82 POPULAR GEOGRAPHY OF PLANTS, 



with in the Polar regions, that in the total absence of trees 

 and even shrubs, at the present day, there are fossil remains 

 of trees and numerous beds of coal there, which afford 

 abundant proof that at one period this land was clothed 

 with forests,, which have been destroyed by " the successive 

 overflowings of volcanic matter," till the country was re- 

 duced to the "state of almost vegetable desolation" in which 

 it now exists. 



But why spend our time and thought on such a poor and 

 starved set of plants as we should meet with here, when 

 a world of wonders and an inexhaustible source of interest 

 exists in the submarine vegetable kingdom ? the seaweeds 

 being, in this part of the globe, amongst the most important 

 features of vegetation. (Plate YI.) It has not indeed been 

 attempted or intended to include the geographical distri- 

 bution of seaweeds in these chapters ; but where they play 

 so conspicuous a part as they do in these regions, it would 

 be a manifest error to omit all mention of them. 



Prom so rich a store as Dr. Hooker's f Plora Antarctica' we 

 are sure we may borrow some account of those " wonders of 

 the deep," which those only who " go down to the sea in 

 ships" are privileged to see. Three seaweeds are particularly 

 mentioned as the most remarkable in the Antarctic regions, 



