FalHands, etc.] FLORA ANTARCTICA. 337 



XXXVII. PRIMULACE^), Juss. 

 1. PBIMULA, L. 



1. Primula farinosa, Linn. Sp. PI. p. 205. Engl. Bot. t. 6. Buby in DC. Prodr. vol. x. p. 44. 

 Gaud, in Ann. Sc. Nat. vol. iv. p. 102, et in Freyc. Toy. Bot. p. 133. B' Urville in Mem. Soc. Binn. Paris, 

 vol. iv. p. 606. 



"Var. ft Magellanica. P. Magellanica, Be/im. Monogr. Prim. p. 62. t. 6. Buby, in BC. Prodr. vol. x- 

 p. 45. P. decipiens, Buby, in BC. I. c. (Tab. CXX.) 



Hab. Strait of Magalliaens to Cape Horn, Commerson, Capt. King, C. Barwin, Esq., J. B. H. Falk- 

 land Islands, most abundant, Gaudichaud, 8cc. 



The excellent plate, executed for this work by Mr. Fitch, enables the British botanist to form a just idea of the 

 Antarctic state or variety of P. farinosa, L. ; which, it will be seen, differs from the majority of those of Britain in 

 the short peduncles of the white flower, in the position of the stamens, in the tube of the corolla, and in the colour 

 of the flowers. The first of these characters is constant in all the Falkland Island and Magellanic specimens of this 

 species, but is also seen in an individual of P. farinosa, gathered near Settle in Yorkshire by Mi - . Tatham, for which 

 I am indebted to my friend Mr. Watson, who not content with examining this plant with me, had the kindness to 

 collate a suite of Antarctic specimens with many hundreds of British growth. The result of this examination has 

 been, that except, perhaps, the colour of the flower, there is no constant character to distinguish the races of the 

 opposite hemispheres, neither the length of the pedicels, of the calycine segments, of the tube of the corolla, nor 

 the position of the stamens in the latter. If, again, we grant (with M. Duby) that the P. Scotica, Hook., is not 

 even a variety of P. farinosa, the length of the pedicel is of still less value, for the North Scottish individuals are 

 undistinguishable, except by the colour of the corolla, from specimens of var. (i, gathered at Cape Horn by myself, 

 and on Mount Tarn on the north shore of the Strait of Magalliaens, by Mr. Darwin, these localities being the 

 northern and southern extremes of its range in the Southern Hemisphere. 



Lastly, on comparing var. fl with foreign examples of P. farinosa, their identity is still more evident ; for the 

 latter attain the same great size in Austria that the var. /3 often does in the Falkland Islands, whilst Arctic American 

 specimens of the two are entirely alike. 



One argument which militates against the common origin of the individuals from the opposite hemispheres, 

 must not be overlooked ; it is the absence of the plant, and, indeed, of the whole genus, in any part of the Andes 

 south of 39° north lat.; a circumstance which makes it very difficult to account for its appearance in the two 

 opposite temperate zones, if all the individuals of both hemispheres are supposed to have sprung from one parent. 



Plate CXX. Fig. 1, flower ; fig. 2, the same ; fig. 3, the same laid open; fig. 4, ripe capsule ; fig. 5, seed ; 

 fig. 6, longitudinal section of the same : — all magnified. 



2. ANAGALLIS, Town. 



1. Anagallis alternifolia, Cav. Icones, vol. vi. p. 3. t. 506. f. 2. Buby in BC. Prodr. vol. x. p. 71. 



Var. densifolia, Lysiniachia repens, B'Urville, in Mem. Soc. Binn. Paris, vol. iv. p. 606. Gaud, in 

 Freyc. Foy. Bot. p. 133. Hook. Ic. Plant, t. 536. 



Hab. Strait of Magalliaens ; Port Famine, Capt. King ; Wollaston Island, C. Bancin, Esq.; Falkland 

 Islands, B'Urville, Mr. Wright, J.B.H. 



4 F 



