434 
THE AGE OE NEW ZEALAND. 
The noble Araucaria, which figures in our coal measures, 
and was doubtless then the monarch of that primseval forest, 
is now confined to the southern hemisphere ; the nunjber 
of species belonging to this beautiful coniferous family is 
very limited ; two only have been found in South America, 
one being in the Brazils, A. Braziliensis, and the other in 
Chili on the opposite side, A. Imbricata ; two in Australia, 
A. Cunninghamii , commonly known as the Moreton Bay 
pine, and A. Bidwellii , or the Bunyabunya, whose large 
seeds form a portion of the sustenance of the natives; and 
one in Norfolk Island, A. Bxcelsa. New Caledonia and 
other Indian isles probably possess varieties of this beautiful 
conifer, but at present these are nearly all which are known. 
Alluding to this tree, Hugh Miller says : — “ Though 
marked by certain peculiarities of structure, they bore, as is 
shown by the fossil trunks of Granton and Craigleith, the 
familiar outlines of true coniferous trees, and would mayhap 
have differed no more in appearance from their successors of 
the same order that now live in our forests, than these differ 
from the conifers of New Zealand or New South Wales.” 
Mudie, in his sketch of this order of trees, makes the fol- 
lowing pertinent remarks on the Araucaria : — “ They are all 
local trees, and with the exception of the first species, A. 
Imbricata, they are all confined within a small compass, and 
not far from the same parallel, that is, about 23° or 24° south 
latitude. Though no conclusion has been hitherto drawn 
from it, it is a curious fact that there should be a well-defined 
and rather singular genus of plants ranged round the parallel 
of nearly the southern tropic, and at wide distances from 
each other, whilst not one of these bears much resemblance 
to any other vegetable of the district in which it is found.” 
These remarks will also apply in- some measure to the damara, 
but when these singular trees are viewed as belonging to an 
ancient type which existed in the carboniferous age of Britain, 
they then bear strong testimony in support of the theory here 
advanced. 
There are many plants and trees which are widely spread 
throughout the southern hemisphere ; of, such is the Gasua- 
