GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION 345 



one of the most astonishing facts ever recorded 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 identically the same or 

 representing each other, and at the same time representing plants 

 of Europe not found in the intervening hot lowlands. A list of the 

 genera of plants collected on the loftier peaks of Java, raises a 

 picture of a collection made on a hillock in Europe. Still more 

 striking is the fact that peculiar Australian forms are represented 

 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 dis- 

 covered 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 Aus- 

 tralia, but not in the intermediate 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 large island. Hence, we see that certain plants growing on 

 the more lofty mountains of the tropics in all parts of the world, 

 and on the temperate plains of the north and south, are either the 

 same species or varieties of the same species. It should, however, 

 be observed that these plants are not strictly arctic forms ; for, as 

 Mr. H. C. Watson has remarked, "in receding from polar toward 

 equatorial latitudes, the alpine or mountain flora really become 

 less and less arctic." Besides these identical and closely allied 

 forms, many species inhabiting the same widely sundered areas, 

 belong to genera not now found in the intermediate tropical low- 

 lands. 



These brief remarks apply to plants alone; but some few anal- 

 ogous facts could be given in regard to terrestrial animals. In 

 marine productions, similar cases likewise occur; as an example, 

 I may quote a statement by the highest authority. Professor Dana, 

 that "it is certainly a wonderful fact that New Zealand should 

 have a closer resemblance in its Crustacea to Great Britain, its 

 antipode, than to any other part of the world." Sir J. Richardson, 

 also, speaks of the reappearance on the shores of New Zealand, 

 Tasmania, etc., of northern forms of fish. Dr. Hooker informs me 

 that twenty-five species of algae are common to New Zealand and 



