Page:Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London, Volume 1 (2nd edition).djvu/35

 Rh The Zamia, already noticed, if not specifically different from spiralis, would furnish another example of a plant peculiar to New Holland, and very generally found in the extra-tropical parts of that continent. I had, however, myself observed on the south coast a Zamia of at least ten feet in height, which I suspected might be distinct from Z. spiralis of the neighbourhood of Port Jackson, and which is probably the same with that of Swan River.

The Exocarpus of the Swan River may possible differ from cupressiformis, though there is nothing in the specimens to make it probable that it is specifically distinct. But Exocarpus cupressiformis is found very generally, not only in the southern parts of New Holland and Van Diemen's Land, but also within the tropic.

The last plant in the collection whose range is very extensive remaining to be noticed, I have not been able to distinguish from Arenaria marina of the shores of Europe.

Of the families existing in the vicinity of Swan River, the most striking, as well as the most extensive, is Proteaceæ, a tribe which, from its general dispersion, and the remarkale forms of its numerous genera and species, includes many of the chief peculiarities of the vegetation of New Holland.

In Mr. Fraser's collection, the principal genera of this order are Petrophila, Isopogon, Hakea, and Banksia; and these are also the most abundant in the districts of King George's Sound and of Lucky Bay. The number of pieces of the two first-mentioned genera confirms the remark made in the Botanical Appendix to Captain Flinder's Voyage—namely, that in New Holland, at the western extremity of the parallel of latitude in which the great mass of this order of plants is found, a closer resemblance is observable to the South African portion of the order than on the east coast, where those allied to the American part chiefly occur.

This is not the place to enter into a particular account of the new species of this family existing in the collections from Swan River. I may observe, however, that the number is considerable, and that their specific characters have been recently published.

The Myrtaceæ of Swan River belong chiefly to Melaleuca, Beaufortia, Calothamnus, Calythrix, Billattia, and Eucalyptus.

Of Eucalyptus, the only species in the collection had been first found in Captain Flinders's Voyage at King George's Sound, on