24 Transactions. — Miscellaneous. 



cup {(Ecidium clcmatidis, DC), frequently infests Clematis 

 colensoi and other species almost to the point of destruction, 

 the stem, petiole, and even parts of tlie flower becoming 

 thickened and distorted under its attacks : but the limits of 

 this address will not permit me to enter into detail. 



Bate of Increase. 



As the number of species more or less completely naturalised 

 in the colony is upwards of five hundred, it becomes a question 

 of some interest whether additions will be made to the cata- 

 logue at the same rate during the next half -century as in the 

 past; if so, the number of species of naturalised and indi- 

 genous Phanerogams would be about equal, and many of the 

 latter would be crowded out of the field. A satisfactory 

 answer may, I think, be given. 



The first catalogue of naturalised plants was published in 

 the original "Flora of New Zealand," vol. ii., p. 321 (1855). 

 It comprises sixty-one species, seventeen of which must be 

 excluded as erroneous, leaving forty-four naturalised species. 

 The second list, published in the " Handbook of the New 

 Zealand Flora," p. 757 (1867), contains 171, from which 

 twenty-one species must be deducted as included on insuffi- 

 cient grounds, leaving 150 species naturalised. A list prepared 

 by the present writer was published in "Transactions of the 

 New Zealand Institute," vol. ii., p. 131 (1869) ; it embodied all 

 that was then known on the subject, and enumerated 292 

 species, a summary of wdiich, given at page 146, showed forty- 

 one species en-oneously included, or of uncertain position, and 

 251 species truly naturalised. During the three following 

 years I added fifty-three species to the list, making a total 

 of 304 species known to me at the date of my ceasing to reside 

 in Auckland. In 1882 Mr. Clieeseman published a list of the 

 naturalised plants of the Auckland District, in which he raised 

 the total to 382 ; but this does not include a few species seen 

 by myself, and still unpublished. At the present time the 

 number of species is certainly over five hundred, as already 

 stated. Making all fair allowance for the imperfection of the 

 records for 1855 and 1869, it will be seen that naturalised 

 species have increased with great rapidity during the last fifty 

 years. But it is not probable that this rate can be main- 

 tained ; the number of encroaching species suitable for a given 

 habitat, after all, must be limited, and it may well be that the 

 limit for New Zealand, so far as introductions from European 

 countries are concerned, is very nearly reached. As bearing 

 upon this point, it may be remarked that, as many of the 

 naturalised plants of different countries are migrants from a 

 common centre, a large proportion must necessarily be iden- 

 tical ; for instance, out of 243 species enumerated by Mr. C. 



