52 THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S. CHALLENGER. 



tempestuous ocean. Even supposing that the sea-birds which habitually breed in Ker- 

 guelen Island did visit Fuegia between the periods of incubation, it is difficult to imagine 

 that any seeds which had adhered to their beaks, feet, or bodies on leaving the latter 

 country would not have been removed by the buffets of winds and waves over upwards of 

 4000 miles of ocean. The supposition that more land formerly existed along the parallels 

 between Fuegia and Kerguelen Island, possibly in the form of islands, remains as the 

 forlorn hope of the botanical geographer. By such stepping-stones, the land-birds so 

 numerous in the Falkland Islands (which lie in the direction of such hypothetical islands), 

 and of which the vegetation is identical with that of colder South America, favoured by 

 the prevalent westerly gales, have passed from thence to Kerguelen Island, having adhering 

 to them fruits and seeds. The absence of such birds from the present air-fauna of 

 Kerguelen Island offers no obstacle to such a speculation, as such immigrants would on 

 their arrival speedily be destroyed by the predatory gull and petrels of the island." 



The following table, showins; the connections between the Australasian and South 

 American and African floras, was compiled from various sources, but largely from Engler's 

 work cited above, verified and amplified by the material at Kew. 



ON THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE VEGETATION OF SOUTH AMERICA, 

 AUSTRALASIA, SOUTH AFRICA, AND THE INTERVENING ISLANDS. 1 



Name. Distribution of the Order, Genus, or Species. 



RANUNCULACB^i. 



Myosurus aristatus . . . New Zealand, Chili, and California ; perhaps introduced in the south. 

 Ranunculus hjallii . . . I New Zealand species remarkable for their large peltate leaves ; the only 

 ,, traversii . . . \ other similar species being Ranunculus baurii, in the Transvaal, South 



( Africa, at an elevation of 5000 feet. 



*Caltha ... . The section Psycrophila is restricted to Australia, New Zealand, and 



South America. 

 Magnoliace^e. 

 *DHmys ..... New Zealand through Australia to Borneo, and in South America from 



Cape Horn and Juan Fernandez through the Andes to Mexico. 

 Caryophylle^. 

 *Colobanthus .... Australia, New Zealand, Heard, Kerguelen, St Paul Islands, and Cape 



Horn to Mexico. 

 * Colobanthus subulatus . . Australasia and Fuegia. 



,, quitensis . . New Zealand and Cape Horn, through the Andes to Mexico. 



Lyallia ..... Endemic in Kerguelen : nearest affinity, PyenophyUum in the Andes. 



1 Limited to flowering plants ; and such genera as Clematis, and such species as Dcschampsia ccespitosa, the 

 distribution of which has no special bearing on the connections between the floras of these regions, are omitted. 

 Australasia is employed to designate Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand, and tin; contiguous small islands 

 collectively. Australia, in the remarks on the distribution, may or may not include Tasmania ; the latter being 

 used only when that alone, excluding Australia proper, is part of the area. South America includes the Falkland 

 Islands and Juan Fernandez. The genera and species preceded by an asterisk are represented both in Australia 

 proper, or Tasmania and New Zealand. 



