170 Dr. Hooker's Flora A)ttarctica. 



extinction could follow the absence of this, the largest vegetable 

 production in the Falklands, which does not even support a par- 

 asitical fungus. These same sea-birds breed or burrow where 

 no Tussock grows ; rocks elsewhere suit the sea-lion's habits 

 equally well ; and the sparrow, which subsists on other food 

 eleven months of the year, could surely make a shift without 

 this for the twelfth. Certain it is that the Tussock might yet 

 be unknown and unprized amongst plants, if cattle had not been 

 introduced to its locality by man : who thus became, first the in- 

 jurer, and then the protector and propagator of the existence ol 

 this noble grass ; for the herbivorous quadrupeds which he car- 

 ried to the Falklands and left there, were surely extirpating the 

 Tussock, when man returned, and by protecting, perpetuating 

 and transporting it to other countries, he has wisely dispersed it. 

 It appears singular that so striking a grass should abound where 

 there is no native herbivorous animal to profit by its luxuriance; 

 but it is no less certain that had not civilization interfered, the 

 Tussock might have waved its green leaves undisturbed over the 

 waters of the stormy Antarctic Ocean, forever perhaps, or until 

 some fish, fowl, or seal, should be so far tempted by the luxuri- 

 ance of its foliage as to trangress the laws of nature, and to 

 adapt its organs to the digestion and enjoyment of this long 

 neglected gift of a bounteous Providence.*' 



But we must not pass by the interesting account of the two 



a ; 



weed 



Macrosystis 



fi 



the Falklands, &c, that the subjoined remarks are appended. 



" This and the following are truly wonderful Alga, whether 

 seen in the water or on the beach ; for they are arborescent, di- 

 chotomously branched trees, with the branches pendulous and 

 again divided into sprays, from which hang linear leaves 1-3 feet 

 long. The trunks are usually about 5-10 feet long, as thick as 

 the human thigh, rather contracted at the very base, and again 

 diminishing upwards. The individual plants are attached in 

 groups or solitary, but gregarious, like the pine or oak, extending 

 over a considerable surface, so as to form a miniature forest, 

 which is entirely s ibmei I during high- water or even half-tide, 

 but whose topmost branches project above the surface at the ebb. 

 To sail m a boat over these groves on a fine day, affords the nat- 

 uralist a delightful recreation; for he may there witness, in the 

 Antarctic regious, and below the surface of the ocean, as busy a 

 scene as is presented by the coral reefs of the tropics. The 

 leaves of the Lessonia are crowded with Sertularice and Mollus- 

 ca, or encrusted with Flustrce ; on the trunks parasitic Alg<* 

 abound, together with Chitons, Patella;, and other shells; at the 

 bases, and among the tangled roots, swarm thousands of Crusta- 

 cea and Radiata, whilst fish of several species dart amongst the 





