Hekkiott. — Plants from the Southern, Islands. 377 



twelve they are very distinct, and the annual growth unmis- 

 takable. In several of the rings, especially in the ten larger, 

 there are quite evident traces of subgrowths, two, three, or even 

 four in one year. 



Plate L shows the sections of both trees. The irregularity 

 of growth and the particulars as above noted can be easily 

 traced. The extreme constrictions of the inner 2 in. of the rimu 

 may in part be due to compression, but the transition to a rapid 

 rate has been very sudden. An aged rimu commonly shows a 

 pole of hard and resinous wood, about 4 in. or 5 in. in diameter, 

 which parts easily from the main body of the trunk. In these 

 cores it is very difficult to distinguish the rings. 



The rate of growth having, it is believed, been thus demon- 

 strated, attention was turned to the cross-section of kauri, 8 ft. 

 in diameter, presented to the Museum about six years ago by 

 Messrs. Leyland and O'Brien. A sector of it was dressed and 

 oiled, and the rings counted as accurately as possible. But the 

 task is a difficult one. Within a small limit of error, however, 

 there can be counted 455 annual growths, the rate varying from 

 twenty-five per inch to seven or less. This tree had been cut 

 in its prime, as evidenced by the extent and dimensions of healthy 

 sapwood, which averages 6| in. all round, or 25J per cent, of 

 the area of section. This noble kauri, then, must have been a 

 vigorous sapling on the slopes of Mangawai before the Wars of 

 the Roses. And from the same data we must conclude that 

 there are kauri-trees still in good condition whose ages date from 

 the early centuries of our era. 



Plate LI shows totara and a small rimu and kauri, and is 

 from a photograph by Mr. Joseph Martin. 



Art. XLVIII. — On the Leaf-structure of some Plants from the 

 Southern Islands of New Zealand. 



By Miss E. M. Herriott, M.A. 



[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 5th July. 1905.] 



Communicated by Dr. Charles Chilton. 

 Plates XXVIII-XXXVII. 



The Southern Islands of New Zealand consist of several groups 

 of small islands — namely, The Snares, Auckland Islands, Camp- 

 bell Island, Macquarie Island, Antipodes Islands, and Bounty 

 Islands — lving in the South Pacific Ocean between the parallels 

 of 54° 44' and 47° 30' south latitude, and 159° 49' and 179° east 

 longitude. They all lie in a more or less southerly direction 



