New Zealand and their Distribution. 
2 77 
islands in early times, and have since been killed out in the more crowded 
main islands of New Zealand. But in actual fact we find that there arc 
none with such a distribution ; all that occur in the Kermadecs and 
Chathams, or Chathams and Aucklands, occur also in New Zealand, as 
would be expected on the hypothesis of age and area. There are a good 
many which occur in the Aucklands and some of the other islands in the 
same stretch of sea (Campbells, Antipodes, and Macquarie), but none that 
occur in two of the main groups of islands and not also in New Zealand. 
(22) One will expect the endemics to belong on the whole to the 
oldest, i.e. in general to the largest, families and genera in New Zealand. 
They belong in fact to Ranunculaceae, Caryophyllaceae, Geraniaceae, 
Rosaceae, Umbelliferae, Cornaceae, Rubiaceae, Compositae, Epacridaceae, 
Myrsinaceae, Gentianaceae, Boraginaceae, Scrophulariaceae, Plantaginaceae, 
Chloranthaceae, Urticaceae, Liliaceae, Juncaceae, Palmae, Cyperaceae, and 
Gramineae, 21 families, which contain in New Zealand and the islands as 
a whole 939 species, or 44 species per family, whilst no endemics occur 
in the other 70 families of the New Zealand flora, with 453 species (average 
6*4 per family), except in the genera Scaevola , Homalanthus , and BoeJi- 
meria , which occur in the Kermadecs, but not in New Zealand. 
Grouping all the families of New Zealand in order of size, we find that 
52 endemics occur in 8 of the first 10 families, 10 in 5 of the second 10, and 
3 in the other 2 families which are above the average size, or 65 endemics 
in all in families which are above the average in size, whilst 8 only occur in 
all the 68 other families which are below the average in point of size. 
In the same way, 6o # endemics belong to 25 genera which are above the 
average, and 13 to 11 genera which are below it. 
(23) Being, on our supposition, very old genera, all the genera which 
contain endemics confined to the islands, unless possibly some of the later 
ones of the invasions, should occur in Stewart. Three genera occur in the 
Kermadecs only, and are not found in New Zealand, so that they may be 
looked upon as genera which arrived in those islands from the north too 
late to reach New Zealand, and three are endemic genera of the islands. 
All the remaining genera, except Corokia and Rostkovia , that contain 
island endemics, occur in Stewart. Corokia is a distinctly northern type, 
and the endemic occurs in the Chathams ; Rostkovia probably a late 
arriving southern type, whose endemic occurs in Campbell. 
It is thus clear that, just as in Stewart Island, the endemics of the 
islands belong chiefly to the ‘ successful ’ families and genera of New Zealand. 
The families are given above, and the actual genera are Ranunculus 
(4 endemics), Stellaria. Colobanthus, Geranium , Geum , Azorella , Aciphylla 
(2), Ligusticum (3), STILBOCARPA, Pseudopauax, Corokia , Coprosma (4), 
Olearia (4), PLE UROPHYLL UM (3), Celmisia (2), Cotida (3), Abrotanella 
(2), Senecio (2), Sonchus , Cyathodes, Dracophyllum, My r sine (3), Gentiana (5;, 
