Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/313

AUSTRALIA. temperature of the hottest month is 95°. In this region very high temperatures are reported, 128° an the shade having been recorded. Sudden and great changes are common. The thermometer has been known to fall 60° or 70° in a few hours.

The flora of Australia as a whole is very distinctive, and, moreover, is of two very marked and characteristic types: That of the moist east and north coasts, which is tropical in its luxuriance, and that of the interior, and the south and west coasts, which is that of the desert. Upwards of 12,000 species of plants are found, of which number not less than 7000 are peculiar to the continent. The leaves of many of the plants are of tough, fibre-like consistency, and some of them are needle-shaped; thus rapid evaporation is prevented, for they do not collect the heat rays as do the broad-leaved plants. The foliage is somewhat monotonous after the manner of regions where specific types prevail. Australia possesses a great extent of territory in which the soil would produce a rich vegetation if only the proper watering could be accomplished.

Eastern and northern Queensland, with its moist tropical climate, produces a dense plant growth of Indo-Malayan character, such as tree ferns, bamboos, palms, and canes, with numerous parasitic plants and orchids. The palm and the pandanus (of the screw-pine family), with their aerial roots and palmy branches, are distinctive forms of this section. The bottle-tree also, with its curious shape, deserves mention. The grass tree is also found in the eastern Australian re- gion. In Victoria the vegetation is almost tropi- cal in its richness in the mountain regions, but on the plains is somewhat sparse, the trees grow- ing in park-like clumps. Here the eucalyptus reaches its greatest height (exceeding 400 feet), tree ferns present their wonderful growth, and numerous small ferns aid in giving a peculiar aspect to the vegetation. Fan palms and acacias also flourish. Grass and salt brush are dis- tinctive types of lowland flora. In that great central region known as South Australia and Northern Territory there is a sparse vegetation, the scrub or malle being general, together with sedges, grasses, etc., as well as the grass tree, thorny plants, and a stunted growth of eucalyp- tus. Thickets of the paper-bark tree also occur. This growth, known as the 'Bush,' is impene- trable by man in some regions. On the coast are found mangoes.

In July (mid-winter) the following vegeta- tion conditions prevail: in Nortbern Australia, along the borders of the Gulf of Carpentaria, the vegetation is tropical in character with no cessa- tion of the growing period. To the south of this, all along the northern part of the continent, is a less rich tropical vegetation with a cessa- tion during the dry season. In the southern part of the eastern coast and the eastern and western parts of the southern coast are ever- green trees and a bushy growth, with a short period during which vegetation is at a standstill. In the remainder of the continent are grass lands, bushy steppes and desert areas in which the vegetation rests at this time of year (the winter time of the Southern Hemisphere). In January (mid-summer) on the northern coast the narrow strip of rich tropical vegetation suf- fers no interruption in growth, and in the belt of less rich tropical vegetation to the south of it,

vegetation is in its full development during the rainy season. The vegetation in the southeastern and southwestern parts is much restricted by the summer drought. In the interior the steppes have their summer verdure in regions where there is sufficient rain, but in the southwest the principal season of vegetative growth is from September to October, during the southern spring.

The animal life is more peculiarly isolated than is that of any other great region of the globe. Of the non-aquatic mammalia only two of the orders found on the other continents are represented, the bats and the rodents. The others have their places taken by the two orders peculiar to Australia, the marsupials or pouch mammals, and the Monotremata or egg-laying mammals. There are six families of marsupials which include about 30 species. They differ greatly in form, in appearance, and in habits, resembling wolves, marmots, weasels, squirrels, flying squirrels, and jerboas, and feeding on flesh, insects, roots, fruits, honey, leaves, and grass. The flesh-eaters are the native cats, rats, and mice, which are common to the continent, and the larger species, the so-called tiger of Tasmania. The insect-eaters are the bandicoots or bandicoot-rats. The root-eaters are the wom- bats, all large burrowing animals. The fruit- eaters are the native bear, a sloth-like creature, three varieties of opossums, the flying opossums, and the flying squirrels. The grass-eaters are the kangaroos, of which there are numerous genera; the large kangaroos, the small kangaroos, the rock wallabies, and the hare kangaroos. The Monotremata, the egg-laying mammals, are the Ornithorhynchus and the spiny ant-eater; the former of which, with its otter-shaped body and duck bill, is regarded as the most unique of existing mammalia. It is not certain that the dingo or wild dog is a native of Australia, al- though he is a characteristic mammal at the present time. Among the bats are some which attain great size and are called flying foxes, and which feed on fruits; others of smaller size live on insects. The bird fauna has numerous species. Among the larger birds are the emu, the eagle, and the black swan. The lyre-bird is remarkable for its peculiar plumage. Paradise birds, cocka- toos, parrots, paroquets, snipe, quail, pigeons, ducks, plovers, falcons, honey-suckers, scrub birds, mound-makers, shrikes, weaver finches, kingfishers, frog-mouths, and flower-peckers are all abundant. Many of these birds exhibit pe- culiarities of appearance or habit not noticed elsewhere, and the reasons for which may be found in the peculiar conditions existing in Australia as regards its geographical characteristics.

The reptiles of Australia are less distinctively peculiar than the birds and mammals. No families of snakes are confined to this continent, but there are some peculiar genera of Pythonidæ and Elapidæ, to which latter family fully two-thirds of the snakes of Australia belong. These are poisonous; so that Australia has more poisonous snakes in proportion to the total number than has any other region. In Eastern Australia about half the snakes are poisonous, but in other parts the ratio is not so high. The number of species increases very rapidly from the southern part toward the northern with the increase in temperature. Lizards are numerous; three of the