Page:Narrative of a survey of the intertropical and western coasts of Australia, Volume 2.djvu/534

 lar fact in the geographical history of this genus, that its 'species, which have been traced thwugh almost every meri- dian of the South Coast, upon the islands in Bass' Strait, in Van Diemen's Land, and widely scattered throughout the hole extent of New South Wales to the North �oast at which extreme of the continent, B, dentsta ha been observed as far west as longitude 130 �t, should be wholly wanting on the- line of North-west Coast. Why the /inks of this almost perfect chain should haw been broken on these shores appears unaccountable, since they are, by reason of their general sterility and exposure, extremely fa- yourable to the growth of the greater portion of th 6rder. Our limited knowledge of the West Coast (prdperly so called) does not afford us materials to hazard even a partial conclusion, relative to the existence of this family on its shores, excepting from the total absence of any one plant of Proteacee at those parts 6f ROttheft and Dirk Harto.g's Islands visited 'during the Bathuvst's voyage; an inference may be drawn of the general paui:ity of any pa.rt' of the order on the shores of th e �ighboutng main. Although so species have been found corercon to shores opposite to each other, in the higher. latitudes, the identity of Greyiliad mireosoides, Parseenid falcata, and Hakes arborescans, has been established upon the East Coast, and the north- western shor, in the parallel of about 15 �th: but whilst this geographical digssion has been remarked in re- farenee to those particular species, the range of Greyflied gibbosa, a plant discovered at Endcavour River by Sir Jo- seph Banks, is now tolerably well defined by observations made during the late v.0yages, frets which it appears to be circumscribed 'to ah area not exceeding one hundred and' twenty miles on the East Coast. In the course of the pro- grass el  the land. expedition above referred to, the discovery Digitized ,Google

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