Summary of Results.] SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 807 



have had to be arrived at without the full consultation of all the literature. But 

 other confirmatory evidence is already forthcoming, for since the above was written 

 I have received the volume of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition con- 

 taining Professor Carpenter's article on the CoUemhola, in which he points out that 

 this group affords further support for the ancient extension of Antarctica, shows 

 how this might have occurred by means of the connections between that continent 

 and South America and the Kerguelen Group, and further points out that these 

 insects must therefore be of considerable geological age, just as I have done in con- 

 nection with the terrestrial Isopoda and other groups.* 



The abstract in the Journal of the Royal Microscopical Society for June, 1909, 

 of J. Cardot's report of the bryological flora of Magellan, South Georgia, and Ant- 

 arctica collected by the Swedish South Polar Expedition states that he has shown 

 conclusively. jthat|theyMagellanic-jjmoss flora has closer affinity to that of Australasia 

 than to that of Patagonia, the former land connection being probably indicated 

 by the Islands of Falkland, South Georgia, Kerguelen, Auckland, and New Zealand. 

 This is unexpected confirmation derived from plants which are usually supposed to 

 possess every facility for crossing over the oceans from land to land. 



The exact date at which the Antarctic Continent had its great extension north- 

 wards can perhaps hardly be definitely decided upon at present. Hutton (1905) 

 argues for the Jurassic period as the period of greatest extension ; but since he wrote 

 much further evidence has arisen, and it seems probable that the date should be 

 placed later — perhaps in Eocene times. Ortmann, discussing the matter from a 

 somewhat different aspect, considers that it probably occurred in the Cretaceous 

 and Eocene periods. 



The facts given in this work, and thus briefly and imperfectly recapitulated 

 in this article, will be sufficient, whatever conclusion may be drawn from them, to 

 show that they have an important bearing on these general questions, and that it is 

 from the study of the fauna and flora of subantarctic islands that we must look 

 for the facts that will enable a final decision to be arrived at. We may therefore 

 appropriately conclude with the prophetic words of Hooker, which have already 

 been placed at the beginning of the work — viz., " Hence it will appear that islands 

 so situated furnish the best materials for a rigid comparison of the effects of 

 geographical position and the various meteorological phaenomena on vegetation, 

 and for acquiring a knowledge of the great laws according to which plants are dis- 

 tributed over the face of the globe." 



* Since this was written, I find from the review of his reports in the Naturwiss. Wochenschrift for 

 17th October, 1909, that Enderlein (1909a) has come to conclusions very similar to those expressed 

 above, and has supported them by facts derived from the distribution of the insects and spiders of 

 the Kerguelen region. 



