308 Transactions. — Botany. 



hrovwides, but some of the most common meadow-plants will 

 be found only on rocky crevices or in the bottoms of unburnt 

 gullies, while other plants formerly kept in check by the 

 vegetation-conditions of the island will have increased to a 

 remarkable extent, some actually becoming "weeds," unless 

 their spread is again checked by some foreign species which 

 may get into the flora. At any rate, after a time equilibrium 

 will be once more restored, and formations apparently natural 

 come into being in harmony with the new biotic surroundings. 

 Under such a condition of affairs sonie of the then rarest plants 

 icill have formerly been tlie most common, and some of the com- 

 monest have been comparatively rare, and have been confined 

 originally to quite different stations. Thus, originally common 

 meadow-plants may be only rare and local on rocks, and 

 small rare and local rock-grasses may be the chief meadow- 

 grasses. Such facts as "these seem to me to have a distinct 

 bearing on plant-distribution in the civilised countries of the 

 Old World. 



VI. History of the Flora of the Southern Islands. 



To deal at all exhaustively with the history of the flora of 

 the Southern Islands would necessitate going into the origin 

 of the whole New Zealand flora, an undertakmg altogether 

 too great for a paper such as this. All that can be attempted 

 here is to give some details regarding the elements of which 

 the flora is composed, and to make some remarks as to its 

 possible origin, specially referring to any matter contained in 

 what has gone before that sheds light on this subject. 



The elements of the flora are three — an endemic, a 

 Fuegian, and a New Zealand, this latter itself a complex, but 

 here treated as a single element. Only the spermaphytes are 

 here considered. The presence of pteridophytes easily spread 

 by wind is of no very great importance in any discussion 

 regarding the presence of identical forms on laud-areas 

 separated by wide stretches of ocean. 



The total number of spermaphytes, counting both species 

 and well-marked varieties, is 138, of which 54, or 39 per cent., 

 are endemic; 26, or 188 per cent., Fuegian; 7, or 5 per 

 cent., Fuegian which do not extend to New Zealand ; and 58, 

 or 43*1 per cent.. New Zealand, excluding the New Zea- 

 land - Fuegian element, consisting of 19 species. After some 

 hesitation I have included two species which extend to the 

 Chatham Islands amongst the endemic plants. 



If we now consider the endemic element, it may be divided 

 into two classes — viz., those species found in only one island 

 of the group and those occurring on more than one. Of the 

 former there are 25 species, which are thus distributed : 

 Auckland Islands, 10; Campbell Island, 7; Antipodes Is- 



