. Island life : or, the phenomena and causes of insular faunas and floras, including a revision and attempted solution of the problem of geological climates . of centralNorth Australia probably indicate the existence of one ormore large islands in that direction. ^ From an examination of the fossil corals of the South-west of Victoria,Professor P. M. Duncan concludes—*that, at the time of the formation ofthese deposits the central area of Australia was occupied by sea, havingopen water to the north, with reefs in the neighbourhood of Java. Theage of these fossils is not known, but as almost al
. Island life : or, the phenomena and causes of insular faunas and floras, including a revision and attempted solution of the problem of geological climates . of centralNorth Australia probably indicate the existence of one ormore large islands in that direction. ^ From an examination of the fossil corals of the South-west of Victoria,Professor P. M. Duncan concludes—*that, at the time of the formation ofthese deposits the central area of Australia was occupied by sea, havingopen water to the north, with reefs in the neighbourhood of Java. Theage of these fossils is not known, but as almost all are extinct species, andsome are almost identical with European Pliocene and Miocene species,they are supposed to belong to a corresponding period. {Journal of Geol,Socy 1870.) CHAP. XXII THE FLORA OF NEW ZEALAND 497 The eastern and the western island—with which we arenow chiefly concerned—would then differ considerably intheir vegetation and animal life. The western and moreancient land already possessed, in its main features, thepeculiar Australian flora, and also the ancestral forms ofits strange marsupial fauna both of which it had probably. VValker & Boutall sc. MAP SHOWING THE PROBABLE CONDITION OF AUSTRALIA DURING THE CRETACEOUSAND EARLY TERTIARY PERIODS. The white portions represent land ; the shaded parts existing land of Australia is shown in outline. received at some earlier epoch by a temporary union withthe Asiatic continent over what is now the Java Australia, on the other hand, possessed only therudiments of its existing mixed flora, derived from threedistinct sources. Some important fragments of the typicalAustralian vegetation had reached it across the marine 498 ISLAND LIFE part II strait, and had spread widely owing to the soil, climate andgeneral conditions being exactly suited to it: from thenorth and north-east a tropical vegetation of Polynesiantype had occupied suitable areas in the north; while theextension southward of the T
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