670 Proceedings. 



Mr. Travers said he was quite familiar with these beautiful plants in 

 Nelson. He had seen them in great profusion on the Hanmer Plains, 

 and extending up the Clarence Hills as high as 4,000ft. It was almost 

 impossible to cultivate them. 



4. " On Oyster-culture in New Zealand," by Sir James 

 Hector. 



Abstract. 



The paper is a summary of investigations which are being made for 

 Government. The oysters in New Zealand by their shells may be dis- 

 tinguished as many varieties, but are clearly divided into two groups by 

 their habit of propagation. Outward form of shell goes for nothing as a 

 distinguishing mark, except that heavy, dense shells without outward 

 markings predominate in the south and in deeper waters ; but occasional 

 exceptions occur. The form of the shell is chiefly determined by the 

 nature of the surface to which it is attached. Reproduction, which is 

 the chief factor in the distribution of the oyster, is controlled by the 

 temperature of the sea. In the north of New Zealand, where for a short 

 season the temperature of the sea with inflowing tide reaches 70° Fahr., 

 oysters which are not strictly hermaphrodite, but only seasonally so, 

 have an advantage. As the tide flows, at the proper season the valves 

 open, and the ova and milt of different individuals are together swept up 

 the tidal creeks, there fertilize and develope, and, settling, cling to their 

 final resting-place between tide-marks, where they grow a close-fitting 

 shell that enables them to withstand the tidal periods of drought. The 

 otht r extreme is controlled by the more rigorous conditions of Foveaux 

 Strait, where the winter cold and the insufficient summer temperature of 

 the sea prevent the survival of intertidal oysters, so that the oysters that 

 survive are those in deep water, which do not shed the male and female 

 elements of the spawn at different seasons but at the same time and 

 within the shell, and there nurse the spawn until they complete the larval 

 stage and acquire rudimentary shells. In this form they are discharged 

 from the parent oyster in thousands, and after a very brief independent 

 existence they assume a sedentary life. Between these, the extreme forms 

 of habit, there are in New Zealand an almost unlimited variety, and even 

 that must vary with the seasons. But this very variability affords a good 

 opening for the oyster-cultivation ; and for the development of oyster- 

 culture as a great national industry New Zealand enjoys very prominent 

 natural advantages. 



Mr. Richardson said he was glad to hear that we are likely to have a 

 good supply of oysters in New Zealand. 



Mr. Travers said it was disastrous to draw altogether on the natural 

 beds for supply, and dredging should not be allowed. Properly-supervised 

 cultivation should be carried out, and inspection. Skill as well as 

 capital was required in this industry. Many of our natural productions 

 have, owing to the absence of proper supervision, been destroyed ; and now, 

 when almost too late, they are found to have been valuable. 



5. "Further Contribution to a Knowledge of the Sponges 

 of New Zealand," by H. B. Kirk, M.A. (Transactions, 

 p. 287.) 



Sir Walter Buller exhibited twelve specimens of the beautiful 

 land-shell Paryphanta hochstetteri. Eeferring to Mr. Travers's 

 proposed discrimination of two species — one distinguished by 

 its black undersurface, whilst in the other it was yellow — he 

 desired to point out that in the present series there was a 

 perfect gradation of colour. One of those exhibited was from 



