60 Abstracts. 



peopling of the bed resolves itself into several distinct stages, each of which is 

 really a valid plant association always present on the river-bed, and although, like 

 any so-called stable plant formation, it is capable of change, it is just as much a 

 feature of the landscape as is a forest. The first stage on the unstable bed is an 

 Epilobium association consisting of certain species of that genus and 2-3 species 

 of Raoulia. The second stage is a Raoidia association, which denotes more stable 

 ground. Here the low cushions of Tf. Haastii become dominant. They offer a soil 

 for various steppe-plants, which in time kill and replace them, and by degrees 

 steppe, the third stage, is established through tussock-grasses becoming dominant. 

 In some places, where the conditions are favourable, scrub Is the climax associa- 

 tion. The affinities of the river-bed associations are dealt with. Prior to its 

 peopling it is nearest allied to shingle-slip, but they have no species in common, 

 unless the shingle he fairly stable, as in the bed of a gully. The Raoidia association 

 is ecologically and Boristically related to lowland river-bed, though there R. Haa-</ii 

 is absent. The steppe is related to that of dry mountain-slopes, but is made up of 

 fewer species. The scrub association is almost identical with subalpme scrub, and 

 the Discaria thickets have their counterpart on lowland river-beds and dunes. 



L. C. 



7. The Hepatics of New Zealand. By L. 8. Gibbs. (Journal of 

 Botany, vol. 49, pp. 261-2G6; 1911.) 



A list of Hepaticae collected by the author in October and November, 1907, 

 principally in the forest at Nihotapu and Te Aroha, Auckland. The identifications 

 are by F. Stephani, of Leipzig. Details are given as to habitats and general dis- 

 tribution. Forty-one species are noted, of which Marchantia laceriloba Steph., 

 Aneura papulolimbata Steph.. Calobryum Gibbsiae Steph., and Lepidozia Gibbsiana 

 Steph. are new, and will be described in due course. Treubia insignis (roebel, of 

 Java, is considered identical with the New Zealand plant. 



L. C. 



8. Handbuch der Regionalen Geologie : New Zealand and Adjacent 

 Islands. By P. Marshall, M.A.. D.Sc, F.G.S., &c. (Heidelberg, 

 1911.) 



This work, one of a series being published in Germany in order to <rive in handy 

 form a reliable account of the geology of each country of the world, contains an 

 excellent and concise summary of what is known up to the present of the geology 

 of New Zealand. The subject is treated in a judicial and admirable manner, with 

 copious references to authorities and a careful regard for the opinions of those 

 differing from the author's own. No further reference need be made in this 

 abstract to those parts of the work which summarize the results of previous 

 workers, and only such points will be dealt with as introduce new matter or have 

 bearing on the author's departure from accepted opinions on the difficult ques- 

 tions of New Zealand geology. 



The most important point to which reference must be made is the application 

 of the term " Oamaru system" to all the beds of Tertiary age below the Pliocene. 

 The author here follows the classification suggested in his paper on the "Younger 

 Rock-series of New Zealand," published, in last year's Transactions, and includes 

 in one conformable series beds which are generally assigned to the Waipara. Oamaru. 

 and Pareora systems. 



The rocks usually classified as Maitai, together with those admitted by all 

 experienced authorities to be of Triassic and Jurassic age, are also included in one 

 conformable series and called Jura-Trias. The conclusion has been arrived at by 

 the author after a careful examination of the beds in the typical locality near 

 Nelson, where rocks containing characteristic Triassic fossils are said to be con- 

 formable to those of the Maitai series, which arc identical with those forming the 

 main mountain masses of New Zealand. This point of view is not by any means a 

 new one, since several observers have expressed their belief in the conformity of 



