324 Transactions. — Botany. 



careous rocks, or on the debris of these — e.g., Castle Hill,. 

 Weka Pass, Kaikoura, and at Weston, near Oamaru. These 

 districts, like calcareous districts in other countries, possess a 

 special flora of their own which is strictly confined to these 

 rocks, and thus far has not been found growing in any other 

 habitats. 



Grimmia ( Schistidium) argentca* described in a former 

 paper read before this Institute, has only been found on the 

 rockc at Castle Hill, and is very rare in that habitat. 



Seligeria cardotu,\ also described in a former paper, was 

 first found at Castle Hill, and since then it has been col- 

 lected at the Weka Pass and near Oamaru. Bryum 

 oamaruense,l from the last-named district, is another rare 

 moss, being confined to one piece of rock from 3 ft. to 4 ft. in 

 diameter, and although 1 botanised all over the district for 

 eight days I found it in no other habitat. In the interests 

 of botany 1 left specimens of it sufficient to replenish the rock 

 on which it grows. 



Gymnostomum brotherusii, described in this paper, is another 

 of these rare plants, being confined to a small abandoned 

 quarry on Mr. Allen's property, about 20 yards wide, from 

 which stone had been taken to form the road which passes 

 near it. There are also several new species from the Oamaru 

 district, which are rare, described in this paper. 



Gymnostomum gibsomi, also described in this paper, has 

 only been collected in the Kaikoura district ; it is plentiful, and 

 grows in strips along the bases of precipitous rocks in the 

 South Bay, and, although common, is seldom found in fruit 

 owing to the dryness of the habitats. There are also several 

 other rare species from this neighbourhood described in this 

 paper which have not been found thus far in any other 

 locality. 



From a geological point of view the rocks on which these 

 plants grow are extremely interesting from the large number 

 of fossils which they contain, but from a botanical one they 

 present an arid uninteresting appearance, which has hither- 

 to prevented a thorough examination of them being made 

 to ascertain the number and positions of the plants that 

 exist there. Only the larger ones have hitherto been collected, 

 although in the crevices and out-of-the-way nooks and places 

 there are to be found some of the smallest and rarest species 

 of Musci in New Zealand. They are of much interest, some 

 of them for their rarity, others for their extreme smallness, 

 and all of them for the arid and adverse conditions under 

 which they continue to exist. 



* R. B., in Trans. N.Z. Inst., 1894, vol. xxvii., p. 412. 

 t R. B., in Trans. N.Z. Inst., 1894, vol. xxvii., p. 423. 

 J R. B., in Trans. N.Z. Inst., 1898, vol. xxxi., p. 447. 



