350 Transactions. 



Anagosperma is a monotypic genus of the Scwphukirinece, allied to but 

 distinct from Euphrasia. {Siphonidimn of Armstrong is probably tlie same, 

 according to Cheeseman.) Lastly, Townsonia is a monotypic orchid which 

 has hitherto been found only in Nelson and Westland. 



Making all allowance for differences of opinion as to what constitutes a 

 generic distinction, yet the mere occurrence of such a group of specialised 

 forms as these nine genera represent in the South Island of New Zealand 

 alone surely implies a fairly long ancestry, and it seems quite unlikely that 

 all these plants have spread from the Noilh Island since its separation 

 (if this took place in Pleistocene times), and have had time to differentiate 

 so widely from other types. 



But, leaving generic forms which are new, we find even more striking 

 evidence of specific distinctions which are highly interesting. 



(1.) There exist in the antarctic islands two species which occur in 

 other parts of the world but not in the islands to the immediate north. If 

 these islands were buried under an ice-sheet, all the vegetation must have 

 been destroyed. In what way, then, could these plants have got to their 

 present habitats within very recent times ? They are AzoreUa Selago, found 

 in Macquarie Island, and also in Kerguelen, the Crozets. Marion and Heard 

 Islands, and Fuegia ; and Cotula plumosa, found in all the antarctic islands, 

 and also in Kerguelen and the Crozets. 



(2.) Among South Island species not found in the North Island, a 

 number occur whose allies are found in other parts. I have specified 

 twenty-four species, as follows : Siminsonia novce-zealandice. the only 

 species in New Zealand, but belonging to a genus common in Australia ;: 

 Aralia LyalUi. also unique, but allied to species in America and in the 

 Northern Hemisphere ; Actinotus novce-zealandice, with a distribution similar 

 to Swainsonia : Crepis novre-zealandirp. an anomalous form, most of the 

 other species of the genus occurring in the Northern Hemisphere ; Isotoma 

 fluviatilis, similar to Swainsonia : Pernettya nana, a heath almost identical 

 with a Tasmanian species, while all the other species are American ; 

 Scutellaria novre-zealandicF, with distribution similar to the last ; Exo- 

 carpvs Bidu'illii. Poranthera )Hicroi)hyUa, Li/peranthus antarcticus, Ipkigenia 

 novce-zealandice — all four with immediate allies in Australia and other 

 regions ; Triglochin palustre, also found in South America and in the 

 Northern Hemisphere ; Centrolepis strigosa. also in Australia and Tasmania ; 

 Gaimardia setacea, whose nearest allies are in Tasmania and South America ; 

 Uncinia Sinclairii, also found in Fuegia ; Uncinia tenella, also found in 

 Australia ; Carex appressa, C. lagopina, C. trifida, and C. flava, and four 

 grasses (Stipa setacea, Agrostis magellanica, Trisetum subspicatum, and 

 Koclcria Kurtzii), all with widespread distribvition. 



(3.) In addition to these species which have their nearest relations in 

 other parts of the globe, or are themselves more or less widely distributed, 

 there is a remarkable assemblage of species peculiar to the South Island 

 or the more southern islands, and which do not range into the North Island. 

 I need not give a full list of these, but must specify the most remarkable 

 in order to show how greatly they are differentiated. They include Ranun- 

 culus Lyallii and B. Buchanani, with large white flowers, and the former 

 with great peltate leaves ; Accena glabra, which has lost the spines and 

 barbs on the calyx so characteristic of the genus ; Olearia insignis, which 

 differs from other species of the genus " in the large broadly ovoid invo- 

 lucre with the bracts in very many series, and in the pappus of perfectly 

 equal hairs " ; the singular group of large-flowered Olearias, which includes 



