THK CKXKK.M, HlSTOItY OF TI1J-; IM.ANTS. 5 



Without going into details, zoological and botanical statistics and 

 evidence show clearly enough that New Zealand has received ii> 

 plants from two main sources (1) the Malay Archipelago and Aus- 

 tralia taken together, and (2) South America, together with a pro- 

 blematical land-area existing in Tertiary times in the Southern Ocean. 

 of which ice-bound Antarctica and even portions of New Zealand 

 itself may have been parts. 



According to geologists, the land-surface of New Zealand under- 

 went great changes during Tertiary times ; at one period reduced to 

 quite a small group of islands, and at another, the land having risen 

 hundreds of feet, stretching north, east, and south, and uniting the 

 scattered members of the archipelago to the main islands. How far 

 " Greater New Zealand," as it may be called, extended is a matter 

 of conjecture, but naturalists are generally agreed that it was joined 

 to Australia and the Malay Archipelago by way of New Caledonia 

 and the New Hebrides. The chief matter in dispute is whether there 

 has ever been an actual land-connection with South America. 



Now, although the author has, in certain of his writings, favoured 

 the idea of a New Zealand - South American union, there is a good deal 

 to be said against the view, especially from the geological standpoint. 

 Perhaps the strongest evidence that a ' bridge ' to South America 

 existed lies, as Dr. W. B. Benham, F.R.S., has shown, in the presence 

 in New Zealand of a family of South American earthworms animals 

 which certainly could not travel over the ocean. A spider hitherto 

 found only 011 those distant granite rocks, the Bounty Islands, is allied 

 not to any existing Australian or New Zealand species, but to a South 

 American family. Galaxias, a genus of fresh-water fishes, occurs 

 chiefly in South America and New Zealand, while there is also a species 

 in South Africa. There is much more zoological evidence, but this will 

 give the reader a sufficient idea as to its character. 



Evidence derived from a study of plant-distribution can never 

 by itself be regarded as conclusive, since there are various means- 

 such as birds, ocean-currents, floating logs, icebergs, and the wind- 

 by which seeds can be conveyed over the ocean. But the greater the 

 distance to be traversed, the less likely are they to be carried in this 

 manner. Heavy seeds, such as those of the kowhai, could not be 

 blown by the wind for thousands of miles, and yet our plant of that 

 name is identical with one growing in Chile. Our fuchsias, calceolarias, 

 beeches, and a number of other plants have their headquarters in 



