We have, however, a remarkable flora in the Southern Hemisphere which affords a crucial test of the theory of greater intensity of light being the direct cause of brilliantly-coloured flowers. The Auckland and Campbell’s Islands south of New Zealand, are in the same latitude as the middle and the south of England, and the summer days are therefore no longer than with us. The climate though cold is very uniform, and the weather “very rainy and stormy.” It is evident, then, that there can be no excess of sunshine above what we possess; yet in a very limited flora there are a number of flowers which--Sir Joseph Hooker states--are equal in brilliancy to the Arctic flora. These consist of brilliant gentians, handsome veronicas, large and magnificent Compositæ with purple flowers, bright ranunculi, showy Umbelliferæ, and the golden flowered _Chrysobactron Rossii_, one of the finest of the Asphodeleæ.[28] All these fine plants, it must be remembered, are peculiar to these islands, and have therefore been developed under the climatal conditions that prevail there; and as we have no reason to suppose that these conditions have undergone any recent change we may be quite sure that an excess of light has had nothing to do with the development of these exceptionally bright and handsome flowers. Unfortunately we have no information as to the insects of these islands, but from their scarcity in New Zealand we can hardly expect them to be otherwise than very scarce. There are however two species of honey-sucking birds (Prosthemadera and Anthornis) as well as a small warbler (Myiomoira), and we may be pretty sure that the former at least visit these large and handsome flowers, and so effect their fertilization. The most abundant tree on the islands is a species of Metrosideros, and we know that trees of this genus are common in the Pacific islands, where they are almost certainly fertilized by the same family of Meliphagidæ or honey-sucking birds. [28] Coloured figures of all these plants are given in the _Flora Antarctica_, vol. i.