398 ALTERNATE GLACIAL PERIODS 



some few representatives of the flora of the Cape of 

 Grood Hope, occur on the mountains of Abyssinia. At 

 the Cape of Good Hope a very few European species, 

 believed not to have been introduced by man, and on the 

 mountains several representative European forms are found 

 which have not been discovered in the intertropical parts 

 of Africa. Dr. Hooker has also lately shown that several 

 of the plants living on the upper parts of the lofty island 

 of Fernando Po, and on the neighboring Cameroou Mount- 

 ains, in the Gulf of Guinea, are closely related to those on 

 the mountains of Abvssinia, and likewise to those of tem- 

 perate Europe. It now also appears, as I hear from Dr. 

 Hooker, that some of these same temperate plants have 

 been discovered by the Rev. E. T. Lowe on the mountains 

 of the Cape Verde Islands. This extension of the same tem- 

 perate forms, almost under the equator, across the whole 

 continent of Africa and to the mountains of the Cape Verde 

 archipelago, is one of the most astonishing facts ever re- 

 corded in the distribution of plants. 



On the Himalaya, and on the isolated mountain ranges 

 of the peninsula of India, on the heights of Ceylon and on 

 the volcanic cones of Java, many plants occur either identi- 

 cally the same or representing each other, and at the same 

 time representing plants of Europe not found in the inter- 

 vening hot lowlands. A list of the genera of plants col- 

 lected on the loftier peaks of Java, raises a picture of a 

 collection made on a hillock in Europe. Still more strik- 

 ing is the fact that peculiar Australian forms are repre- 

 sented by certain plants growing on the summits of the 

 mountains of Borneo. Some of these Australian forms, as 

 I hear from Dr. Hooker, extend along the heights of the 

 peninsula of Malacca, and are thinly scattered on the one 

 hand over India, and on the other hand as far north as 

 Japan. 



On the southern mountains of Australia, Dr. F. Miiller 

 has discovered several European species; other species, 

 not introduced by man, occur on the lowlands; and a long 

 list can be given, as I am informed by Dr. Hooker, of 

 European genera, found in Australia, but not in the inter- 

 mediate torrid regions. In the admirable ^^Introduction 

 to the Flora of New Zealand, ^^ by Dr. Hooker, analogous 

 and striking facts are given in regard to the plants of that 



