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



up to about 1000 feet, the height of the ridge from which the rocky mass forming the top of Table 

 Mountain rises. Here Prim/flea ceases, but Azorella is continued in very small quantities to the top 

 of the mountain, growing on its very summit, but only in sheltered corners between rocks, and there 

 much dwarfed. 



"Azorella, Pringlca, and a grass (Agrostis magcllanicct) were the only flowering plants at 1000 

 feet, and these were only very sparsely represented. The land at this height presented a series of 

 ridges of barren rock and piles of stones. At Mutton Cove and about Royal Sound, a very marked 

 line, at about 1000 feet, separates the green lower slopes from the barren stony ridges and peaks 

 above. It is probably the line above which snow Hes for the greater part of the year unmelted, 

 though the hills just above it, at Mutton Cove, were quite free from snow at the time of our visit. 



" In a pool of water, on the summit of Table Mountain, I found a quantity of sj»ecimens of a 

 small Lv.mbriculus, or allied form of Annelid. The phonolith of which Table Mountain is composed 

 is full of olivine crystals, occurring in large rounded masses as in the Ardeche valley, and many 

 other volcanic districts. 



"A comparatively low ridge separates the head of Christmas Harbour from the sea directly 

 beyond. On a flat expanse of this ridge are two small freshwater lakes, in which grow two water 

 plants, Limosella aquatica and Nitdla antarctica, both widely spread plants. 



" I found Limosella aquatica only in these particular lakes, and then only after a very long 

 search, since it resembles extremely closely, in its general appearance when growing in masses. 

 Ranunculus moseleyi, which grows with it in the water. 



" Above the lakes the ridge rises somewhat, and then terminates in an inaccessible precipice 

 fronting the sea, with short talus slopes below, on which ai-e rookeries of crested penguins. 

 Under the peculiar overhanging rock on the south of the harbour are beds of fossil wood, and the 

 excavation beneath its base is hence called Fossilwood Cave. The wood occurs in beds lying nearly 

 horizontal, and a few feet only in thickness." 



