1905] CURRENT LITERATURE 157 
of the characteristic bog plants are just as characteristic of dry as of wet xerophytic 
situations; this is true of Olearia, and notably so of Phormium tenax, the 
aland flax. This plant, once so abundant, is being exterminated by fires 
and grazing animals, and is now almost confined to the seemingly opposite habitats 
rocks and lake margins. Fires have wrought great destruction to the native flora 
and as a result there are vast areas dominated by the typical fireweed, Pferis 
esculenta; the exotic Rubus fruticosus also covers large areas. 
DENDYS has also written concerning the flora of Chatham Island. He thinks 
that the absence of many characteristic New Zealand types is due to the absence 
of many typical New Zealand habitats, such as alpine and other xerophytic situa- 
tions, as well as to the long time that has elapsed since the islands were connected 
with New Zealand; even when there was a land connection, it is likely that much 
of it was a desert, and hence a barrier to many forms. 
An earlier paper by Cockayne® deals with the vegetation of the New Zealand 
mainland, in the neighborhood of the Waimakariri River. In this paper there 
are brought out the characteristic features of the eastern and western climatic 
regions, and their various edaphic formations.—H. C. CowLrs 
THE PREMATURE decease of Nicoras ALBOFF has been much mourned by 
plant geographers. His studies in Fuegia have been edited and issued by EUGENE 
UTRAN,’ who has published as a preface an appreciative biographical sketch, 
together with a bibliography and an excellent portrait. In the historical sum- 
mary, especial praise is given to the work of Hooker more than half a century 
ago. There are two dominant formations, the forest and the moor. ‘The forests 
are extremely dense and luxuriant, and bear witness to the humidity and uniform- 
ity of the climate. The forest floor has a wealth of bryophytes and filmy ferns. 
Extreme floristic poverty characterizes these forests, only two tree species being 
present: Fagus antarctica and F. betuloides. Moors occur where the forest can- 
not exist, either through exposure or soil moisture. Kerguelen Island, 140° 
distant, represents, from a floristic standpoint, the farthest point reached by this 
Fuegian flora. The balsam bogs or dry moors, so characteristic of the Falkland 
Islands, are also found in Fuegia. Fifty-three per cent. of the species are endemic. 
The most interesting elements in the flora are the neozelandian and boreal. 
OFF agrees with most authors in holding to an ancient antarctic continent or 
archipelago, as accounting for the similar floras throughout antarctic regions. 
The long-known and most perplexingly large boreal element has been a stumbling 
’ Denby, A., The Chatham Islands; a ole in biology. Manchester Memoirs 
46: 1-29. r902 See Bot. Cent ay 9. 19 
Cockayne, L., A eels of the plant ineeste of the Waimakariri River Basin, 
Considered chiefly from an oecological point of view. Trans. N. Z. Inst. 32: 95-136. 
goo 
si Apo, Nicos, Essai de flore raisonnée de la Terre de Feu. Anales del 
Museo de La Plata. Seccién Botanica. I. pp: vit+85 +xxili. With portrait. La 
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