294 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



various natural orders. It is one of the very few genera 

 common to Australasia, to the Antarctic, and other southern 

 islands, and the Andes, and confined to these regions. One 

 species, C. quitensis, ranges from the mountains of Mexico 

 to Cape Horn and reappears in New Zealand. Kirk also 

 records it from Amsterdam Island, but that seems to in- 

 volve two errors, for, so far as our data at Kew go, C. 

 diffusus inhabits St. Paul, and no species is found in the 

 neighbouring island of Amsterdam. One species, C. 

 Billardieri, is found in the Alps of Victoria, in Tasmania, New 

 Zealand, and the small islands southward to Macquarie. Two 

 Falkland Islands species also recur in South Georgia, the 

 southern insular limit of phanerogamic vegetation in the Pata- 

 gonian region, if we except a grass, Aira antarctica, collected 

 by Dr. Eights in the South Shetlands, about 62 S. lat., or 

 8° south of South Georgia. Kirk enumerates and de- 

 scribes ten species of Colobanthas from the New Zealand 

 region, including four proposed new ones. 



Gunnera (Haloragidacea^) has a similar range to that 

 of Colobantkus, save that it does not reach the colder limits 

 either in America or the New Zealand region. Kirk 

 brings up the species of the latter region to nine, four of 

 which are new. 



W. Colenso, D. Petrie, and H. C. Field also describe 

 a few novelties (19), and the first named gives a charming 

 description of his travels and botanising in the romantic 

 country around Hawke's Bay, upwards of fifty years 

 ago. 



The one paper which I propose to discuss a little more 

 in detail is devoted to the natural history of Macquarie 

 Island (20), the most southerly speck of land in the New Zea- 

 land region known to support phanerogamic vegetation. It 

 is in the same latitude (54 S.) as South Georgia in American 

 waters, the flora of which I have described (21), where a 

 list is given of the vascular plants inhabiting the island. 

 They are separated from each other by about 164° of 

 longitude, which in this latitude means, in round numbers, 

 5875 geographical miles ; yet, as previously stated, nine 

 out of thirteen of the vascular plants found in South 



