242 REPOET— 1891. 



series of pendulum observations should be taken at points as 

 near as possible to the Pole. Within the Arctic Circle the 

 pendulum makes about 240 more vibrations per day than it 

 does at the equator. The vibrations increase in number there 

 because the force of gravity at the earth's surface is more in- 

 tense in that area, and this, again, is believed to be due to the 

 obiateness of that part of the earth's figure ; but it might be 

 caused by the bodily approach to the surface at the Poles of 

 the masses of dense ultra-basic rocks just referred to. Thus, 

 pendulum experiments may reveal to us the earth's figure, and 

 a series of such observations recorded, from such a vast and 

 untried area, must yield important data for the physicist to 

 work up. We should probably learn from such investigations 

 whether the earth's figure is as much flattened at the Antarctic 

 as it is known to be at the Arctic. 



We now know that in the past the North Polar regions have 

 enjoyed a temperate climate more than once. Abundant seams 

 of Palaeozoic coal, large deposits of fossiliferous Jurassic rocks, 

 and extensive Eocene beds, containing the remains of evergreen 

 and deciduous trees and flowering plants, occur far within the 

 Arctic Circle. This circumstance leads us to wonder whether 

 the corresponding southern latitudes have ever experienced 

 similar climatic vicissitudes. Conclusive evidence on this point 

 it is difficult to get, but competent biologists who have ex- 

 amined the floras and faunas of South Africa and Australia, of 

 New Zealand, South America, and the isolated islets of the 

 Southern Ocean, find features which absolutely involve the ex- 

 istence of an extensive Antarctic land— a land which must have 

 been clothed with a varied vegetation, and have been alive 

 with beasts, birds, and insects. As it also had its fresh-water 

 fishes, it must have had its rivers flowing and not frost-bound, 

 and in those circumstances we again see indications of a modi- 

 fied Antarctic climate. 



Let us briefly consider some of the evidence for the exist- 

 ence of this continent. We are told by Professor Hutton 

 that 44 per cent, of the New Zealand flora is of Antarctic 

 origin. The Auckland, Campbell, and Macquarie Islands all 

 support Antarctic plants, some of which appear never to have 

 reached New Zealand. New Zealand and South America have 

 three flowering plants in common, also two fresh- water fishes, 

 five seaweeds, three marine crustaceans, one marine mollusc, 

 and one marine fish. Similarly, New Zealand and Africa 

 have certain common forms, and the floras and faunas of the 

 Kerguelen, the Crozets, and the Marion Islands are almost 

 identical, although in each case the islands are very small and 

 very isolated from each other, and from the rest of the world. 

 Tristan d'Acunha has fifty-eight species of marine Mollusca, of 

 which number thirteen are also found in South America, six or 



