Notice of Dr. Hooker’s Flora of New Zealand. 337 
that there have been cultivated, within the last seventy years in 
the open air of England (at Kew), upwards of 20,000 species of 
plants from all quarters of the globe, and this within a space that, 
had it been left to nature, would not have contained 200 indige- 
nous species. The fact that an overwhelming proportion of 
these have come up true to their parent, and have continued so 
under every possible disadvantage of transportation and trans- 
plantation, of altered seasons, and amount and distribution of 
temperature and humidity, of unsuitable soil and exposure, and 
of the multitude of errors which unavoidable ignorance of their 
natural locality and habit engenders: such appears to me the 
most forcible argument in favor of the power of plants to retain 
their original characters under altered circumstances.” 
The validity of the last inference is unquestionable and valua- 
ble. As long as the plants survived, they doubtless retained their 
characters. But the value of the general statement, as respects 
its bearing upon the natural diffusion of species, depends much 
on the answer to the question, how long did the majority of the 
Species survive. We should like to know how large a propor- 
tion continued beyond the first two or three years, even with all 
the advantages of being looked after by the gardener. 
- But, returning to the general question, we remark, that there is 
little or no reason to expect a similarity between plants and ani- 
mals in this respect. From the nature of.the case we should 
Suppose that the latter, at least that land-animals, would be much 
more local than plants. 
€ give to our readers the whole of the third section; as 
some of the statemeuts, especially those that relate to the proba- 
ble number of vegetable species known, are likely to excite some 
surprise. 
their distribution : an extensive knowledge of the subject is only to be 
tained by actual observation over large areas, and many of them, or 
by the study and comparison of the contents of many museums. It 
ha ers . 
ing Species, which has always been a favorite pursuit of mine. I have 
further had the advantage of collating my results with the largest and 
€st-named botanical collections in the world, and have received a 
greater amount of assistance from my fellow naturalists than has fallen 
fo the lot of most: facts which in ordinary cases are the result of long 
Study and much consultation have been placed at my disposal rather 
than worked out by myself. A very extended examination of these 
‘Materials has only tended to confirm the view which originated in my 
