532 Proctedirif/s. 



for sincere regret that his fine series of photographs was not secured for the 

 Dominion Museum. 



Some small sums of public money have been expended on special botanical 

 surveys, and reports of these have been published, but so far as I am aware the 

 botanical material collected has not been used to enrich any public museum. In 

 any further research of this kind that may be undertaken, it might easily be 

 arranged that as full collections as possible of the plants observed should be made, 

 with a view- to their permanent preservation in the Dominion Museimi. If photo- 

 graphs could also be secured, so much the better. I would suggest furthei- 

 that the help of survey parties employed in the fiovernment service should be 

 enlisted in this good cause. Many of the gentlemen who direct sugJi parties are 

 interested in native plants, and could with little trouble collect and dry numbers 

 of specimens not easy to procure in flower and fruit by other agencies. The 

 Inspector and local officers of our forest and scenic reserves, and the Superin- 

 tendents of the State nurseries, could also give valuable help in getting together 

 a worthy natural collection of native and naturalized plants. 



Early in the past year the two volumes of " Illustrations of the New Zealand 

 Flora," edited by Mr. T. F. Cheeseman and Dr. W. Botting Hemsley, issued from 

 the press some little time before, became available for reference by those interested 

 in botanical research. This fine work is in all respects worthy of the reputation 

 of its distinguished editors. I was a member of the deputation from a conference 

 of School Inspectors that waited on the late Mr. Seddon to urge him to authorize 

 the preparation of a new Flora of New Zealand, the work to be accompanied by 

 a volume of illustrative drawings. With his usual public spirit and regard for 

 the interests of country settlers, he promised favourable consideration of the deputa- 

 tion's request, and expressed his desire that the drawings should be such as would 

 enable miners and country dwellers generally to gain, if they so desired, a know- 

 ledge of the common plants growing in their neighbourhood. The suggestion 

 offered by the deputation was that there should be a drawing of one species of each 

 of our genera of flowering-plants and ferns, and one for each section of the larger 

 genera in which well-marked sections are recognized. This design was evidently 

 known to the late Mr. T. Kii'k, to whom the production of the new flora 

 was entrusted, though he did not live to complete more than half the task. The 

 preface to the " Students' Flora of New Zealand," as Mr. Kirk's work was entitled, 

 shows that it was the intention of the Education Department, which was charged 

 with the production of the book, to include in the series of plates many previously 

 published drawings of native plants, no doubt on a reduced scale. Arrangements 

 were even made with Messrs. Reeve and Co., of London, by payment of a small 

 royalty, to utilize many of the numerous plates of native plants contained in the 

 classical works on the floras of New Zealand and Tasmania by the late Sir J. D. 

 Hooker. I consider it most regrettable that the Education Department should have 

 consented to the abandonment of the plan roughly sketched out in the above- 

 mentioned preface, no doubt with the late Mr. Seddon's approval. What was 

 wanted to foster a popular interest in botanical inquiry was a set of plant drawings 

 somewhat on the lines of Bentham's Illustrations of the British Flora. A work 

 of some such kind would, no doubt, have aroused among intelligent country residents 

 a growing interest in the local vegetation, and opened up for them a pleasant 

 recreation ; it would have made the path of all beginners in plant studies easy 

 and sure; and would have helped to bring to the front many who are now turned 

 away from such pursuits by the unfamiliar technical language in which accurate 

 botanical descriptions must be set forth. For botanists outside our Dominion who 

 wish to gain a more extended acquaintance with the New Zealand flora than Sir 

 Joseph Hooker's works made available, the new volumes of illustrations are entirely 

 suitable; but residents in the Dominion will finfl the books costly and unwieldy, 

 and deficient in figures of a great many of the most common and most widely 

 diffused native plants. As it seems to ine, a great opportunity for stimulating 

 popular interest in plant studies, and for enriching the non-selfish life interests 

 of the coming generation, has been turned to poor account. The excellent list of 

 illustrations of New Zealand plants previously published is a valuable feature of 

 the new volumes. 



An important scientific publication of the year is the atlas of plates in illus- 

 tration of the recently published "Manual of the New Zealand Mollusca " by 

 Mr. Henry Suter. This work contains a very large number of figures of Recent 

 shells, in general beautifully executed, and is well fitted to stimulate closer and 

 more general study of this department of zoology. Together with the author's 

 Manual this atlas will enable any one drawn to the subject to get abreast of the 

 present state of our knowledge of the molluscous fauna, and entice beginners in 

 its study to go forward under highly favourable conditions. The book, it may be 



