52 
AUSTRALASIAN ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION. 
failed to complete the circuit. Similarly, in a previous paper, I have drawn attention 
to Veronica elliptica, which, though found in Fuegia, is evidently a stranger therein, 
far removed from its immediate allies in New Zealand. I have also specified the case 
of Sophora tetraptera as having been probably carried from New Zealand to Chili and 
Juan Fernandez. Obviously, all those species which girdle the globe along the sub- 
antarctic zone require close analysis before we can safely state their probable origin. 
This branch of the subject, until lately much neglected, has been briefly discussed 
by Dr. Skottsberg in his paper on the “ Relations between the Floras of Sub antarctic 
America and New Zealand,” already quoted from in this memoir. He says (p. 138), 
‘ We know, just as we did before, that, judging from the actual distribution of plants, 
there is an Australian and New Zealandic element in Andine and Subantarctic 
America, that there is an Andine element in New Zealand and Australia, and that 
there remain genera, or even orders, which are virtually bicentric, and form what 
one might call the old Antarctic element.” Dr. Skottsberg gives examples of these 
groups, a few of which I will quote here. First, as representing the New Zealand and 
Australian element, the following genera :— Dacrydium, Astelia, Lomatia, Drimys, 
Aristotelia, Drapetes, Pseudopanax, Veronica (section Hebe), Myosotis, and others. 
Secondly, as illustrating the Andine element, Ourisia, Calceolaria, Pernettya, Oreomyrrhis, 
Azorella, Fuchsia, Discaria, Enargea, &c. Thirdly, he specifies the following as 
bicentric or Antarctic :— Oreobolus, Carplia, Uncinia, Gaimardia, Rostkovia, Libertia, 
Nothofayus, Laurelia, Muhlenbechia, Colobanthus, Gunner a, Donatia, and others. 
Without subscribing to every one of the details of arrangement given above, we can 
readily admit that Dr. Skottsberg has supplied us with valuable and pregnant ideas 
concerning the relationships between the floras of South America, New Zealand, and 
Australia. 
Having examined the main features of the vegetation of the various land areas 
of the subantarctic zone, and having compared the vegetation of each area with that 
of the rest, we can proceed to enquire what conclusions can be derived from the 
accumulated facts. 1 think it can be safely said that during Tertiary times there have 
been only two directions in which the vegetation of the rest of the world can have 
approached the Subantarctic Zone and Antarctica itself, or along which an interchange 
of species could have taken place—the direction of New Zealand (possibly with 
Tasmania as well), and that of South America. 
In New Zealand we have a country stretching from S. lat. 34° to S. lat. 47° and 
possessing a rich and varied flora, evidently of ancient date, but obviously with 
Australian, Pacific, and Malayan alliances. An Andine and Fuegian affinity, on a 
smaller scale, is also sufficiently evident. Extending southwards from New Zealand is 
a broad submarine plateau, on the southern edge of which the New Zealand Sub¬ 
antarctic Islands stand. These possess a vegetation mainly allied to that of New 
Zealand, but with a decidedly greater Fuegian affinity. There are many reasons for 
supposing that during Early Tertiary times a period of elevation existed, during which 
