occur almost exclusively ’between the thirty-third and thirty-
fifth degrees of south latitude, and principally at the two opposite
extremities of this- tr a c t; that, is, near the eastern and
western coasts. These remarks are illustrated by th e ' distribution
of the Proteacese, a family of plants almost entirely
confined to the southern hemisphere, where it is’extensively
dispersed. - The Proteacese are generally, though very unequally,
spread over-all the great southern continents; they
have been observed also in the larger islands of New Zealand
and New Caledonia, but hitherto in none of the lesser ones.
In America they have, been found in Tierra dek* Fuégb;
in Chili, Peru, and in Guiana; but, in this continent, the
number of their species is comparatively small, and their
organization little varied. The American tribes of Proteacese
have much greater affinity with those of New HollanbEtban
of Africa. In Africa the Proteacese occur in great abundance
and variety; about the Cape, in the same parallehwhich contain
s t h e principal number in Terra Australis. Bui; -in. the
latter country, they have their chief s e a t: here, more than
four hundred species belonging to this order have been already
found. They abound a t the two principal foci, but diminish
very remarkably in the intermediate space. Those generaTof
Australian Proteacese, which bear the nearest resemblance to
the African tribes of the same order, exist on the western
coast, and those which most assimilate to thé^American
tribes, on the eastern. Two genera only of-this order are
found in more than one of the southern continents^ but particular
species have a very limited ex ten t: they are not only-
distinct in the tracts separated by seas, but not jm e species
has been found common! even to thé .eastern and western
shores of New Holland.
There are several other families principally belonging to
Terra Australis, which are partially dispersed over the southern
countries separated from th a t continent by seas. In some
instances the branches of these Australian families are found
in the islands of the Indian Ocean ; in some others, they are
spread in an opposite direction, over the isles of the Pacific,
and on the shores of South America. Several species of
Epacridese, in New Holland a very numerous family,-are
found in New Zealand ; a few of them in the Society, and
even ill-, the-.'Sandwich' f#llsteds.*s O n ly ‘one plant of this family,
an unpublished species, exists* in Tierra del Fuego. The
leafless Acaeise are very abundant in Terra Australis, a t the
-two' principal foci1.'* One hundibdi^speOibs^ are found in that
Country, ■' and are pe'mJkfcfiHo i t ; only seven other species are
known; > of which hve-i-are natives?\)f the tropical islands bf
Southern hemisphere, and on1# of the Sandwich Isles,
wberfe it form's thed-alrgest tr>ee.$. -
Paragraph 3 ^A n g lq g y in the,’vegetation of parallel
. but distant Regions. ,
u< .Regions, situated under- similar latitudes- - and resembling
in?so%vtetaperature, -and local circumstance's,* display,-in- ge-
neralfia certain-ahafogy dm the character of their.Vegetation.
ItiferilHpb'rtifc^fe^Ibbserve the particular nature of this , correspondence
or a n a lo g ^ 3i
It maybe laid down asta general'-observation, that1 in distan
t •countries' wherein the physical: circumstances ale-similar
the vCgetati on-reSembles, but that this^resemblance does not
consist in the identity, o f species. ‘ In many instances, there
is found in'^two such '.regions only a> general analogy-' in the
vegetable forms $ certain families, or genera, in one replacing
similar tribes inithe otherr In. other instances the genera are
more widely spread, and different species belonging to the
same'lgenerai;are found in ^several regions:
Thus the productions- of the antarctic zone resemble those
of the northern countries. The Dwarf Birch,„which, in northern
Europe,- occupies the highest tract-on the borders of perpetual
snowy is replaced in Tierra del Fuego by the Betula Antarctica.
In a^similar manner, on ascending mountains in
tentperate and equatorial countries, species analogous to those
of colder zones are discovered in succession;; parallel; temperatures,
though' under different latitudes, displaying analogous
modes of vegetation.
America contains many genera in-common with Europe and
Asia. In some iristances the particular species,’are distributed
generally to North America and to Europe, as are those of the
* Brown’s Appendix to Flinders. .*