494 Transactions. — Botany. 



of Pittosporum, Fagus, and other trees near the head of the 

 Whanganui Eiver, at an estimated altitude of 4,000ft. Al- 

 though the plant grows over a wide area it is remarkably 

 local, so that it is desirable to record the localities in which 

 it has been observed. After its original discovery it does not 

 appear to have been noticed by any collector until April, 1869, 

 when I had the good fortune to discover it, at an altitude of 

 1,800ft. or 1,900ft., on the Thames Goldfield, where it was para- 

 sitic on the roots of Schcfflera digitata and Coprosma grandifolia ; 

 but, owing to the advanced period of the summer, the speci- 

 mens were so much decayed that only the rhizomes were in a 

 fit state for removal : several of these were deposited in the 

 Colonial Museum.* It was decidedly rare, and was limited to 

 a very small area. Although I paid several visits to the 

 habitat in subsequent years, the complete destruction of the 

 arboreal vegetation by mining operations appeared to have 

 killed the parasite ; but I believe it has been recently col- 

 lected by Mr. Cheeseman, either in the habitat where it was 

 first observed by me or some other in its near vicinity. It 

 w^as next observed by Mr. J. P. Marshall on the banks of the 

 Mohanga Eiver, Eangitikei, and he kindly presented me with 

 a male specimen in 1878. In 1887 it was collected by Mr. 

 W. H. Skinner in the Taranaki District, but I am ignorant of 

 the exact locality, although Mr. Skinner generously forwarded 

 his specimen for my herbarium. It is the only female speci- 

 men that I have seen ; the fruits are fully formed, but not 

 ripe. Two small specimens were very kindly given me at a 

 later date by Mr. H. C. Field, who found them in the Wha- 

 nganui district, but did not state the precise locality. More 

 recently it has been discovered in two localities by Mr. A. 

 Hamilton — at Tarawera, between Taupo and Napier, and at 

 Nuhaka, near the Mahia Peninsula. I am indebted to his 

 goodness for a specimen from the latter habitat. It has also 

 been found in considerable quantity in the forest district 

 between Clyde and Waikaremoana, but the discoverer's name 

 is unknown to me. Lastly, it has recently been found by Mr. 

 H. Hill in the East Cape district, where it evidently grows in 

 great luxuriance, judging from the fine specimen which he has 

 liberally presented to the Colonial Museum ; it measures fully 

 Sin. across, and is by far the largest that has come under my 

 notice. 



Unhappily, most of the specimens at present obtained are 

 iu very poor condition, and enable us to add but little to the 

 excellent description drawn by Sir Joseph Hooker from the 

 material collected by the Eev. E. Taylor. The following notes 

 are written in the hope that they may prove of sufficient 



* See Trans. N.Z. Inst., ii. (18G9), p. 94. 



