OF THE ANTARCTIC VOYAGE. 267 
cea, Poa, Urtica, Pteris, Stegania, and two Orthotricha. The 
woody zone almost immediately commences, and contains Myr- 
tacee, Araliacee, Coprosma, Ozothamnus, Epacridea, Veronica, 
two Orchidee, Carex, and a nearly allied genus, two Aspidia 
with an arborescent caudex, two Asplenia, Grammitis, Poly- 
podium, with many Mosses and Jungermannie, occupying the 
trunks of trees, and coating the earth in dense tufts, insi- 
nuating themselves into every vacant space and crevice, 'and 
in their decay, together with the fallen foliage of Dicotyledo- 
nous plants, forming a rich damp vegetable humus. It is - 
hard to say, in this zone, whether the trunks of trees, the 
Ferns, or the plants of the lower Orders, occupy the greatest 
Space in the forest. 'The most arborescent kinds are the 
Veronica, the Araliaceous plant, the Myrtaceous and the Epa- 
crideous, and these are often so dense as to exclude the sun’s 
rays from the ground. The predominance of Ferns extends 
for about 300 yards from the beach. 
Next to the trees comes a shrubby belt, not indeed clearly 
defined, for it contains many of the trees of the lower region, 
(the arborescent Veronica, however, wholly excluded) though 
in stunted forms, mixed with a curious Schizea, the Coprosma 
of the higher levels, a large Lycopodium, a blue-flowered 
Veronica, &c. This bushy region contains vacant spaces of 
black, almost naked earth, in which are imbedded the dead — 
roots of existing species of trees. Why the soil in such 
Situations should remain thus bare, is not easily to be ac- 
counted for, but their appearance is highly peculiar, being 
often spotted by a white Lichen, and occasionally exhibiting 
plants which are either peculiar to it, or very scarce else- 
Where ; as Gentiana, the, Schizea above-mentioned, Astelia, 
Drosera, an Epacrideous shrub like Empetrum, and a plant of 
Stylidium. 
The upland or subalpine district then follows, consisting of 
. an open space, chiefly clothed with a species of Bromus, a 
_ Hierochloe, and in some spots two Umbelliferous plants in, dense 
~ Patches, an Araliaceous one, a Ranunculus, some Composite ; ds 
_ but no bog-plants like Sphagnum, Juncee, Drosera (of which — 
