670 
BOTANY. 
Allowing New Zealand to be the remains of a grand con- 
tinental line, many of its plants may be expected to have a 
wide range, and be found in distant localities, thus those 
of the antarctic islands, which are equally natives of New 
Zealand, Tasmania, and Australia, are almost invariably found 
on the lofty mountains of the tropical countries and islands 
adjacent to them. 
The subject of the distribution of plants over the most 
widely separated regions of the globe, and their remarkable 
resemblance in similar latitudes with those at different ele- 
vations on mountains, is another subject of enquiry, which 
tends most clearly to establish the unity of design and 
operation in the works of the Creator. An instance of this 
is found in the Lycopodium cernuum , (a fern widely distributed 
in all warm climates,) it only grows in the Azores, around 
some hot springs ; it has also been observed in St. Paul's 
Island (lat. 38^ S.), there too by the side of similar springs; 
these facts are most remarkable, as it does not inhabit Madeira, 
and St. Paul's Island is far beyond its natural isothermal in 
the southern hemisphere, and also in neither island is it ac- 
companied by any other tropical plant, which would indicate 
the aerial transport of larger objects than the microscopic 
spores of the Lycopodia .* 
The way plants have been dispersed is another interesting 
subject of enquiry, that minute spores of fungi are carried 
in the air to immense distances, is an established fact. Pro- 
fessor Ehrenberg found the spores of fungi mingled with 
atmospheric dust that had fallen on ships far out at sea ; 
that seeds are drifted by currents to great distances is well 
known, thus American ones are cast on the shores of Britain ; 
and if those of considerable size are thus conveyed, it may be 
reasonably supposed others more minute would be so to a far 
greater extent; the molucca beans are thrown up on the shores 
of the Orkney Islands, these are of several distinct species, 
and are none of them the productions of those islands or 
the neighbouring country, but are natives of the western 
hemisphere. 
* See Dr. Hooker’s Introductory Essay to the flora of New Zealand, pp. 22 
and 30. 
