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ISLAND LIFE 



PART II 



A considerable number of these northern or Antarctic 

 plants and many more which are representative species, are 

 found also in Tasmania and in the mountains of temperate 

 Australia; and Sir Joseph Hooker gives a list of thirty- 

 eight species very characteristic of Europe and Northern 

 Asia, but almost or quite unknown in the warmer regions, 

 which yet reappear in temperate Australia. Other genera 

 seem altogether Antarctic — that is, confined to the extreme 

 southern lands and islands ; and these often have repre- 

 sentative species in Southern America, Tasmania, and 

 New Zealand, while others occur only in one or two of 

 these areas. Many north temperate genera also occur in 

 the mountains of South Africa. On the other hand, few if 

 any of the peculiar Australian or Antarctic types have 

 spread northwards, except some of the former which have 

 reached the mountains of Borneo, and a few of the latter 

 which spread along the Andes to Mexico. 



On these remarkable facts, of which I have given but 

 the barest outline. Sir Joseph Hooker makes the following 

 suggestive observations : — ■ 



" When I take a comprehensive view of the vegetation of 

 the Old World, I am struck with the appearance it presents of 

 there being a continuous current of vegetation (if I may so 

 fancifully express myself) from Scandinavia to Tasmania ; 

 along, in short, the whole extent of that arc of the terres- 

 trial sphere which presents the greatest continuity of land. 

 In the first place Scandinavian genera, and even species, 

 reappear everywhere from Lapland and Iceland to the tops 

 of the Tasmanian Alps, in rapidly diminishing numbers it 

 is true, but in vigorous development throughout. They 

 abound on the Alps and Pyrenees, pass on to the Caucasus 

 and Himalayas, thence they extend along the Khasia 

 Mountains, and those of the peninsulas of India to those of 

 Ceylon and the Malayan Archipelago (Java and Borneo), 

 and after a hiatus of 80° they appear on the Alps of New 

 South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania, and beyond these 

 again on those of New Zealand and the Antarctic Islands, 

 many of the species remaining unchanged throughout ! It 

 matters not what the vegetation of the bases and flanks of 

 these mountains may be ; the northern species may be 



