GENERAL INTRODUCTION 27 



a larger proportion of endemic species than a typical con- 

 tinental island usually does. Nevertheless, there are many 

 reasons for the belief that the ancestral stock from which New 

 Zealand plant and animal life originated, was a continental one. 

 Before attempting to answer more precisely the question : 

 " Whence has our plant life come?" we must try to decide as 

 far as possible how long the present flora has been in 

 existence, and whether we must look for its ancestry here, or 

 in some foreign land. 



THE AGE OF THE FLORA. 



There is a common but erroneous opinion, that the New 

 Zealand flora shows marks of exceptional antiquity. There 

 are perhaps several groups of facts which have led to this 

 mistake. (1) Many of the New Zealand geological formations 

 are of great age. New Zealand is an old land. (2) The 

 almost complete absence of indigenous mammalia, and the 

 presence of certain ancient forms of animal life, e.g. Peripatus 

 Sphenodon, (the tuatara, etc.), prove the unusual age of 

 the fauna. (3) The remarkable development of fern trees 

 and of club-mosses, and the comparative absence of large and 

 showy flowers seem almost to imply antiquity for the flora. 



But none of these facts are sufficient to justify the belief. 

 The high age of part of the rocks and of the fauna is not a 

 necessary proof of the antiquity of the flora. Plants can 

 transport themselves over barriers insurmountable to animals. 

 Few wingless land animals can cross five hundred miles of 

 sea, yet we have evidence that this has been done by the seeds 

 of many plants. Hence, a comparatively young flora may 

 sometimes be found living in company with a much more 

 ancient fauna. We must, therefore, rely entirely on the evi- 

 dence of the plants themselves for determining their antiquity 

 or otherwise. Hooker, it is true, states that the New Zea- 

 land lycopods " are the largest of the order, and present nearer 



