36 ' Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



the very essence of a reflex action : the action may be complex 

 in its manifestation, but it is essentially one act; while "con- 

 sciousness" and "reflex action" are contradictory terms. Ad 

 action is styled "reflex" because it is performed without con- 

 sciousness on the actor's part. Moreover, a reflex action is- 

 unchanging in its manifestation. Let the stimulus be ap- 

 plied and the appropriate and responsive movement follows 

 automatically. Now, even such apparently fixed habits as the 

 hive-making habit of the bee vary with circumstances, and in 

 some countries the hive-bee abandons its usual practice of 

 collecting honey altogether. In like manner, birds often 

 change the structure of their nests to suit localities, while the 

 migratory habit is sometimes lost. Beavers, suffering from 

 man's persecution, have been found to cease building dams, 

 and to become solitary in their mode of life. The supposed 

 analogy between what are commonly called instincts and 

 reflex actions therefore fails ; nor \\i\\ it hold as respects true 

 instincts, since the latter generally involve a succession of 

 acts directed towards a fixed end, and I see no ground for 

 assiiming that these acts are not consciously performed by 

 the animal. It may further be observed that, whereas true 

 instincts are seldom met with outside the Insecta, reflex 

 actions are exhibited by all classes of animals, including man 

 himself. 



Akt. III. — The Ancient Tribe Te Panenehu. 



By Captain Gilbert Mair. 



[Read before the Auckland Institute, 12th October, 1895.] 



The following account of an ancient tribe called Te Panenehu, 

 the descendants of a chief named Ngatorohaka, who came in 

 the Nukutere canoe from Hawaiki, was given to me by an old 

 man of the Whakatohea and Ngapotiki Tribes at the hearing 

 of the Whitikau Block, Opotiki, 1880:— 



Nukutere was the canoe which sailed from Hawaiki about 

 the same time as Matatua canoe, of which Toroa was captain. 

 She landed at Waiaua, near Opotiki. The people who came 

 in Nukutere were called Te Wakanui, and Ngatorohaka was 

 their chief. These people multiplied and spread all over the 

 Opotiki Valley and adjacent country, Te Kareke Tribe occupy- 

 ing Ohiwa, the Ngatai and Te Whananapanui settling between 

 Torere and Te Kaha ; but the three latter were a distinct 

 people, their forbears having come in Matatua. 



Seven generations had passed, and Tutamure was the 

 dominant chief. He had given his sister Taneroa in marriage 



