406 Transactions. 



magnificent. ; ' As the traveller walks amongst them his feet 

 crash through the horizontal leaves as though he were walking 

 on thin ice." On Campbell Island he notices that the plant here 

 differs from that of the Auckland Islands : the leaves are larger, 

 rather narrower, and more or less erect ; thev are invariably 

 clothed with jointed or moniliform hairs mixed with straight 

 tomentum, a character which is rare or absent from the Auckland 

 Island form. " It is noteworthy that these differences, although 

 of a trivial character, have proved constant under cultivation 

 during ten years."* 



' In winter the huge leaves are altogether wanting and the 

 rosettes are small and bright-green in colour, the leaves pressed 

 closely against the ground. These rosettes vary considerably in 

 size according to their position with regard to wind and light, 

 those of shady gullies being much larger than those of the hill- 

 side."f 



On Campbell Island the plant is found where the ground is 

 fairly wet, " its leaves larger and less decayed than in the meadow 

 formation of Auckland Island " (p. 273). It is also found at 

 higher levels in the tussock meadow, and still higher in the 

 subalpine tussock, where the ground presents all the conditions 

 necessary for a true bog formation. 



The habit of the plant in forming these huge rosettes of leaves 

 tightly pressed on the ground is of distinct advantage to it in 

 resisting the severe winds which sweep over these open for- 

 mations where the plant occurs. The leaves are so situated as 

 to form a kind of cup in the centre. During rain this cup quickly 

 fills with water, which soaks rapidly through the leaf-bases, 

 bringing fresh rain-water to the roots. The leaves also become 

 thoroughly wetted, their numerous hairs helping to hold the 

 moisture, and it is probable that these also assist in the supply 

 of pure water through their power of absorbing such, as sug- 

 gested by Diels.J 



Anatomy (figs. 17a, 176). — The plant growing on the rockery 

 is not thriving very well, the rosette being very small, just 6 in. 

 in diameter, and the largest leaves only 3 in. long. I did not 

 venture, therefore, to injure it in any way by cutting at the 

 leaves, and examined only a portion of the leaf in spirit. 

 The chlorophyll is therefore undistinguishable. Fig. 17a is 

 taken through one of the prominent ribs on the under sur- 

 face, and shows the position and structure of the vascular 

 bundle (v.b.). Fig. 176 is a section through the mesophyll tissue 



* Kirk (1891), p. 224. 



t Cockayne (1903), p. 258. 



I Cockayne (1903), p. 259. 



