390 SCIENCE PROGRESS. 



eighteen inches high with a crown of fronds, the longest 

 five feet in length ! I may add that no fewer than twenty- 

 species of HymenophylhiM and Trichomanes have been col- 

 lected. Epiphytes, apart from ferns, are abundant, includ- 

 ing the orchids, Earina mucronata, E. autwmnalis and 

 Dendrobium Cunning] lamii. Indeed, the climate appears 

 to be exceptionally mild, as the plants of the colder regions, 

 such as the beeches and Phyllocladus alpinus, are absent ; 

 yet " numerous species usually restricted to alpine or sub- 

 alpine situations occur at sea-level ". This sounds some- 

 what paradoxical, but this phenomenon is exemplified in other 

 parts of the world, even to some extent in our own islands 

 by the genera Armeria and Plantago. The flora also 

 includes several apparently endemic species and a few only 

 known elsewhere from the Auckland and Campbell Islands. 

 Finally not a single leguminous plant has hitherto been 

 observed in the island. 



The Snares is the name given to a group of small gra- 

 nitic rocky islands, situated about sixty-five miles south 

 of Stewart Island. The largest island is about a mile and 

 a half in its greatest diameter and less than 500 feet in 

 its greatest altitude. This was botanised by Mr. Thos. 

 Kirk in 1890 (3), who collected twenty flowering 

 plants and three ferns, besides four evidently naturalised 

 grasses. The only woody plants are : Olearia Lyallii, 

 Senecio Mnelleri and Veronica elliptica. The first, a member 

 of the Compositae, is the most abundant, and in level situa- 

 tions forms a tree, occasionally nearly thirty feet high with 

 a trunk three feet in diameter. Senecio Mzielleri attains 

 nearly as large dimensions and is described as a very noble 

 species. It was originally discovered on Herekopere 

 Island, one of the small islands adjacent to Stewart Island, 

 and it has also been recorded from South Cape Island ; but 

 it is not known to inhabit any other locality. No doubt, as 

 Mr. Kirk suggests, the herbaceous vegetation is so meagre 

 in consequence of the excessive number of penguins, gulls 

 and other birds, which trample small plants out of existence. 

 A vigorous grass-like Poa foliosa flourishes all the more 

 luxuriantly for the presence of the birds, and the same may 



