WATURE 
[Marcu 18, 1897 
. 
evolved as the result of the selection of favourable lines 
of variation ; and the constant need of ready adaptation 
has even resulted in the acquirement of a relatively large 
“modulus of plasticity” (if the expression may be 
allowed) in the case of the individual plant, both in 
respect of its inner and of its outer characters. And it 
is just this, coupled with the admittedly adaptive nature 
of the tissues and their elements, which renders it diffi- 
cult to appeal to the results of anatomical investigations 
in attempting to solve questions of affinity. But enough 
has been said to show that anatomical characters have 
each and all to be judged on their own independent 
merits ; and if proper caution be employed in their dis- 
crimination, they are found, after all, to be not different 
in kind from the characters which are regularly em- 
ployed by systematists. At the same time, as was said 
at the outset, it is assuredly the biological, rather than 
the (perhaps no less important) phylogenetic, aspect of 
anatomy which most forcibly appeals to the greater 
number of students, and it is from this point of view 
that the subject is treated by Prof. Haberlandt. 
The new edition is in many respects a great improve- 
ment on the old one. It contains 550 pages as against 
398, and the number of illustrations has been increased 
from 140 to 235. As regards the latter, however, it must 
be confessed that new blocks would have been a very 
great improvement, the sadly-worn figures in the present 
edition comparing very unfavourably with those of 1884. 
The extension of the book has been chiefly due to the 
incorporation of new matter; but in several places we 
note that whole paragraphs have been recast in order to 
bring their contents into line with the present state of 
our knowledge. The book as it stands may fairly claim 
to be up to date, at any rate so far as German literature 
is concerned. We observe, however, that for the most 
part reference to work done in this country is con- 
spicuous by its absence, and the name of one of the few 
English authors who are referred to appears (doubtless by 
an overlooked printer’s error) under a Germanised form. 
But it would be ungracious to continue to pick holes in a 
work which in nearly every respect is admirable, alike in 
its method and its matter, and which will earn for its 
author the gratitude of all who are seriously interested 
n botany. J: 235eke 
EXPLORING IN THE NEW ZEALAND ALPS. 
Pioneer Workin the Alps of New Zealand: a Record 
of the First Exploration of the Chief Glaciers and 
Ranges of the Southern Alps. By Arthur E. Harper, 
B.A. Pp. xvi + 336. With maps and illustrations. 
(London ; T. Fisher Unwin, 1896.) 
RAVELLING in the Alps of New Zealand is much 
rougher and more difficult work than in those of 
Europe. Inns are all but unknown, chalets and club- 
huts non-existent ; guides, even porters, not to be ob- 
tained ; the weather is more unsettled and stormy. Mr. 
Harper is evidently the right man for the work. He is 
strong and enduring, patient and resolute, not daunted 
by difficulties or dangers. His opportunities for obtain- 
ing a knowledge of the Southern Alps of New Zealand 
have been exceptional, for, after making holiday expedi- 
NO. 1429, VOL. 55] 
tions in the Tasman district, from 1889 to 1892, he was 
employed by the Government, in the three following 
years, to explore the valleys and glaciers of the west 
coast of the south island. Thus his book differs from 
that by Mr. FitzGerald, which we lately noticed, in being 
one of exploration rather than of mountain climbing. On 
this point, as we can see from the present volume, and 
from a correspondence inthe A/pine Journal, some little 
soreness has been created, particularly in regard to a 
certain pass lying to the north of Mount Sefton, by which 
the chain can be crossed without any serious difficulty. 
Mr. Harper, in the earlier part of his book, gives an 
excellent description of the physical geography of the 
Southern Alps of New Zealand. As a mountain chain 
they resemble the Pyrenees more closely than the Alps 
of Europe ; they are rather more elevated than the one, 
but distinctly lower than the other. Mount Cook, the 
culminating summit (which Mr. Harper tells us ought 
not to be called Aorangi, for it has no native name), only 
reaches 12,349 feet above sea level, about the height of 
the well-known Cima de Jazi in the Zermatt Alps. Yet, 
though the higher region of the Southern Alps lies 
between latitudes 43° and 45° S.—say, for instance, 
between Turin and the north end of Corsica—the snow- 
line comes down to between 6000 and 6500 feet, and 
occasionally, under rather exceptional circumstances, it is 
as low as 5000 feet. The same holds with the ice 
streams ; the Tasman glacier on the eastern side ending 
at 2354 feet, and the Franz Josef, on the western, at only 
692 feet above sea-level. But the mean annual tempera- 
ture is nearly the same in both regions, so that the differ- 
ence is mainly due to greater precipitation, which in the 
higher part of the ranges is probably equivalent to a 
rainfall of at least 140 inches, for it is 126 inches at 
Hokitika on the western coast. 
Mr. Harper, as he regretfully admits, knows but little 
geology ; still he is a close observer, and has placed on 
record some interesting facts about the New Zealand 
glaciers, their rate of motion and distribution. They also, 
as is well known, once extended far beyond their present 
limits ; the erratics, which they have left in the West- 
land valleys, are often of enormous size, and the old mo- 
raines are on a great scale. One of the Cascade moraines 
once extended some distance out to sea. The glaciers 
from the mountains, in Mr. Harper’s opinion, formerly 
debouched from the valleys, and spread out laterally on 
the lowland, either becoming confluent or, at any rate, 
covering a very large area ; on their retreat they left both 
districts covered with huge piles of moraine débris, from 
which the valley terraces were cut by the rivers. The 
facts mentioned by Mr. Harper make this inference a 
very probable one. The Cascade moraine, he says, is 
stratified, and sea-shells are found in some of the layers 
well inland. A few more particulars about this stratifi- 
cation would have been welcome, especially as to its 
nature and height above the present sea level. Stratifica- 
tion, no doubt, is sometimes exhibited by the older 
moraines in the Swiss Alps; but this, so far as we have 
seen, is always faint. All talus heaps have a slight ten- 
dency to assume this structure, owing to a kind of sorting 
process which goes on among their materials ; but the 
occurrence of marine shells seems to indicate a sub- 
mergence, during which the ice terminated actually in 
