THE COLDEE TEMPERATE ZONE. 81 



hours ; at a distance the rocky mountains appear bare of 

 vegetation." 



These islands are an instance of the dissimilarity of vege- 

 tation in the corresponding latitudes of the two hemispheres : 

 though they lie in the same latitude as England does on the 

 other side of the globe, there are " only three plants found 

 there which are indigenous in our own island/' When 

 compared with other countries in the Southern Hemisphere, 

 Dr. Hooker finds a greater resemblance to the flora of New 

 Zealand than to any other. The vegetation shows never- 

 theless an incipient leaning to an Antarctic character in 

 some respects, whilst on the other hand there is a kind of 

 anticipation of sights with which we shall become more fa- 

 miliar under a warmer sky, in the tree-like form which the 

 Ferns begin to assume in Campbell Island, which is the 

 nearest latitude to the pole in which this tendency has yet 

 been observed. 



It is very remarkable that Kerguelen's Land, though it 

 lies rather nearer the equator than the last-named islands 

 (in about 50 south latitude, and 70 east longitude), has a 

 much more Antarctic character. " Even in Spitzbergen there 

 are nearly three times as many flowering plants as there." 

 The same curious fact occurs in this island too, which we met 



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