Cockayne. — Botanical Excursion to SotUhern Islands. 28o' 



lichen, which at a close view gives the steep rock-faces the 

 appearance of having been painted white. Above the cliffs, 

 when they are not very high, or where the coast is not rocky, 

 stretch upwards steep slopes densely covered with brownish- 

 yellow tussock. These slopes are shallowly seamed by very 

 steep gullies filled with patches of Aspidiwn vestitum and 

 Coprosnia scrub, which at a distance look like black bands 

 stretching through the tussock. 



BoUons Island is an extremely precipitous island rising out 

 of the sea to a height of 140m. . A landing can only be effected 

 in the very finest w^eather. Captain Bolions, who has once 

 landed on the island, tells me that it is clothed in places with 

 tussock and small scrub similar in appearance to that on 

 Antipodes Island. There are many petrel-burrows and sea- 

 hawk rookeries. 



Regarding the geology of the group. Hector writes (40, 

 p. 737), " Antipodes Island is the result of four distinct 

 centres pouring out scoria and basaltic lavas with enormous 

 deposits of volcanic breccia, which proves the great local 

 violence of the eruptions. The erosion of the coast-line has 

 been very slight considering the friable nature of the rock, 

 so that the eruptions must have occurred in a very late geo- 

 logical time, coincident probably with that of the Auckland 

 peninsula." Kirk (56, p. 228) describes the main island as 

 being " somewhat the shape of a ham." "The eastern ex- 

 tremity, corresponding to the shank of the ham, appears to 

 have been formed by a narrow lava-stream." " The island is 

 simply the crater of an extinct volcano, and would be roughly 

 circular in shape were it not for the lava-stream which has 

 been already mentioned." "The crateriform portion of the 

 island is surrounded by low rounded hills on three sides. It 

 is not quite certain whether the wliole island is volcanic. 

 Some distance from the landing-place I noticed what appeared 

 to be a mass of finely bedded sandstone, but could not get 

 near enough to determine its precise nature. Most of the 

 rocks observed were basaltic." Captain F. W. Hutton, who 

 visited Antipodes Island in January, 1891, informs me that 

 he considers it the remains of a submarine volcano, and that 

 probably the island has never formed a part of the mainland 

 of New Zealand at the time when the problematical island- 

 continent included what is now the Kermadec Group in the 

 north, and perhaps New Norfolk, the Chatham Islands in 

 the east, and the remainder of the Southern Islands in the 

 south — Macquarie Island perhaps excepted. 



With regard to the climate of Antipodes Island, I should 

 imagine that it is very similar to that of the other Southern 

 Islands — cloudy skies, frequent showers, a mild temperature 

 in winter but a cool summer, aad, finally, furious gales and 



