228 Transactions. — Botany. 



His papers on the different islands appeared in various publi- 

 cations mentioned in the bibliography ; but they are all vir- 

 tually the same, and appear all together in the Report of the 

 Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science for 

 1891 (56). Mr. F. R. Chapman, now Mr. Justice Chapman, 

 visited the islands at the same time as Kirk, and his paper 

 entitled " The Outlying Islands south of New Zealand," 

 though published amongst the miscellaneous papers in the 

 " Transactions of the New Zealand Institute," 1891, is a very 

 valuable contribution to botany (16). 



Mr. H. J. Matthews, now Chief Government Forester, in 

 1895 made a very extensive collection of living plants from 

 the various islands, and, I understand, succeeded in sending 

 a large number to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, in ex- 

 cellent condition. Moreover, he has cultivated for many years 

 a large percentage of the Southern Islands' plants with suc- 

 cess, a matter by no means easy. 



Macquarie Island was examined botanically a second time 

 by Mr. A. Hamilton in the summer of 1894. He added four- 

 teen species to the list of Macquarie Island plants, bringing 

 up the number of spermaphytes and pteridophytes to thirty 

 species, if those which are doubtful in Scott's list be 

 eliminated. According to Hamilton (39) the island is entirely 

 without trees : " there is not a shrub or plant large enough to 

 make a penholder." "The large Poa tussocks are the great 

 feature of the low levels, and on the hill-tops the special 

 feature is the Azorella, forming bright-green closely growing 

 convex masses of stems and leaves." Coprosma repens and 

 PolypocUum australc pwnila grow on the Azorella cushions. 

 Between the tussock-belt and the Azorella is a zone of Stil- 

 bocarpa jJolaris and Pleurophyllum hookeri. 



What is known about the geology of the islands is the 

 outcome of collections made by Mr. H. Armstrong in 1868 

 and Mr. J. H. Baker in 1865, of a lengthy stay on Campbell 

 Island by the French Transit of Venus Expedition in 1874, 

 and of a visit paid to the various islands by Sir James Hector 

 during a trip of the " Hinemoa " in 1895. 



Besides scientific expeditions, even from the time of their 

 discovery, the various islands have been visited by whaling- 

 ships, by sealing expeditions, and by vessels sent for the 

 purpose of looking for castaways. This latter has arisen from 

 the number of disastrous wrecks which have taken place in 

 the Southern Islands, especially in the Auckland Group. Of 

 these, one especially concerns us here, that of the " Grafton," 

 details of which are given below when treating of Auckland 

 Island. This wreck led to the brig " Amherst " being sent to ex- 

 amine all the islands for castaways in 1868, and in his report (2) 

 Mr. H. Armstrong published for t)ie first time some informa- 



