4 Melvill, Plants front the Falkland Islands. 



" on my mind as I wended my way along the narrow 

 " winding natural pathways between the separate clumps 

 " of grass, the leaves of which waved high overhead in 

 "graceful curves. The average height of the plants I 

 "should estimate as between lo and 12 feet, while the 

 " mass of roots belonging to each varied from a foot to a 

 " foot and a half, by two to three feet diameter. Among 

 " the roots, jackass penguins had formed their burrows 

 " in numbers, and as we walked through the groves we 

 " were accompanied by numerous individuals of a little 

 " dusky brown bird, the Opetiorynchus antarcticus, which, 

 "when we sat down, came quite close to us; the 

 " military starling also was common, and hardly less 

 " tame." 



The plants in following list, between 40 and 50 

 species, all found by Mr. Vallentin, are mostly also found in 

 the Magellanic region ; the Falklands possessing a very 

 meagre flora, so far as absolutely peculiar species are 

 concerned. As already shown, nothing approaching a 

 tree is to be seen, Chiliotrichum amelloidetim, a shrubby 

 composite, the Tussack Grass, and Bolax glebaria being 

 the only plants that are otherwise than stunted or 

 prostrate. 



Sir J. D. Hooker found about no species in the 

 islands, some being of very wide distribution, e.g., Ceras- 

 tium vulgatuni, C. arvense, Capsella btcrsa-pastoris, and 

 Cardamine hirsiita. No members of the families Legu- 

 minosae and Labiatae occur in the Falklands, with the 

 exception of Ulex europcsiis L., the common Furze, 

 which has been introduced by the colonists at a recent 

 date. 



