The Antarctic 



So we see that of these fifty plants only 3 or 6 per 

 cent, are also found in South Africa, 8 per cent, are 

 found in the South Seas, and 4 per cent, occur in Borneo 

 or in Japan. The number which are more or less fleshy, 

 and probably carried by birds, amounts to 30 per cent., 

 to which the two spiny forms have to be added. The 

 neat little fishhook of Oreomyrrhis is beautifully con- 

 trived to catch in the feathers of a bird. This would 

 make 34 per cent, carried by birds, which is an unusu- 

 ally high proportion. The wind-carried seeds amount to 

 about 22 per cent., which is not above the average in 

 most places. 



Further details must be sought for in Dr. Reiche's 

 valuable monograph on the Vegetation of Chile, from 

 which this table has been compiled. 



It is extremely difficult to give any realistic account 

 of the sort of beechwood which exists on the storm- 

 battered slopes of Fuegia and South-Western Chile. 



It is very rarely seen, for snowstorms or sheets of rain 

 driven by a furious westerly gale generally prevent any 

 view of them. The wood is mainly antarctic beech, 

 gnarled, much-branched, stunted and miserable-looking, 

 crouching in the hollows of the hills, and not climbing 

 very high up the slopes. These woods are exceedingly 

 difficult to get through, always dripping with moisture 

 and with a saturated peaty or mossy soil underfoot. 

 Even from the short list given, it will be noticed that 

 there are fine ornamental shrubs represented (Gual- 

 theria, Pernettya, &c.), but there are many others, 

 such as Fuchsias and Desfontainesia, which belong to 

 the American group, and have colonised southwards. 

 Above the beechwoods are the alpine green cushions 

 composed of moss-like flowering plants as well as peaty 

 mosses, stretches of what look like grass or sedge, and 

 on the summit black rocks and pure white permanent 

 snowfields. 



106 



