THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



investigation of Insular Floras and Faunas. Although there are references in the writings 

 of botanists of the last half of the eighteenth century, and of the first half of the present 

 centur}', to some of the peculiar features of Insular Floras and Faunas, it is only within 

 the last fifty years, or thereabouts, that their composition and origin have been the object 

 of particular study. 



Darvoin, C. — The works of Darwin are so widely read that it seems almost superfluous 

 to enter into any details here respecting their nature and scope. His Journal of 

 Eesearches, and Origin of Species, abound in facts and suggestions relating to the distri- 

 bution of plants and animals. It was he who first recognised, or at least thoroughly 

 investigated, the means of transoceanic migration ; and it is to him that we are so 

 largely indebted for directing the thinking and observing powers of the present generation 

 of naturalists in the proper channels for obtaining true knowledge. He also conducted a 

 number of experiments to ascertain the capability of certain seeds to bear immersion in 

 salt water without injury, and made various investigations showing how seeds are conveyed 

 by birds in their feet and beaks, and in their stomachs. In short, he practically laid the 

 foundation of the inquiry into the means and modes by which remote islands became 

 stocked with plants and animals. 



Hooker, Sir J. D. — The first work of importance by this author is his Essay on the 

 Vegetation of the Galapagos Archipelago, concerning the botany of which nothing was 

 previously known. Two-thirds of the species enumerated were new to science, and' so 

 distinct in character as to afford materials for the foundation of a new branch of botanical 

 inquiry in relation to the means by which the seeds of plants are conveyed long distances, 

 and their species thereby diffused. It is perhaps the first work on Insular Floras of a 

 philosophical character, and the forerunner of and guide to subsequent literature on the 

 same subject. The seeds and seed-vessels of the various plants are described, and their 

 capabilities for transport by various means indicated ; and the affinities and origin of the 

 Flora fully discussed. 



The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage contains much relating to Insular Floras, and 

 more especially that part of it entitled the Antarctic Flora, which embodies all that was 

 known forty years ago concerning the flora of a portion of the region to which the islands 

 from the Tristan da Cunha groxip to the Macdonald group belong. The first part consists 

 of the Flora of Lord Auckland and Campbell Islands, and the second deals with Fuegia, 

 the Falklands, and the Tristan da Cunha group, and other islands eastward to Kerguelen 

 Island. Previously, nothing of importance had been published on the botany of this 

 region ; and subsequently the same author has published various other papers relating 

 thereto, for which we refer to the bibliography at p. 81. The Introductory Essay on the 

 Australian Flora in the Flora Tasmania? — a work of immense labour, executed at a time 



