244 Transactions. — Botany. 



islands was undertaken, when Mr. W. T. L. Travers, who 

 previously had done so much to advance the knowledge of 

 New Zealand botany, sent his son, Mr. H. H. Travers, to 

 Chatham and Pitt Islands to make as complete a collection of 

 the indigenous plants as possible. The expedition resulted 

 in a very interesting collection of plants, from which Baron F. 

 von Mueller compiled his well-known work "The Vegetation 

 of the Chatham Islands." This was published in 1864, and 

 contains descriptions or notes of 129 species of phanerogams 

 and twenty-five species of ferns and lycopods, of which seven 

 were species new to science. Had the distinguished author of 

 the work not been a most staunch believer in the fixity of 

 species (45, pp. 7 and 8), the number of species recorded 

 would have been considerably larger, in proof of which state- 

 ment it is only necessary to note his treatment of Veronica, 

 Calystegia, Epilobium, and certain other genera. 



In 1867 a paper appeared (24), written by Mr. Halse, 

 which gives a most excellent idea of the general aspect of 

 certain parts of the main island. Much more important, 

 however, is the account of his journey in 1863 by Mr. 

 H. H. Travers, published in the first volume of the " Trans- 

 actions of the New Zealand Institute" in 1869 (51). In 

 1871 Mr. Travers paid a second visit to the islands, and his 

 new collection added very considerably to the known number 

 of their plants. Baron F. von Mueller contributed a short 

 note on this collection to the " Transactions of the New Zea- 

 land Institute" (46), giving a list of certain genera" not col- 

 lected during Mr. Travers's former visit. 



In 1874 Mr. John Buchanan published a revised list of 

 the flowering-plants and ferns of the Chatham Islands, based 

 on the two collections cf Travers (3), bringing the genera up 

 to 129 and the species to 205, describing three new species 

 and recording the occurrence of that very interesting restia- 

 ceous plant Sporadanthus traversii, now referred to the genus 

 Leinjrodia (32, p. 969). Mr. Buchanan's list seemed at the 

 time it was published to quite exhaust the possibilities of the 

 Chathams as a field for new species, and so for many years 

 Chatham Island botany appeared to be at a standstill. But 

 during part of that time a most enthusiastic naturalist, Mr. 

 F. A. D. Cox, who resides in Chatham Island, was collecting 

 and studying its plants during his few intervals of leisure, so 

 when the late Mr. T. Kirk sought aid with regard to Chatham 

 Island plants, during the compilation of the "Students' Flora 

 of New Zealand," Mr. Cox was very able and very willing to 

 supply him with material, and, better still, with information 



* In this list Myosotis is noted, so I was mistaken in writing of it as 

 an unrecorded genus for the Chathams (11). 



