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 838 PLANTS OF CENTRAL AUSTRALIA

From the knowledge I then had of New Holland, or Australian vegetation, I stated that its chief peculiarities existed in the greatest degree in a parallel, included be- tw^een 38° and 35° S. lat. which I therefore called the principal parallel, but that these pecuharities or charac- teristic tribes w-ere found chiefly at its western and eastern extremities, being remarkably diminished in that inter- mediate portion, included between 133° and 13S°, E. long. These observations related entirely to the shores of Aus- tralia, its interior being at that period altogether imknowu; and the species of Australian plants, ^Yith waich I was then acquainted, did not exceed 4200. Since that time great additions have been made to the number, chiefly by Mr. Allan Cunningham, in his various journeys from Port Jackson, and on the shores of the North and North-west coasts during the voyages of Captain King whom he ac- companied ; by Messrs. William Baxter, James Drummond, and M. Preiss, at the western extremity of the principal parallel, and by Mr. Ronald Gunn in Van Diemen's Land. It is probable that I may be considered as underrating these additions, when I venture to state them as only be- 91] tween two and three thousand; and that the whole number of Australian plants at present known, does not exceed, but rather falls short of 7000 species.

These additions, whatever their amount may be, confirm my original statement respecting the distribution of the characteristic tribes of the Nev\^ Plolland Flora ; some ad- ditional breadth might perhaps be given to the principal parallel, and the extent of the peculiar families may now be stated as much greater at or near its western, than at its eastern extremity.

With the vegetation of the extra-tropical interior of Australia we are now in some degree acquainted, chiefly from the collections formed by the late Mr. Allan Cun- ningham, and Charles Fraser, in Oxley's two expeditions from Port Jackson into the western interior, in 1817 and 181S; from Captain Sturt^s early expeditions, in wdiich the rivers Darling, Murrumbidgee, and i\lurray, were dis- covered ; from those of Sir Thomas ]\Iitchcll, who never

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