distances ; its stony mountains are barren. es 
excelsa. 
shrubs and Cactacee almost destitute of leaves, we find on 
‘tropical character. More than one-half of the species are 
endemic (7.2. peculiar to the islands); the rest have migrated — 
| from the shores of the Isthmus. 
ing with grassy plains. No considerable immigration — of : 
s bs Pt nt ae Laden teh a | Ya >" 
Pe). 2s TREY WEEN Sak ~Y is ears f Sir 
’ - : iho. aaa 
' on \ >, a -) ae " de 
Myrtaceze are scattered over its ee grass- “plains at wide 
The Ares of Norfolk Island, not unlike that of New: | 
Zealand, is remarkable for the Norfolk Island pine, Araucaria ea 
New Zealand is more nearly related in its flora to the 4 
forest region of south Chile than to Australia, which lies so — “a 
much nearer. The evergreen forest, composed of Myrtaceae a 
Lauracez, and broad-leaved Conifers (among them the — 
‘Dammara australis) includes also tree-ferns and arborescent — 
Liliaceze, and 1s often rendered impenetrable by dense thickets 
of lianes. Shrubs and Ferns mixed together clothe the — 
open slopes of the mountains and the dry plains; Ferns are 
often the sole representatives of the grass of other countries, ‘4 
and clothe boundless stretches of open land; so that-some, 
resemblance may be traced, in the abundance of its fem 
vegetation, between the flora of New Zealand and that of 
prehistoric times, especially of the vegetation of the Car-— a 
boniferous formation. Among the Ferns Pteris esculentais  ~ 
noteworthy for supplying food ; and of other native products 
the valuable New Zealand dae Phormium tenax, aie ie 4 
to the Liliacee. Tarek 
~The uninterrupted southern trade-winds ini to the — 
BT ipekso of the Galapagos Islands an arid climate. 
Ascending above the lava fields, covered with light dwarf ~. 
the mountains a tolerably luxuriant forest-flora, but with no- 
Juan Fernandez is densely covered with forests alternat: ‘ 
foreign plants has taken sam and the forests are covered 
