Cockayne. — Plants of Chatham Island. 317 



mind, it is not unreasonable to suppose that Chatham Island 

 contained at one time many more species than is now the 

 case, and that even such a ubiquitous tree as Cordyline aus- 

 tralis may have been there and been destroyed in the struggle 

 for existence caused by the shrinking of the land. 



New Species or Varieties mentioned in this Paper, 

 with Notes or Descriptions. 



The material at my disposal is in nearly every case quite 

 insufficient to enable me to draw up satisfactory diagnoses, so 

 for the present it must suffice to point out what seem to be 

 differences between the species considered to be new and 

 those to which they are most closely allied. In some cases 

 differences in the seedling form are used as a specific charac- 

 ter, and such seem, indeed, to me to be among the very best 

 characters that can be presented, showing a distinction be- 

 tween species which is constant, and not one which depends 

 so much on environment as the leaf-form of the adult, or at 

 times even the flower. 



1. Coprosma chatlmmica, sp. nov. 



A low tree attaining a maximum height of 15 m., never a 

 trailing shrub. Extremities of ultimate branchlets pubescent 

 with short greyish-white hairs ; bark brown, wrinkled and 

 glabrous below. 



Leaves oblong, obovate, obovate - oblong, or sometimes 

 lanceolate, tapering gradually into the short petiole, often 

 about 4-9 cm. long by 2-3 cm. broad ; glabrous except for pu- 

 bescence on short petiole, and a few scattered hairs on midrib 

 and margins; upper surface dark-green and shining; under- 

 surface very pale, strongly marked by reticulations of veins. 



Female flowers : Calyx-limb truncate ; corolla deeply 

 divided into four lobes; lobes 3*5 mm. to 4 mm. long; drupe 

 large, ovoid, 1-2 cm. long by 9 mm. through its thickest por- 

 tion. 



Seedling : Cotyledons large, 3 cm. by 1-8 cm., or larger or 

 smaller, obovate, obtuse, glabrous except on short petiole ; 

 early seedling leaves larger than the cotyledons, oblong, acute, 

 thin, densely ciliated and hairy on petioles and midrib, with 

 hairs scattered also over surface of lamina; lamina 3 - 4 cm. by 

 1*9 cm. to 2-25 cm. by 12 cm, or larger or smaller. Stem 

 and upper part of hypocotyl pilose, with hairs similar to those 

 of leaf ; hairs white, but sometimes red. 



This species is C. baueriana of Buchanan's list. It is re- 

 ferred to C. petiolata, Hook, f., by Mr. T. Kirk (37, p. 232). 

 Mr. T. F. Cheeseman has kindly sent me specimens of the 

 latter species, collected by himself in the Kermadec Islands, 

 for comparison. These have shorter pubescence than G. 



