12 
AUSTRALASIAN ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 
Dr. Scott’s list, as printed in his paper, contains the names of 19 species. The 
number should have been 20, for an undoubted scrap of Stellaria decipiens was picked out 
of the collection by Mr. Kirk. On the other hand, the total must be reduced by the 
elimination of Azorella lycopodioides, of which Mr. Kirk writes : “ I did not see anything 
resembling this plant in the collection. Possibly a form of Colobanthus muscoides with 
larger leaves than usual was mistaken for it.” Two species of Luzula are given in the 
list; but it appears to me that both are referable to L. campestris var. crinita. With 
these alterations, the number of plants enumerated by Dr. Scott agrees with my list. 
The divergences in the nomenclature of the two lists will be best understood on 
reference to the synonyms given in my enumeration of the total florula of the island, 
which see. 
Fourteen years after Dr. Scott’s expedition, or in 1894, Mr. A. Hamilton, then 
Registrar of the Otago University, and a few years later Director of the Dominion 
Museum, Wellington, paid a visit to Macquarie Island, for the purpose, as he states, 
“ of studying the plants and natural history of that remote speck in the southern 
ocean.” He was accompanied by Mr. Jennings, the taxidermist to the Otago Museum, 
whose object was to obtain skins and skeletons of the sea-elephant (Mcicrorhinus 
leoninus ), and of the various species of penguins. A stay of thirteen days was all that 
could be arranged for, but nevertheless collections of considerable importance were 
put together, both zoological and botanical. Unfortunately, a serious gale arose on 
the day of departure, and the weather became so bad that the vessel had to run for 
New Zealand without taking on board more than a very small part of the collections. 
A portion came up by the next trip of the vessel, but many valuable specimens were 
ruined by neglect, and others never reached New Zealand. Fortunately, the greater 
part of the botanical collections was saved. 
An interesting account of his visit was prepared by Mr. Hamilton, and published 
in the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute (vol. 27, pp. 559-579). I quote the 
following remarks, in a slightly abbreviated form, because they afford a vivid picture 
of the vegetation. 
“ The hut in which we lived at Lusitania (one of the sealing stations) stood 
on the crown of the shingle beach. Immediately behind it was a small creek 
coming down from the hills at the back, over a sloping terrace covered with a huge 
tussock grass. This grass ( Poa foliosa) forms a huge stool, around which is usually 
a muddy pool, more or less deep, into which you plunge with unerring certainty 
when trying to cross the belt of tussock swamp. The only way to avoid this 
unpleasantness is to jump from the top of one tussock to another. Once beyond the 
belt of swamp, you ascend the steep slope of the hills, and here you struggle and wrestle 
with the huge leaves of the Macquarie Island Cabbage (Stilbocarpa polaris ), a plant 
resembling very fine rhubarb. The tussocks and the Stilbocarpa become smaller 
as you ascend, and at about 300 feet you gain a plateau so swept by the antarctic 
gales that vegetation is reduced to compact closely-growing mosses and small 
