368 Transactions. — Botany. 



Art. XXXVII. — On the Defoliation of Gaya lyallii, /. E. Baker. 



By L. Cockayne, Ph.D. 



Communicated by A. H. Cockayne. 

 [Bead before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 2nd November, 1904.] 



In a paper published by me some years ago* in which the seed- 

 ling form of Gaya lyallii, var. ribifolia, is described I threw grave 

 doubts on the hitherto universally accepted opinion that G. lyallii 

 is an evergreen at below 3,000 ft. and a deciduous tree at and 

 above that altitude. In support of my opinion the behaviour of 

 cultivated plants at almost sea-level of both the typical form 

 and var. ribifolia is cited, as also of young plants grown under 

 frostless and almost frostless conditions. In all these cases 

 the plants were perfectly deciduous. At an altitude of about 

 2,000 ft., on the outskirts of the Thirteen-mile Bush, situated 

 on the slopes of Big Ben, Gaya lyallii, var. ribifolia, is abundant. 

 Happening to be in the above locality in October, 1903, I paid 

 special attention to the plant under consideration, and found 

 in every instance the trees quite bare of leaves. To place this 

 fact on record I took a photograph of a grove of these trees 

 (Photo No. 348), which has been sent to several of my cor- 

 respondents. 



Gaya lyallii, var. ribifolia, is essentially a plant of the dry 

 eastern mountain region, while 67. lyallii occurs in the much 

 wetter western region. It only remains now for some observer 

 to note the behaviour of the western plant at a low level, when 

 in all probability it will also be found to be leafless in the early 

 spring. 



Art. XXXVIII. — Notes on the Vegetation of the Open Bay 



Islands. 



By L. Cockayne, Ph.D. 



Communicated by A. H. Cockayne. 



[Bead before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 2nd November, 1904.1 



Plate XXIII. 

 1. General Remarks. 



Lying in the Tasman Sea, some three nautical miles from the 

 shore of south Westland, almost opposite the mouth of the 

 Okuru River, are the two small islets known as the Open Bay 



* Trans. X.Z. Inst., vol. xxxiii.. 1901, p. 273. 



