274 



Tropical America, and took on its special character during tlie 

 elevation of the Andes, so that the existing differences between 

 Chile on the one hand and Brazil-Argentine on the other are 

 fundamental. The old Antarctic element is also important in this 

 forest-flora, giving several of the species of trees, as Eucrypkia 

 cordifalia, Nothofagus Dombeyi, Fitzroya patagonica, and 

 Laurelia spp. The Magellanic flora is composed of the same 

 general elements as the Valdivian, but the Chilean species are 

 less prominent, while the old Antarctic forms are more so. 

 There are in South America remnants of an old Antarctic flora, 

 which is also strongly represented in New Zealand, and also 

 species of a New Zealand flora which is more weakly represented. 

 Nothing is known of the composition of the vegetation 

 immediately before the Ice Age. It apears from the fossil 

 record of South Patagonia and Fuegia that the climate of the 

 Miocene Period was warmer and damper than that of the present. 

 It is also probable that many types had wider distribution before 

 the climate became too cold than they now have. Thus im- 

 mediately before the Glacial Period forests of Andine character 

 with Libocedrus and Podocarpus apparently occurred in the 

 Falklands. The wind conditions were, similar to those now 

 existing, that is, the western slopes of the Andes acted as a 

 weather-shield, and were probably covered with evergreen 

 1 beeches.' At the time of maximum glaciation plants emigrated 

 northwards or found refuge in the South Chilean coast Cor- 

 dilleras and also in Chiloe, where many subantarctic types may 

 still be found. With the diminution of the ice the northern 

 species migrated back to their old stations. The first vegetation 

 to establish itself would consist of moor and heath plants with 

 trees of the type of Nothofagus aiit(u-etica—>ml\ vegetation 

 indeed as is found to-day near the great glaciers. Some species 

 may have survived in specially favoured localities, but most of 

 the present flora is more likely to have come (largely returned) 

 from the North. 



The Falklands. (12, 20, 23.) 



The taxonomic constitution of the Falkland flora is fairly well 

 known, and, except in a few details, Skottsberg's work has added 

 little to the researches of older botanists in thi> direction. It is 

 in his ecological surveys of the group, and his well-considered 

 accounts of the geographical relationships and origin of the flora 

 that he has chiefly increased our knowledge. 



The monotonv of the landscape alwavs strikes a visitor to the 

 Falklands. The gently undulating country is scarcely relieved 

 on the hills by an occasional mass of grey, naked quartzite, 

 or in the lowlands by extensive swamps, whose vivid green 

 colour causes them to stand out sharply against the darker 

 heath. The Falklands were never glaciated in the strict sense 

 of the term, but the severer climate of the Glacial Epoch 

 caused the accumulation of great snow-masses in the winter, 



which melting quickly in spring, flooded the land. The poor 

 vegetation was unable to bind the ground, and srreat masses 

 of semi-fluid soil originated from the soft weathered sandstone. 





