Hamilton. — Notes on a Visit to Macquarie Island. 569 



Kirk says, " The palea is poorly developed, or absent in 

 many flowers. = A. multicaulis, Hook, f., and I think this 

 name should have precedence."] 



Festuca contracta, T. Kirk, n.s. [Mr. Kirk says, " Certainly 

 not F. duriuscula, L. ; but the specimens are not very good, 

 being mostly too far advanced, and many of the glumes 

 are infested with a small Spharia."} 



Aspidium aculeatum, Svvn., var. vestitum. A very coarse form, 

 with large and beautiful scales. The patches of this fern, 

 being of a very dark colour, are visible against the lighter 

 green of the Stilbocarpa and the yellow of the dead grass 

 for some distance. 



Polypodium australe, Mitt. Plentiful in clumps of Azorella 

 on the highest parts of the island. 



Lomaria alpina, Sprengl. Not seen near Lusitania, but ob- 

 tained on the west coast. 



Lycopodium billardieri, Sprengl., var. varium. The habit is 

 like that of L. selago, but denser ; the leaves are much 

 broader. Seedling plants growing amongst the stems 

 have distant oblong leaves. Found on the hills imme- 

 diately behind Lusitania Bay. 



In addition to the above plants, I also collected Tillcea 

 moschata, DC/- and two species of Cyperacese, but the whole 

 of the specimens of these were lost in the accident which 

 occurred on the homeward voyage. The mosses and lichens 

 collected were so injured by the wet, and by the delay of some 

 months which occurred before they were brought up from the 

 island, that I fear it will probably be impossible to give a list 

 of any value. 



At the time of our visit the king penguins (Aptenodytes) 

 had nearly finished their breeding-season, and the royals and 

 victorias (E. chrysoloplms and pachyrhynchus) were moulting. 

 The chief king- penguin rookery seen by us was the one at Lusi- 

 tania Bay. Here a small stream comes sparkling down under 

 the overarching leaves of the Stilbocarpa, and spreads itself 

 out over the fan-like talus of rock-fragments brought down by 

 its waters and the coarse blue shingle which composes the 

 beaches, and eventually trickles through the looser portion to 

 the sea. Moseley,t in his description of the penguin rookeries 

 at Tristan d'Acunha, gives a vivid description of the discom- 

 forts of crossing through one of these large collections of birds ; 

 so we had taken the precaution of having some strong canvas 

 leggings made, and were thus well " armed," or defended, 



* See above, Art. xliii., " Description of New Grasses from Macquarie 

 Island," by T. Kirk. 



t Moseley, H. N. : "Notes bv a Naturalist on the 'Challenger,'" 

 1879, p. 113. 



