90 PROCEEDINGS OF THE LINNEAN SOCIETY. 



of New Zealand aud the severance of Tasmania from its parent 

 continent. 



In the lon<i[ perspective of past time Antarctica appears to fade 

 and form lilie a sumn)er cloud, now extondinf^ a limb, now shedding 

 it, now resolving into a continent, now dissolving into an archi- 

 pelago. At present it lies dead and cold under its white winding- 

 sheet of snow. By the light of the magician's lamp we watch the 

 summer of the cycles dawn. The glow of life returns, the ice 

 mask melts, green spreads a mantle. At last a vision comes of 

 rippling brooks, of singing birds, of blossoming flowers, and of 

 forest glades in the heart of Antarctica. 



