is extremely varied, and the species appear to have a limited range. Here, as elsewhere, it is chiefly on the margins of the forest, that flowers and herbaceous plants are seen. The colours are generally little attractive, and white greatly prevails. This is partly compensated by

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the frequent fragrance of the flowers, and sometimes even of the foliage. Leguminosa, solaneæ, and umbelliferæ, are uncommon. Trees of achras and myristica are numerous in the forest, and there are several species of each. The nutmegs are without the aroma found in myristica moschata. This genus extends as far to the east as the Feejee Islands. Ferns of every variety of habit are most numerous, and orchidaceæ abound.

The Moluccas have a less compact forest, as open spaces of bushes often occur, but a great variety in its trees. They are remarkable, as the native country of the clove and nutmeg of commerce, and of other aromatic productions.

RELATIONS. When the southern shores of New Guinea are better known, there will most probably be discovered many sources of resemblance with New Holland. At present the most prominent are, casuarina, common throughout the region, melaleuca and eucalyptus in the Moluccas, and acacia laurifolia, an aphyllous species, in the eastern groups. A passiflora is common in the Feejee and Navigators' Islands. Agathis appears in the Moluccas, as well as in New Zealand, and the resin is largely used, under the name of dammar, to give light.

XX. THE AUSTRALIA TROPIC REGION.

EXTENT. The space between the northern shores of New Holland and the limit of the tropic in 23°28′ south latitude. The genuine characters of this region are lost, even within this limit, towards the west coast, where at Point Leveque in 123o east longitude, it meets the west Australian region.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERS.-Little is known respecting it, the coast only having received a partial examination. The shores are generally low and sandy, often barren, but sometimes clothed with a rich and luxuriant vegetation.

CLIMATE.-Tropical in temperature, but deficient in the usual amount of suspended moisture.

FLORA.-The thin forest of New Holland prevails, but partakes more of the usual tropical characters, and in some places is so dense and vigorous as to be almost impenetrable. In the vicinity of Van Diemen's Gulf species of eucalyptus, corypha, pandanus, acacia, and croton, form a thick vegetation. The shores are closely beset by rhizophora, brugiera, and carallia, all genera of rhizophoreæ. Palmæ are not numerous, and are represented by corypha, seaforthia, livingstonia, and calamus. Leguminosa, as might be expected in such a climate, are very abundant; also euphorbiaceae through croton and phyllanthus; and coniferæ are present in podocarpus, callitris, and araucaria. A. excelsa is not here a large tree, but occasionally covers much space. Cinchonaceæ do not abound, and such as exist have Indian relations. Bignoniaceæ have a few species. Cryptogamic plants, epiphytic orchidaceæ, and others with similar habits, and depending less on their roots for food than on the atmosphere, are all infrequent. Loranthus, embracing as it does genuine parisites, is frequent on all the coasts of New Holland.

Those plants so entirely characteristic of this continent, and which are developed so profusely in the metropolis of their existence, are still spread among the vegetation, but in reduced numbers. Proteaceæ are nearly limited to grevillea, hakea, and persoonia; the Australian myrtacea are few; diosmeæ has only eriostemon and phe

balium; eucalyptus has few species and individuals, and diminished vigour; casuarina is gradually disappearing.

RELATIONS.—Mr. Allan Cunningham has had the best opportunities of examining the vegetation. In an expedition directed to this part of the coast he collected 1500 species of phenogamous plants, of which 520 had been previously described. In a comparison between the east and north-west coasts in the parallel of 15o, and with an intervening space of 1,800 miles, he found only forty-eight species in common. He also gives a list of fifty-two Indian and South American plants, which are indigenous to Australia. (King's voyages, Appendix.) Umbelliferæ have a few species, and there are some close relations with the flora of New Guinea and the Malay Islands. Among others, myristica is not uncommon on the northern and north-western coast.

XXI. THE NEW SOUTH WALES REGION.

EXTENT.-The British colony of New South Wales occupies a large portion of the east coast of New Holland. Our region is, however, more rigorously defined, and will comprise the east portion of the continent south of the tropic, and ceases to the west and south somewhere in the neighbourhood of the mouth of the Morumbridgee.

PHYSICAL CHARACTERS. The whole continent has been divided into two parts, the region of terraces, and the region of plains, separated by the 148th meridian. Captain Sturt observes, that of the ridges which divide the latter, each presents a different rock formation, and also that he has noticed that the botanical and geological features are intimately connected. The Blue Mountains

attain no considerable elevation, scarcely exceeding 3,000 feet, and form a wild and sterile barrier between two portions of the country. The soil varies, much is extremely arid, and some is productive on slight cultivation. It is probably a variety which will soon wear out, and large tracts are required for grazing purposes. The kind of trees growing are regarded as a good indication of the quality of the soil; the native apple (Angophora lanceolata) selecting a good soil, and the spotted gum and stringy bark a bad. Rhagodia, salsola, and similar plants, are met with in places, and indicate a saline soil. After the wet season, ephemeral rivers traverse the country, and lose themselves either in sandy plains or chains of marshy ponds. At other seasons much of the surface is indifferently watered.

CLIMATE. There is a great disposition to excess both in temperature and in dryness. The range of the thermometer is sometimes very great and sudden, being in the summer months from 36° to 106°, the mean 70°; and in the winter months from 27° to 98°, the mean 66.o At Sidney the number of rainy days is 107. There is evidently a strong adaptation of the vegetation to the climate and other physical agents.

FLORA.-It has been observed by many, that in the Australian vegetation there is a sombre dulness which entirely excludes any of those lively and agreeable impressions it elsewhere so frequently creates. The forest, where it abounds, is not close and compact, but so open as to offer no obstruction to the passenger, and intervals are frequently occupied by dry stunted bushes, or straggling grass. Mr. P. Cunningham remarks that the trees are nearly all evergreens, with fewer branches, and comparatively fewer leaves than European trees. Many shed their bark, and whilst the new has the appearance of a dead