Oliver. — Yegetatioa of the Kermadec Islands. 121 



Island and Norfolk Island. The floras of these two islands will only be 

 mentioned in so far as they are related to that of the Kermadecs. 



Before closing this introduction I Avish to express my sincere thanks 

 to those who in one way or another made it possible for this paper to be 

 written : firstly, to those who helped the expedition before leaving New 

 Zealand, and especially to Dr. Hilgendorf, M.A. (then President of the 

 Canterburv Philosophical Institute), Dr. Cockavne, Professor C. Chilton. 

 M.A., D.Sc, and Mr. E. E. Waite. F.L.S. ; to the Councils of the Otago 

 Institute and Canterbury Philosophical Institute for grants of money to 

 help defray expenses ; to the Marine Department for the loan of meteoro- 

 logical instruments ; to Lieutenant Sir Ernest Shackleton for the gift of a 

 boat ; and, finally, to those who so readily gave assistance while I was writing 

 the paper — to Mr. T. F. Cheeseman, F.L.S., who looked over one of the 

 collections of plants made by me in the Kermadecs and named the specimens ; 

 to Mr. J. H. Maiden, of Sydney, who kindly compared some of my specimens 

 with plants from Norfolk Island ; to Dr. Cockayne for many valuable 

 suggestions ; and to Mr. E. Speight, M.A., B.Sc, who gave advice on 

 geological matters. 



II. History of Botanical Investigation. 



In 1854 Captain H. M. Denham, in H.M.S. " Herald," made a survey 

 of Sunday Island and the neighbouring seas (17 ; p. 14). He arrived on the 

 2nd and was occupied till the 24th July, during which time he frequently 

 had to move his vessel on account of the rough M-eather experienced. 

 Messrs. J. Milne and W. MacGillivray, naturalists on board the " Herald," 

 made a small collection of plants on Sunday Island. This was forwarded 

 by Captain Denham to Sir W. Hooker, and was described by Sir Joseph 

 Hooker in the Journal of the Linnean Society for 1857 (10 ; p. 125). 



The number of species collected was 41, of which 21 were pteridophytes 

 and 20 spermophytes. Four species were described as new — Coprosma 

 petiolata, C. acutijolia, Sccevola gracilis, and Ascarina lanceolata. 



In the " Handbook of the New Zealand Flora " (1864-66) 40 species 

 of vascular plants are mentioned as occurring in the Kermadecs. Of those 

 recorded in the Journal of the Linnean Society, four are omitted, doubtless 

 unintentionally, while three species are added — namely, Nephrodium molle, 

 Coriaria thywifolia, and Accena Sanguisorbce. These must have crept in 

 by accident, for no one is known to have collected plants on Sunday Island 

 between 1854 and 1864. Two of them do not occur in the Kermadecs ; 

 the third, however, Dryopteris parasitica (= iV". molle), is a common plant 

 on Sunday Island. 



In 1887 the New Zealand Government despatched the colonial steamer 

 " Stella " to the Kermadec Islands for the purpose of formally annexing 

 the group to the colony. Captain Fairchild left Eussell on the 12th August, 

 and, after a stormy passage to and from the islands, anchored under Cape 

 Maria van Diemen on the 27th August. Landings were effected on Sunday, 

 Macauley, and Curtis Islands. Mr. T. F. Cheeseman, Curator of the Auck- 

 land Museum, accompanied the expedition, and, being interested chiefly 

 in botany, made a large collection of plants on Sunday Island, the result 

 of his investigations being published in vol. xx of the " Transactions of 

 the New Zealand Institute " (1 ; p. 151). In the catalogue he gives of 

 phanerogamic plants and ferns inhabiting the Kermadecs, 115 are enumerated- 



