Page:The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage.djvu/309

Falklands, etc.] with some allied species from Peru, are perhaps the most insignificant plants of the whole natural order, and especially of the genus of Myrtles ; though the M. Nummularis, by contributing largely to the formation of peat, performs a highly important function in the economy of nature. The leaves are often preserved quite entire some feet below the surface of the soil, and I was able to recognize earth, sent to the Royal Gardens at Edinburgh from New Zealand, as having come originally from the Falkland Islands or South America, because of the abundance of leaves of this plant contained in it.

3. EUGENIA, Mich.

1. Eugenia apiculata, DC. Prodr. vol. iii. p. 276. Hook, et Am. in Bot. Misc. v. iii. p. 321.

Var. /3, Ami/an, foliis glaberrimis - pollicaribus late ovalibus, pedicellis omnibus unifloris.

Hab. Var. /S, Chonos Archipelago ; C. Darwin, Esq.

A very variable plant ; apparently not uncommon in Chili, between the Andes and the sea-coast, and from Concepcion to the Chonos Archipelago. The pedicels are exceedingly various in length, when they are much elongated the plant becomes E. affinis, Gill., and I am inclined to consider the E. Gilliesii, H. and A., as another variety. The original species has leaves slightly hairy beneath, with a rufous pubescence. None of the numerous specimens that I have seen are in fruit, and the genus therefore is doubtful.

2. Eugenia Darivinii, Hook, fil.; rarais teretibus, cortice rirnoso einereo, junioribus pubescentibus, foliis petiolatis glaberrimis coriaceis elliptico-oblongis abrupte acuminatis subenerviis obscure punctatis margine inerassato, pedunculis terminalibus lateralibusque puberulis folio aequilongis erectis paucis unifloris aliisque racemosis pedicellis oppositis, floribus parvis, calyce depresso quinquefido segmentis obtusis, staminibus plurimis petalis eueullatis bis longioribus.

Hab. South Chili, Cape Tres Montes ; C. Darwin, Esq.

Frutex ? Folia coriacea, J unc. longa, i lata, nervis lateralibus divaricatis. Pedunculi infra calycem articulati, minutissime bracteolati, pedicellis basi bracteolatis. Calyx 2 lin. latus, segmentis patentibus. Petala alba. Stylus elongatus, validus. Ovarium immaturum trilocidare ?, loculis bi-ovidatis.

Without the ripe fruit I am unable to refer this plant satisfactorily to its genus ; it accords sufficiently with many Chilian species of Myrtacea which have been hitherto placed in Eugenia.

A very great number of shrubby Myrteee inhabit the Chilian coast, between Chiloe and Concepcion; a singular circumstance when it is considered how suddenly they cease to the southward of Cape Tres Montes. Probably no less than fourteen species occur within these limits, whilst not one is to be found in the Strait of Magalhaens, only three hundred miles further south, having a precisely similar climate, and where the features of soil and surface are almost identical. The predominance of the natural family in the one case is remarkable, though not more than it is in New Zealand, where to a certain exteut they abound also, but their sudden cessation appears inexplicable being unaccompanied by any complete suppression of other tribes equally numerous in Chili. Again, a casual observer, on examining a collection of Chiloean plants, would be apt to conclude that these shrubby Myrteee must afford a peculiar if not a predominant aspect to the vegetation, and yet we hardly see them alluded to in the excellent published accounts of Chiloe, whence it is evident that botanical regions, as now defined, afford insufficient criteria for obtaining a knowledge of the distribution of natural orders. That locality where a group is most fully developed, where the greatest number of its species grow, may not be the one where that group is most conspicuous or the individuals in greatest number. We may safely infer on this subject, that the law of nature is to be learned from a knowledge of the absolute numbers of different species a country may possess, and the proportion the groups bear to one another, and when gained it will be found to harmonize with other circumstances : thus we find