31

26
Norfolk Island, but the genus is found in some islands of the Malay
Archipelago. The 3 genera of the New Zealand Tree Ferns,
Cyathea, Alsophila, and Dicksonia, are also found in Norfolk Island, and
in Tasmania; and of the New Zealand Ferns generally, it may be said,
their southern genera and species (excluding those few which are en-
demic) are also found in Norfolk Island, Tasmania, South America, and,
the Antarctic Islands; and, more sparingly, in Juan Fernandez, Chiloe,
The Falkland group, Tristan d'Acunha, Kerguelen's Land, and the Cape.

20. Moreover, of the 3 great Natural Orders, leguminosae, Myr-
taceae, and Proteaceae, so very common in Australia, and tolerably so in
Tasmania, but very few are found in New Zealand, and curiously
enough, these few do not belong to any of the great Australian genera,
such as, Acacia, Eucalyptus, Melaleuca, Grevillea, and Hakea. The
Australian and Tasmanian species alone of the genus Acacia are
upwards of 260 in number; and of Eucalyptus, Melaleuca, Grevillea,
and Hakea, each genus numbers above 100 species. Not a single
species however of those great genera has been found in New Zealand!
Of Leguminosae, of which order Australia has upwards of 900 known
species, and Tasmania nearly 70, New Zealand possesses some 7 or
8 species, belonging to 3 small genera; one of which, Car-
michaelia, (having 5 of the 8 species), is confined to New Zealand;
and of another, Edwardsia, (if separated from Sophora, a very small
genus), the New Zealand species, E. grandiflora, (as has been already
shown, par. 19,) is only found in Juan Fernandez and South Chili. Of
Myrtaceae, (of which order Australia has upwards of 650 known species,
and Tasmania 36,) New Zealand has only 15 species, belonging to
4 distinct genera; of which genera, only one (Leptospermum) is
found in Tasmania; and another of them (Myrtus), which has 4
species in New Zealand, is also not found in Australia. Of Proteaceae,
(of which order Australia has also 650 known species, and Tasmania
22), only 2 species are found in New Zealand. Of the whole 24 or
25 species, of those 3 great natural families, found in New Zealand,
only one species, the common "Tea-tree" (Leptospermum scoparium) is
found in Tasmania and Australia; while those countries possess upwards
of 2,200 known species!

21. Darwin, indeed, states, that "New Zealand in its endemic plants
is much more closely related to Australia, the nearest main-land, than
to any other region."* Dr Hooker, however, (in his elaborate Intro-
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* Origin of Species, chap. xii.