THE GENERAL HISTORY OF TIIK PLANTS. 7 



Quite recently, through the explorations of the Swedes in tin- 

 first place and of Sir Ernest Shackleton in the second, it has been 

 proved beyond doubt that forests containing both subtropical and 

 temperate trees existed during Tertiary times in Antarctica. On 

 Seymour Island, which is virtually a part of the antarctic continent, 

 latitude 64 south, the Swedish Antarctic Expedition discovered a 

 number of impressions of leaves in the sandstone rock. These have 

 since been identified, and in some cases the species show strong rela- 

 tionships to plants living at the present time in South America, New 

 Zealand, and Australia. Most interesting to us is the unlooked-for 

 presence of a fossil Knigktia allied to the re ware wa (Knightia excelsa), 

 a tree found only in New Zealand, though there are in New Caledonia 

 two other species of the genus, but belonging to a different section. 

 Then, too, there is the genus Drim.ys, with the living Drimys axillaris 

 (the pepper-tree), and two other New Zealand species ; while D. 

 Winteri (the Winter's bark) and D. aromatica are respectively Fuegian 

 and Tasmanian representatives. Laurelia, a genus of only two 

 species one in Chile, and the other L. novae-zelandiae, the well- 

 known puketea of the New Zealand northern forests occurred in the 

 forests of Tertiary Antarctica. Araucaria braziliana, of subtropical 

 Brazil, and A. Bidwillii, of Australia, are closely related to a fossil 

 araucaria, while the well-known monkey-puzzle tree of Chile (A. 

 imbricata), the Norfolk Island pine (^4. excelsa), and certain New 

 Caledonian trees belong to the same genus. Other examples could 

 be cited, but sufficient has been said to show that the remarkable 

 discoveries of the courageous explorers strengthen the evidence 

 in favour of land-connection between New Zealand, Australia, 

 and South America, while the existence of an ancient antarctic 

 vegetation, correlated, of course, with a much warmer climate, can 

 no longer be denied. 



THE STRUGGLE FOR EXISTENCE. 



Putting on one side the question whether our plants came by 

 land or were conveyed by winds, birds, or water, and granting that 

 they finally got a foothold, it will be seen that soon a struggle would 

 arise between these newcomers for the possession of the soil. Such 

 a strife would be somewhat analogous to that which has taken place 

 between our colonists themselves, and has resulted in riches for 

 some and poverty for others. 



2 Plants. 



