11 



enough for that, but the queen of our forests, if the magnolia 

 was not there with it to dispute the prize of perfection by the 

 still grander majesty of its stature, the larger size of its foliage, 

 the elegance and the perfume of its flowers. Our sense of 

 admiration for these noble trees is heightened still by the 

 dignity of their ancient origin." 



Now we have heard a great deal lately about the variability 

 of species. Whole books have been written to prove the very 

 obvious proposition that plants and animals if placed under 

 artificial conditions are likely to vary in an artificial manner. 

 We have had enough of this one-sided collection of facts 

 favourable to certain hypotheses. It is time also to say some- 

 thing about the permanence of type to be found in nature. 

 That there is something stable and fixed amidst all the varia- 

 tion of living things is absolutely certain. To pass over species, 

 it is undoubtedly true that many genera are extraordinarily 

 stable, as we have seen to be the case with the maple, the 

 oak, the tulip-tree, and so on, persisting from the chalk. 

 But an illustration from the floras of distant lands in the 

 present day will, perhaps, help us in another way to realise 

 the astonishing constancy of some generic types. Suppose 

 we take ship and get away as far as ever we can from our 

 own island, we shall find ourselves at last amid the waste 

 waters of the vast Pacific Ocean. Among these stormy waves 

 rise almost at our antipodes the small islands known as Lord 

 Auckland's group and Campbell's Island, visited by the pre- 

 sent Sir J. Dalton Hooker during the Antarctic expedition of 

 the Erebus and Terror under Sir James Ross, which lasted 

 from 1839 to 1843. Lord Auckland's group lies in 50 30' S. 

 lat. and 160 E. long.; Campbell's Island in 52 30' S. lat. and 

 169 E. long. If we consult the magnificent Flora Antarctica, 

 and gaze at the beautiful coloured portraits of the plants 

 executed by the skilful hand of Mr. Fitch, we shall almost 

 imagine ourselves landing upon these steep and desolate 

 islands, formed of volcanic rock, " ever lashed by heavy swells 

 and exposed to a succession of westerly gales." Still, in spite 

 of rain and snow and fog, these lonely spots produce a flora 

 rich in beautiful plants, a fact attributed by Sir J. D. Hooker 

 to the comparative mildness and uniformity of their oceanic 

 climate. However, what we wish at present to call atten- 

 tion to is the constancy of generic type. Any novice 

 in botany whilst exploring these lands would be able to 

 name off-hand plant after plant as belonging to genera 

 familiar to him in Great Britain. Nor would this be true only 

 of these islets, but also of all the other fragments of Antarctic 

 land, such as Kerguelen's Land, Falkland Islands, and so on. 



