| 22 | Mr. Brown, on the Proteaceae of Jussieu. |
feature in the vegetation of the country, and contains a far greater number of species than on the east:—and in that part of the south coast, which was first examined by captain Flinders, it seems to be more scanty than at either of the extremes.
On the west coast also, the species upon the whole are more similar to those of Africa than on the east, where they bear a somewhat greater resembland to the American portion of the order.
From the parallel of the mass, the order diminishes in both directions; but the diminution towards the north is probably more rapid on the east than on the west coast.
Within the tropic, on the east coast, no genera have hitherto been observed, which are not also found beyond it; unless that section of Grevillea, which I have called Cyclopteræ, be considered as a genus. Whereas at the southern limit of the order several general make their appearance, which do not occur in its chief parallel.
The most numerous genera are also the most widely diffused. Thus Grevillea, Hakea, Banksia, and Persoonia, extensive in species in the order in which they are here mentioned, are spread nearly in the same proportion; and they are likewise the only genera that have as yet been observed within the tropic.
Of such of the remaining genera, as consist of several species, some, as Isopogon, Petrophila, Conospermum, and Lambertia, are found in every part of the principal parallel, but hardly exist beyond it. Others, as Josephia and Synaphea, equally limited to this parallel, have been observed only towards its western extremity; while Embothrium (comprehending for the present under this name all the many-seeded plants of the order), which is chiefly found on the east coast, and makes very little progress towards the west, advances to the utmost limit of south latitude, and there ascends to the summits of the highest mountains.
| Genera |
