Systematic Botany.] SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 393 



Second only in importance to Eoss's expedition is that of D'Urville in the 

 " Astrolabe " and " Zelee." Leaving France in 1837, its main purpose was geo- 

 graphical discovery, and especially the exploration of the little-known antarctic 

 regions. Returning northwards in the early part of 1840, after an adventurous 

 voyage to the south polar regions, during which Adelie Land was discovered, D'Ur- 

 ville called at the Auckland Islands, his ships anchoring in Rendezvous Harbour 

 on the 11th March, 1840. A stay of nine days was made, the expedition leaving 

 for New Zealand on the 20th March. During this period important collections were 

 made, not only by Hombron and Jacquinot, the naturalists of the expedition, but also 

 by D'Urville himself. The vessels returned to France about the end of 1840. The 

 French Government, with its usual liberality in such matters, at once authorised 

 the publication of the results of the voyage, in a style which can only be described 

 as lavishly sumptuous. The history and cartography, together with memoirs in 

 all departments of science, were arranged for on an elaborate scale, and publication 

 was commenced early in 1841. But D'Urville's tragic death in a railway accident, 

 which occurred within two years of his return, delayed the progress of the work, 

 and it was not until the end of 1854 that the last memoir of the series appeared. 

 The work bears the title, " Voyage au Pole sud et dans I'Oceanie sur les corvettes 

 I'Astrolabe et la Zelee, pendant les annees 1837 a 1840," and consists of eighteen 

 octavo volumes of letterpress and seven folio volumes of plates. The botanical 

 portion, with which we are alone concerned, was edited by Hombron and Jacquinot, 

 and consists of a volume of plates and two volumes of letterpress. The plates, 

 which were put in hand the first, were several years in preparation, and some of them 

 must have been separately issued in advance of the rest, for Hooker quotes several 

 in the " Flora Antarctica," published in 1844-45. Their appearance was further 

 delayed by the death of Hombron, so that it was 1852 before they were actually 

 issued as a whole. As representations of the species they are excellent — in fact, 

 some of them are exquisite works of art ; but the arrangement and nomenclature 

 are both open to serious criticism. The total number of plates is sixty-five, illus- 

 trating 170 species, and forty-eight of them are devoted to plants from the Auckland 

 Islands. The first volume of the letterpress, containing the cellular cryptogams, 

 was intrusted to the well-known cryptogamist Montague, and appeared in 1845. 

 The second volume, containing the phanerogams and vascular cryptogams, was to 

 have been written by Hombron. After his death a long delay ensued, but the work 

 was eventually taken up by the eminent botanist Decaisne, and was published in 

 1853. So far as I can estimate, the total number of species collected by the French 

 Expedition is about 100, of which seventy-five are lower cryptogams, and twenty- 

 five phanerogams and vascular cryptogams. 



The United States Exploring Expedition, under the command of Commodore 

 Wilkes, was engaged from 1838 to 1842 in a voyage of discovery in various parts 

 of the world. On the 26th December, 1839, the expedition, which consisted of four 

 vessels, left Sydney for a cruise to the south polar regions. During the outward 

 voyage, the " Peacock," one of the ships comprising the expedition, called at Mac- 

 quarie Island, and with great difficulty succeeded in landing two men in a small bay 

 on the western side of the island. Some penguins and other birds were obtained ; but 

 the only reference made to the vegetation in Wilkes's " Narrative " (vol. 2, p. 290), 

 is contained in the words, " The island is apparently covered with verdure, although 



