Two New Zealand Botanical Reports. 143 



is, indeed, everywhere strikingly evident. Of ferns there are 

 enumerated 64 species, from the most delicate filmy species to 

 those which are arborescent. The mosses and hepatics have not 

 been worked out, but their number is very great. 



The catalogue of the flora, which completes the report, 

 shows the Filices to have the most species. Next comes the 

 Compositae with 57 species, the Cyperaceae with 48, the Gra- 

 mineae with 36, and the Rubiaceae with 21, no other families 

 having a large development. In reading the catalogue of the 

 indigenous flora one encounters less than half a dozen familiar 

 names, but in the part devoted to introduced plants there is 

 found but one which does not have a place in the flora of the 

 United States; an evidence of the great climatic adaptability of 

 the common weeds; an adaptability to which they largely owe 

 their cosmopolitan diffusion. 



In addition to the detailed study of the ecological conditions 

 and of the plant associations of the island flora, to which the re- 

 port is mainly devoted, there are sections treating of the history 

 of the island, its physiography, and the origin, development 

 and relationships of the plant population. Agricultural possi- 

 bilities are discussed, and are pronounced unfavorable, and it is 

 recommended that the whole island be made a scenic reserve, 

 for which purpose a considerable portion has already been set 

 apart. An extensive bibliography completes the paper. 



Dr. Cockayne's second report * is a contribution to the 

 extensive literature relating to sand dunes. More than 300,000 

 acres in various parts of New Zealand are occupied by these 

 dunes, mostly, as in other countries, on the sea coasts, but also 

 in certain inland localities. Some of these hills are fixed, but 

 others are, and most may become, traveling, and overwhelm 

 fertile fields, forests and habitations. The destruction they 

 have wrought in many countries is well known, so that, where- 

 ever they exist, they present a menacing problem of pressing 

 importance. 



The first part of the report is geological, and summarizes 

 what is known of dune-building, the character and origin of the 



•Report on the Sand Dunes of New Zealand, By L. Cockayne. Ph. D., etc. Wellington, 

 1909. Pp. 30. Photogravures 35. 



