Fortunate Islands 
The most puzzling of all are the archaic and old- 
fashioned conifers, which are dotted about in the most 
remarkable way, as shown below. 
South | ygay. Prema hes New F 
4 alaya. |Austra- e- ea- Fiji. oe 
America. lia. | donia.| land. ? Hebrides. 
Araucaria. a x _ _ x _ = x 
Dammara, Aga- 
this 7 ‘ _- — x x x x x 
Podocarpus x x x —_ x x = 
Dacrydium x x — x x x _ 
Here again one finds the three competing theories 
(see Chap. IX., The Antarctic): (1) Those who have got 
into the habit of evoking continents will assume some 
ancient antarctic continent linking up all these isolated 
spots. (2) They may all be survivals of a very ancient 
flora, which probably travelled from somewhere in Asia _ 
or Europe. These places might all be described as 
Land’s Ends, and the last to be invaded by newer kinds 
of plants. (3) Various ordinary and extraordinary 
methods of carrying fruits and seeds might account 
for them, Winds, birds, drifted timber, and possibly 
icebergs might be responsible for this confusing and 
remarkable distribution. 
Belonging as they do to a very ancient type of plant, 
they would have had many more chances of spreading 
themselves abroad than plants of a more modern type. 
But thenone finds exactlythe same difficulty in another 
interesting series which are by no means so ancient. 
In the cloudy solitudes of Mount Ruwenzori, in the 
very centre of tropical Africa, and above the bamboo 
zone and tree vegetation, the author found certain very 
remarkable Lobelias. Their flowers were enormous, 
and they were shrubs with large leaves and altogether 
of a most impressive character. 
282 
