JULY 123 



in to mitigate the evil have wrought dire havoc on 

 some of the native fauna. The European brown rat 

 has brought the Maori rat of New Zealand to the verge 

 of extinction; and the starling has multiplied to such a 

 prodigious extent in Australia as to defy all attempts 

 to keep it in check. Red-deer and brook trout acquire 

 dimensions on the hills and in the waters of New 

 Zealand compared with which their British progenitors 

 seem but pigmies. 



In regard to plants, I thought that I had discovered 

 an exception to the rule so lucidly expressed by Pro- 

 fessor Miall. It must be well on to fifty years since I noted 

 how the common monkey -flower (Mimulus luteus), so 

 generally cultivated for the gaiety and profusion of its 

 yellow flowers, had escaped from some garden and 

 established itself along the margin of a small burn in 

 Linlithgowshire. Since that time it has established 

 itself a welcome colonist in many parts of the 

 country. In Galloway many miles of water- course are 

 made gay with the summer embroidery of this pretty 

 herb, which undoubtedly has come to stay. Now, in 

 some gardening books, this Mimulus is stated to be a 

 native of Chile, on the faith of which statement I hailed 

 it as a colonist from the southern hemisphere, and pre- 

 pared a note thereon for a scientific journal. Luckily 

 for such shreds of credit as remain to me, before 

 dispatching the note I carried inquiry a little further, 

 and found that Mimulus luteus is a native, not of 

 Chile, but of California. It appears to have found its 

 way first to the Pacific coast of South America, 

 established itself there, whence it was carried to the 



