Page:The Botany of the Antarctic Voyage.djvu/373

Falklands, etc.]

1. PRIMULA, L.

1. farinosa, Linn. ''Sp. Pl.'' p. 205. ''Engl. Bot. t. 6. Duby in DC. Prodr.'' vol. x. p. 44. ''Gaud, in Ann. Sc. Nat.'' vol. iv. p. 102, ''et in Freyc. Voy. Bot.'' p. 133. ''D'Urville in M&eacute;m. Soc. Linn. Paris'', vol. iv. p. 606.

Var. &beta; Magellanica. P. Magellanica, ''Lehm. Monogr. Prim.'' p. 62. t. 6. ''Duby, in DC. Prodr.'' vol. x. p. 45. P. decipiens, ''Duby, in DC. I. c.'' (Tab. CXX.)

Strait of Magalhaens to Cape Horn, Commerson, Capt. King, C. Darwin, Esq., J. D. H. Falkland Islands, most abundant, Gaudichaud, &c.

The excellent plate, executed for this work by Mr. Fitch, enables the British botanist to form a just idea of the Antarctic state or variety of P. farinosa, L.; which, it will be seen, differs from the majority of those of Britain in the short peduncles of the white flower, in the position of the stamens, in the tube of the corolla, and in the colour of the flowers. The first of these characters is constant in all the Falkland Island and Magellanic specimens of this species, but is also seen in an individual of P. farinosa, gathered near Settle in Yorkshire by Mr. Tatham, for which I am indebted to my friend Mr. Watson, who not content with examining this plant with me, had the kindness to collate a suite of Antarctic specimens with many hundreds of British growth. The result of this examination has been, that except, perhaps, the colour of the flower, there is no constant character to distinguish the races of the opposite hemispheres, neither the length of the pedicels, of the calycine segments, of the tube of the corolla, nor the position of the stamens in the latter. If, again, we grant (with M. Duby) that the P. Scotica, Hook., is not even a variety of P. farinosa, the length of the pedicel is of still less value, for the North Scottish individuals are undistinguishable, except by the colour of the corolla, from specimens of var. &beta;, gathered at Cape Horn by myself, and on Mount Tarn on the north shore of the Strait of Magalhaens, by Mr. Darwin, these localities being the northern and southern extremes of its range in the Southern Hemisphere.

Lastly, on comparing var. &beta; with foreign examples of P. farinosa, their identity is still more evident; for the latter attain the same great size in Austria that the var. &beta; often does in the Falkland Islands, whilst Arctic American specimens of the two are entirely alike.

One argument which militates against the common origin of the individuals from the opposite hemispheres, must not be overlooked; it is the absence of the plant, and, indeed, of the whole genus, in any part of the Andes south of 39&deg; north lat.; a circumstance which makes it very difficult to account for its appearance in the two opposite temperate zones, if all the individuals of both hemispheres are supposed to have sprung from one parent.

Plate CXX. Fig. 1, flower; fig. 2, the same; fig. 3, the same laid open; fig. 4, ripe capsule ; fig. 5, seed; fig. 6, longitudinal section of the same :&mdash;all magnified.

2. ANAGALLIS, Tourn.

1. alternifolia, Cav. Icones, vol. vi. p. 3. t. 506. f. 2. Duby in BC. Prodr. vol. x. p. 71.

Var. densifolia, Lysimachia repens, ''D'Urville, in M&eacute;m. Soc. Linn. Paris'', vol. iv. p. 606. ''Gaud, in Freyc. Foy. Bot.'' p. 133. ''Hook. Ic. Plant.'' t. 536.

Strait of Magalhaens; Port Famine, Capt. King; Wollaston Island, C. Danwin, Esq.; Falkland Islands, D'Urville, Mr. Wright, J.D.H.