Laing. — List of Norfolk Island Seaweeds. 299 



A species of Myosotis, possibly M. spathulata, Forst., was 

 shown to me by Mr. F. Arthur D. Cox, growing in the shade 

 of a small patch of forest on Whangamarino. The individual 

 plants were by no means numerous. I collected a second 

 plant growing in stony debris at the foot of the Te Awatapu 

 Waterfall. It is just possible that this latter plant is distinct 

 from the former. 



Art. XXX. — A List of the Seaweeds of Norfolk Island. 

 By R. M. Laing, B.Sc. 



[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 4th July, 1900.~\ 



Owing to the kindness of my father, Mr. W. Laing, who has 

 sent me a large number of dried specimens, I have been 

 enabled to examine the seaweeds of this interesting little 

 island, and the list appended to this paper probably includes 

 nearly all the more conspicuous forms to be found there. 

 Hitherto the Algae of the island have not been examined, 

 although the flowering-plants are fairly well known. In the 

 " Phycologia Australica" (Harv.) several species, picked up 

 apparently by casual collectors, are mentioned as occurring 

 in Norfolk Island. All of these with one exception I have 

 found in my collection. 



As the island is surrounded by high cliffs, and there are 

 few rock-pools, it does not afford any good collecting-grounds, 

 and the number of species occurring there seems to be small, 

 and of these nearly all are found on the northern coast of 

 Australia. Though the flowering-plants show a distinct New 

 Zealand connection, no trace of this appears among the sea- 

 weeds. In the following list there appear only two species 

 which are apparently endemic. This is the more remarkable 

 as it is stated that about a quarter of the flowering-plants 

 are endemic* In a word, the seaweeds of Norfolk Island 

 are completely Australian in their affinities, and show no 

 definite relationship to New Zealand or the South Sea 

 Islands. 



I have to thank Major Reinbold for his kind assistance 

 in the identification of the majority of the species. I have 

 still one or two which I have not yet been able to determine. 



Species marked with an asterisk have been previously 

 recorded from Norfolk Island. 



* Cbeeseman, Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xx., p. 161. 



