462 



SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 



[Systematic Botany. 



Two small groups of islands remain respecting which it is necessary to say a 

 few words. The first is Tristan d'Acunha, situated in the South Atlantic, in 37° 2' 

 S. lat. and 12° 18' W. long., together with its satellites, Inaccessible, Nightingale, and 

 Gough Islands. The second is Amsterdam Island, in the South Indian Ocean, its 

 exact position being 37° 50' S. lat., and 77° 30' E. long. Fifty miles to the south 

 is the smaller island of St. Paul. The two groups are about 5,000 miles apart, 

 Tristan d'Acunha lying about 1,800 miles to the west of the Cape of Good Hope, 

 Amsterdam about 2,800 miles to the east of the same point. Notwithstanding the 

 great distance which separates them, however, their vegetation has many points of 

 agreement. What is still more curious, it shows undoubted traces of an affinity 

 with that of Fuegia and Kerguelen. I do not propose going into further details, 

 beyond giving the following list of plants found in the southern islands of New Zea- 

 land which also occur on one or both of these isolated groups : — 



Sciffus aucklandicus, Boeck. 

 Lomaria 'penna-marina, Trev. 

 Asplenium obtusatum, Forst. 

 Aspidium mohrioides, Bory. 

 Polypodium australe. Mett. 



Ranunculus hiternatus, Smith. 



Acaena Sanguisorhae, Vahl. 



Apium prostratum, Labill. 



Nertera depressa, Banks & Sol. 



Cotula australis, Hook. f. 



Juncus ejfusus, Linn. 

 The most interesting of these are Acaena Sanguisorhae and Cotula australis, 

 neither of which has been found in Fuegia or the Kerguelen - South Georgia group 

 of islands. 



With the above facts before us we are better prepared to discuss the relation- 

 ships existing between the vegetation of the southern islands of New ZeeJand and 

 that of other lands. From the summary appended to the " tabular view " 

 (p. 453), it will be seen that the total number of species enumerated is 194, of 

 which fifty -three are endemic — a proportion of 27*3. In the " Manual of the New 

 Zealand Flora " I have estimated the total number of phanerogams and ferns known 

 to exist in the whole colony at 1,571, of which 1,143 are endemic, showing a per- 

 centage of 72*1. From this it is evident that the proportion of endemic species in 

 the southern islands is much less than what it is in New Zealand as a whole ; or, in 

 other words, the flora of the whole Dominion is much more distinct from that of any 

 other country than that of the southern islands is from New Zealand. 



The number of families represented in the southern islands is thirty-four. The 

 number of species in the chief families, and the percentage which each family has 

 to the total flora, both in the islands and in New Zealand, are as under : — 



Filices . . 







No. of 



Species. 



33 



Percentage to 



the Flora. 



17-0 



Percentage to the 



Flora in New Zealand 



8-1 



Gramineae 







30 



154 



7-2 



Compositae 

 Orchidaceae 







22 

 11 



11-3 

 5-6 



14-0 

 3-6 



Gyperaceae 

 Juncaceae 







10 

 9 



5-1 



4-6 



7-5 

 1-5 



Rubiaceae 







6 



3-1 



2-9 



Umbelliferae 

 Ranunculaceae 







6 

 5 



3-1 



2-5 



3-9 

 3-1 



Onagraceae 

 Cruciferae 

 Caryophyllaceae . 







5 

 5 

 5 



2-5 

 2-5 

 2-5 



1-9 

 1-4 

 M 



