Systematic Botany.] SUBANTARCTlC ISLANDS OF 



NEW 



ZEALAND. 









453 



SUMMARY. 



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Snares . . 



23 



2 



8-7 



17 



73-9 



7 



30-4 



10 



43-4 



5 



21-7 



Auckland Islands . . 





158 



6 



3-7 



117 



74-0 



47 



29-7 



35 



22-1 



16 



10-1 



Campbell Island . . 





118 



4 



3-3 



79 



66-9 



33 



27-9 



30 



25-4 



13 



11-0 



Antipodes Island . . 





57 



4 



7-0 



40 



70-1 



19 



33-3 



18 



31-5 



13 



22-8 



Macqiiarie Island . . 





28 



3 



10-7 



15 



53-6 



9 



32-1 



11 



39-0 



10 



35-7 



Southern islands as a whole 





194 



53 



27-3 



133 



68-5 



53 



27-3 



41 



21-1 



20 



10-3 



New Zealand as a whole . . 





1,571 



1,143 



72-1 



•• 





366 



23-3 



108 



6-8 



23 



1-4 



V. AFFINITIES OF THE FLOEA, WITH SUGGESTIONS AS TO ITS PREVIOUS HISTORY. 



In the enumeration of the species and in the foregoing " tabular view " I have 

 endeavoured to briefly state the geographical distribution, so far as it is known at 

 present, of the species constituting the florula of the islands to the south of New 

 Zealand. Before proceeding further, it will be well to say a few words respecting the 

 position, physical features, and vegetation of the various land-masses situated within 

 similar parallels of latitude, or placed contiguous to those parallels, either to the 

 north or the south. And it will be convenient to commence with the ice-clad lands 

 surrounding the South Pole, to which the name Antarctic Continent is now com- 

 monly and appropriately applied. 



The great activity with which antarctic exploration has been pursued during the 

 last ten or fifteen years has resulted in furnishing us with more precise ideas regarding 

 the extent of the Antarctic Continent, and in disclosing many of its more remarkable 

 physical features. It is now tolerably certain that the South Pole stands almost 

 in the centre of a vast land area stretching uninterruptedly from Sabrina Land, far 

 to the south of Australia, to Graham Land, immediately to the south of Fuegia, a 

 distance of over 3,000 miles. The smallest diameter of this land-mass cannot be 

 much less than the distance (about 1,800 miles) separating the head of Ross Sea from 

 the furthest point reached by Weddell in 1823. These boundaries include an area 

 considerably larger than that of the great Australian Continent. Although the major 

 part is yet unexplored, we know that it contains mountain-ranges with peaks rising 

 from 12,000 ft. to 16,000 ft. in height ; active volcanoes ; and elevated plateaux of 

 immense extent, in one case reaching a height of at least 10,000 ft. We also know 

 that it contains the largest snowfields and glaciers in the world — that, in fact, the 

 whole continent, except a few outlying islands, the faces of cliffs, and the steep 

 escarpments of the mountain ranges, is covered with an everlasting mantle of snow 

 and ice. Under such physical conditions a highly organized flora cannot exist, and 

 it is not at all surprising to learn that a single grass {Descham'psia antarctica), col- 

 lected on Graham Land and the adjacent islands, is the sole phanerogam yet observed, 

 the remainder of the land vegetation consisting of mosses, a small number of Hepaticae, 

 some lichens, and other lowly organized cryptogams. 



