THE PLANTS OF THE ANTARCTIC REGIONS. 
1; 
but it is coarse, and much inferior in all re- 
spects to the true rice-paper. The spongj' 
floating stems of the same plant, which are 
crisp and juicy, are also said to be used by the 
Chinese in salads, but Loureiro adds that they 
are not very digestible. 
The Neptunia plena is a stove plant, appa- 
rently a perennial, though it has been stated 
to be an annual. It is truly aquatic, and there- 
fore requires to be grown in water. A pot, or 
pan, of considerable breadtli should be se- 
lected, in the bottom of which three or four 
inches of loamy soil should be placed ; in this 
the lower part of the plant is to be fixed, the 
upper parts of the rooting stem being allowed 
to float in the water, which at first may be 
shallow, and afterwards increased in quantity, 
from time to time, as the plant grows. Being 
a native of the hottest part of the tropics, the 
plant will only succeed satisfactorily if the 
water is kept quite warm, or at a temperature 
of about 80 degrees. One of the greatest 
errors in cultivating stove aquatics is the 
subjecting of the roots to occasional chills of 
cold water ; nothing can be more opposed to 
healthy growth, and the attaining of a flower- 
ing state. This state of ' things is usually 
owing to the circumstance that aquatic plants 
are placed in the tank from which water is 
used for the various purposes of watering, 
syringing, &c. ; and, the deficiency being sup- 
plied by additions of cold water, the plants are, 
in consequence, submitted to sudden checks in 
their development. This ought not to be ; 
a regular and even warmth of about 80 degs. 
should be kept up, and the plants will then 
be enabled to grow without hindrance, and 
attain the degree of perfection of which they 
are susceptible. This plant belongs to that part 
of the order of leguminous plants (Legumi- 
nacere), which is termed Mimosex; and to the 
JLinnasan Polygamia Moncceia. 
THE PLANTS OF THE ANTARTIC 
REGIONS.* 
The recent scientific exploratory voyage, 
under the command of Sir James Clark Ross, 
has done much towards extending an acquaint- 
ance with the vegetable forms of the remote 
antarctic regions. It is but seldom indeed 
that such facilities are enjoyed as those which 
Dr. Hooker possessed on the occasion in ques- 
* " The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage of II. M.'s 
Discovery Ships Erebus and Terror, in the Years 1S39 — 
IS 1.1, under the command of Captain Sir .lames Clark 
Jioss, Kt., u. n., F.R.S., &c. By JosErii Dalton 
Hooker, M.D., R.N., F.L.S., Assistant Surgeon of the 
Erebus, and Botanist to the Expedition. Published 
under the authority of the Lords Commissioners of the 
Admiralty. London : Reeve Brothers, King William- 
street, Strand. 1814. Part I. 
tion, for we are informed " that it was enjoined 
to the officers that they should use every exer- 
tion to collect the various objects of natural 
history which the many heretofore unex- 
plored countries about to be visited would 
afford." This it appears they did, and the 
publication of the materials thus collected 
under the authority of the Government is a 
boon to science, and an example worthy of 
being far more generally followed than it is. 
Botany in particular, will derive much benefit 
from the very able manner in which Dr. 
Hooker has treated the trust committed to his 
charge. 
The first botanical phenomenon met with 
on the voyage, was in the neighbourhood of 
Marion's and Prince Edward's Islands, in a cold 
inhospitable latitude. Here a remarkably 
gigantic sea-weed, called Macrocyst is pyrifera, 
was found (April 1840) in abundance ; but the 
officers were much disappointed in not being 
able, from the state of the weather, to effect a 
landing, a rich harvest having been anti- 
cipated from these unexplored though inhos- 
pitable islands. At the Croget Islands the 
same disappointment awaited them. These 
islands are all volcanic, and some of them in- 
accessible : " the mountains rise in peaks and 
cones to an elevation of 4,000 to 5,000 feet, 
exhibiting patches of perpetual snow on the 
summits, while dense fogs frequently envelope 
their bases, borne from the sea to such an 
elevation that the highest points alone are 
visible." " At Kerguelen's Island, (which wo 
left in July 1840,) all the plants that had been 
originally detected by the illustrious Cook, 
were gathered during the two and a half winter 
months that the Erebus and Terror staid there, 
together with man)' other species, a remarkable 
proof of the uniformity of the climate, and the 
comparative mildness of the winter season." 
In the unexplored region southward of Camp- 
bell's Island, the Macrom/stis and D'VrviHaa 
were found (Dec. 1840) in large floating patches, 
nearly as far south as any open water remained 
free of bergs, in hit. 61" S. During three months 
in the latter part of%1841, in which the expe- 
dition remained at New Zealand, extensive 
materials were collected for a Flora of New 
Zealand. Subsequently, after visiting the great 
Victoria (Ice) Barrier, and reaching 7ST0' S. 
Int., the highest then attained, " a prolonged 
stay at the Falkland Islands, though the season 
was winter, (April to September, 1842,)affordedj 
ample opportunities for thoroughly investi- 
gating the Flora of that interesting and now 
highly important group, which, though it had 
been partially examined by Admiral D'Un ille, 
and previously by the officers of that unfor- 
tunate ship, the Uranie, under the command of 
Captain Freycenet, still afforded considerable 
novelty. On the 6th of September, the early 
