2±2 E. 0. Anfbrevw — The Geological History of the 



consanguinity of origin being admitted as the simplest explana- 

 tion of the presence of identical families, genera, and species, 



in land blocks now not in direct communication with each 

 other by land. 



(2) On Certain Unexplained Peculiarities of Angiospermous 

 Distribution in these Southern Lands. 



The angiosperms, as a whole, which are common to the lands 

 under consideration are not very cold types such as exist in 

 many parts of the northern hemisphere. There are, indeed, 

 identical species in the areas under discussion which love , the 

 cold. These, however, such as Geranium sessiliflorum, Gera- 

 nium dissectum, Oxalis magellanica, Tillcea moschata, Euphra- 

 sia antarctica, Gentiana saxosa, and J uncus planifolius, may be 

 explained as being due to the action of winds, sea rafts, sea 

 currents, birds, or of man, much in the same way as, in lati- 

 tudes slightly warmer, plants such as Entada scandens, Sophora 

 tetraptera, Mimosa pudica, Convolvulus soldanella, Ipomea ,pes 

 caprw, Senecio lautus, and others, are known to be distributed 

 by these and similar agencies. 



On the other hand, many cold types in South America have 

 not a single representative (excepting one or two species of 

 Oxalis) in oSTew Zealand, Tasmania, or Australia. For 

 example, Patagonium with 150 species in Chili, especially the 

 Andean heights, Astragalus, one of the most vigorous and 

 aggressive of cold country plants, has 75 to 80 species in Chili 

 and Antarctic South America, Lupinus (2 species), Vicia (30 

 species), Lathyrus (20 species), Haplopappus (100 species), 

 Oxalis (90 species), Escallonia (25-30 species), Valeriana 

 above 50 species in Chili and Antarctic South America, Alnus, 

 Agrimonia, Saxifraga, JRibes, Ilieracium, and other forms 

 which frequent cold countries, and are found in Chili and the 

 Andean heights, have no representatives in Australia and New 

 Zealand. 



Moreover, there appears to be very meager evidence, either 

 astronomical or geological, to justify the assxunption as to the 

 movement of the Poles even as much as 1 to 3 degrees since 

 the Jurassic or Cretaceous. The Poles therefore may be con- 

 sidered as having been practically stationary both before and 

 after the Pleistocene 33 glaciations, as far back in time indeed, 

 in all probability, as the origin of the angiosperms. This being 

 so, it is reasonable to expect, on the assumption of an Antarctic 



:a Joseph Barrell, "The Status of the Hypothesis of Polar Wanderings," 

 Science, N. S., vol. xl, pp. 333-340, 1914. - 



