130 NEW ZEALAND PLANTS. 
altogether absent; densely growing shrubs clothe the lower slopes 
and fill the gullies. In Antipodes Island a few lines or patches of 
shrubs show as dark spots amongst the all-prevailing tussock, while 
on Macquarie Island woody plants are wanting. 
The islands mentioned in the foregoing paragraph, together with 
the Snares, the Bounty Islands, and Macquarie Island, form the 
New Zealand subantarctic islands. They lie in the South Pacific 
Ocean, between the parallels of 54° 44’ and 47° 43’ south latitude, 
and 159° 49’ and 179° east longitude. The distance and direction 
of each of these groups from the South Cape of Stewart Island are 
respectively : The Snares, 60 miles south-west ; the Lord Auckland 
Islands, 190 miles south by west; Campbell Island, 330 miles 
south by east; the Antipodes Islands, 490 miles east-south-east ; 
Macquarie Island, 570 miles south-west by south; the Bounty 
Islands, 490 miles east. 
The total number of species of ferns, their kin, and seed-plants 
for the New Zealand subantarctic islands, taken together, is 188, 
belonging to 34 families and 89 genera. Taking the groups of 
islands separately, the number of species in each is as follows: 
Snares, 22; Lord Auckland Islands, 155; Campbell Island, 112; 
Antipodes Islands, 56; and Macquarie Island, 34. With regard to 
the families, only 3 (the fern, grass, and daisy families) have more 
than 20 species each. The orchid and sedge families have 11 and 10 
species respectively ; the rush family has 9 species; the coprosma 
and carrot families have each 6 species; and the buttercup, willow- 
herb, cress, and chickweed families have each 5 species. 
There is a considerable number of endemic species, the total 
being 53—z1.e., almost 30 per cent. of the flora. Hach group of 
islands possesses its own peculiar species—Snares, 2; Lord Auck- 
lands, 6; Campbell, 5; Antipodes, 4; and Macquarie, 3. One genus, 
Pleurophyllum, consisting of most distinct and remarkable species, is 
endemic. Taking the endemic species as a whole, some 32 have no 
really near relatives in any part of the earth, so must be considered 
extremely old. All the remainder have cousins in New Zealand 
proper, so they or their relatives are of no great age, so far as 
old age counts in the world of plants. 
The forest of the Lord Auckland Islands consists for the most 
part of the southern rata (Metrosideros lucida), blazing with crimson 
in the summer-time. The other associated trees and shrubs are 
the haumakoroa (Nothopanax simplex), the evil- smelling karamu 
