210 FLORA ANTARCTICA. \_Fuegia, the 



those of Fuegia, separated by 140 degrees of longitude, rather than with those of Lord 

 Auckland's group, which is nearer by about 50 degrees. But the features of the Flora of 

 Kerguelen's Land are similar to, and many of the species identical with, those of the Ame- 

 rican continent, constraining me to follow the law of botanical affinity in preference to that 

 of geographical position. Two alternatives presented themselves, each possessing some advan- 

 tages over the course which is now adopted, of dividing the Antarctic Botany into two large 

 sections : one, to consider each little island or group as a separate flora ; but this would lead 

 to much repetition, and is not warranted by the amount of novelty exhibited in any of the 

 groups : the other, to unite all under one head ; a plan certainly accompanied with many 

 advantages, but counterbalanced by the consequent delay of the work, for it woidd have obliged 

 the author to study the plants of two very different botanical regions at the same time. The 

 remarkable beauty and novelty of the vegetation in Lord Auckland's and the neighbouring 

 Islands also merited particular consideration. As it is, some plants described in Part I. will 

 re-appear in the present ; very few, however ; so few as to excite surprise, when it is remem- 

 bered that lands, far more remote from Tierra del Fuego than those to the south of New 

 Zealand, possess the characteristics of the Fuegian Flora. 



A certain affinity in botanical productions has often been traced in widely severed coun- 

 tries, and Professor E. Forbes* has lately brought geological causes to bear immediately upon 



* Professor E. Forbes lias connected the similarity, long known to exist between the Floras of the west of Ireland 

 and Portugal, with certain geological characteristics belonging to both these now remote, but perhaps once uuited 

 countries. Thus he also connects the Alpine Flora of Scotland with that of the Scandinavian Alps, and the botany of 

 the Channel coasts and islands with that of France (vid. ' Report of the Meetings of the British Association in Cam- 

 bridge, July 18-45 '). Uniformity of surface is generally accompanied by a similarity of vegetation throughout an 

 extended region. When such a surface becomes divided we are apt to conclude that the isolation of the lesser por- 

 tion preceded the migration of plants from the larger ; in short, that the identity of the Norfolk and Suffolk Flora 

 with that of Holland must be due to the former having been peopled with plants by the latter, subsequently to the 

 German Ocean having assumed its present position ; and not that the two together formed an equally well clothed 

 and extended plain, reaching, as Humboldt beUeves, from North Brabant to the Steppes of Asia; its western portion 

 having been afterwards insrdated by the influx of the North Sea. The uniformity of surface in the vast continent 

 of Africa is becoming daily more evident, as the mountains of the moon recede before the intrepid explorers of the 

 sources of the true Nile. It were natural to suppose that a barrier, such as they were conjectured to be, woidd ex- 

 hibit changes in the vegetation, equally marked with those produced by the Cordillera, Himalayan, and other moun- 

 tain chains wherever they may occur. A further proof of the suspicious nature of the reports that any very extensive 

 and elevated land exists in Africa appears to me evident in the character of Abyssinian vegetation. Mr. Brown 

 first showed that it possessed types of the Cape Flora, and lately I received the most ample confirmation of these 

 views from M. Richard, who exhibited to me a beautiful series of drawings of Abyssinian plants, made by the late 

 unfortunate French travellers, amongst which were numerous Protectee/?, Asclepiadea, Orchidea, Iridea, and Amarylli- 

 deee, of forms which the Cape alone was supposed to possess. Central Eastern Africa is perhaps the most interest- 

 ing spot in the world for a botanist ; it contains not merely Cape orders, but others typical of Madagascar, the 

 E.ist Indies, Arabia, both the northern and western coasts of Africa itself, and on its high mountains those even of 

 Europe. The uniformity of the surface and Flora of Australia is equally evident. 



There are, however, instances of a sudden change in the vegetation occurring, unaccompanied with any diversity 



