HoLLOWAT. — Studies in fhr New Zealand Species of Lycopodiuni. 169 



strobili are shorter than in the epiphytic form and are curved over. On 

 the whole, I should judge that in form they come nearer to the typical 

 L. BiUardieri than to L. varium — even to that form of the latter which I 

 have above described from Otira Gorge and from Stewart Island. Possibly 

 we are to explain the existence of this terrestrial variety of L. BiUardieri 

 by the fact that the original epiphytic jjlants were forced to accommodate 

 themselves to a terrestrial habit through the destruction of the old kauri 

 forest which took place probably a century or so ago. At any rate, they 

 represent a variety not far removed from L. BiUardieri, and thus make 

 almost perfect the chain of forms which can be traced from L. BiUardieri, 

 and, indeed, from the type species L. Phlegmaria, through L. varium to 

 L. Sclago. 



Perhaps the most interesting variety of L. BiUardieri is the form which 

 is known as L. BiUardieri var. gracile. This I have found growing very 

 commonlv on the trunks of the tree-fern Dichonia sqiiarrosa in the coastal 

 bush in the Western Botanical District of the South Island. This was first 

 described by T. Kirk (23, pp. 376-77), and is there illustrated. In the 

 present paper two plants are shown in Plate X, fig. 2, B. This variety 

 is a very graceful, slender, flaccid plant, and always quite distinct from 

 L. BiUardieri. It is seldom more than one foot in length, and is sparingly 

 branched. The fertile leaves show a wide range of variability in form. 

 In some specimens they are in no wise different from the sterile leaves, 

 although it must be noticed, as we saw in L. Selago, that the leaves are 

 always largest towards the base of the stem. In others the fertile leaves 

 are more bract-like, and the fertile regions then approach somewhat nearer 

 to the typical L. BiUardieri form. The two plants figured show well this 

 varying character of the fertile regions, in the case of the plant on the right 

 the various forms of the sporophylls occurring in intermixed zones on the 

 same branch. The whole of the upper region of the stem is fertile, there 

 being no intermixture of fertile and sterile zones as in typical L. Selago, 

 but the fertile region generally extends to half-way or more down the plant. 

 [n the figure the limit of the fertile region on the two plants is indicated by 

 crosses. 



Sir Joseph Hooker states both in his Flora Tasmaniae (20, pp. 155-56) 

 and in his Flora Novae-Zelandiae (19, pp. 52-53) that L. varium, which in 

 its ordinary state is very distinct, passes into L. Selago on the one hand, and, 

 on the other, when it inhabits warmer latitudes, grows dependent from 

 trees, is much branched, more slender and flaccid, and becomes L. BiUardieri. 

 In his Flora Antarctica (18) he expands more fully this view of a chain of 

 forms uniting L. Selago through L. varium with L. BiUardieri, drawing his 

 illustrations largely from the varieties of L. variu7n as they occur in 

 Tasmania. In the same place he also says that '' the variations from it 

 [i.e., L. varium.] to Phlegmaria are not obscure, the variations of that plant 

 being excessive." In his paper cited above T. Kirk discusses the relation 

 of the New Zealand forms L. varivm., L. BiUardieri, and L. BiUardieri 

 var. gracile to one another, and concludes, '' I am compelled to consider 

 L. BiUardieri as merely one of the varieties of L. varium.'" He ])roposes 

 the following arrangement of the principal forms : L. varium Br. — 

 (fl) varium (thte ordinarv New Zealand form), (6) polaris (Campbell and 

 Auckland Island form), (c) BiUardieri, and (d) gracile. This arrangement 

 certainly has the advantage of emphasizing the natural steps in the 

 evolution of the forms concerned, although such a form as L. BiUardieri 

 deserves specific rank. It places the form gracile also in the right position 



