BY J. H. MAIDEN. 721 



the women wash it in running water, and afterwards dry it, and then pass it 

 thro' the hackles" {lb., p. 261). 



The Lieiit.-Govr. introduced two New Zealanders to teach the 

 prisoners how to extract the fibre from the flax, but their process 

 was found to be so tedious that it was abandoned. 



126. DiANELLA INTERMEDIA, Endl, Prod. Norf. 66. — Recorded 



from Anson Bay. 



COMMELYNACE^. 



127. CoMMELYNA CYANEA, R.Br. Prod. V. 1, 269.— Recorded 



by A. Cunningham from "near the settlement." Known as 



" Forget-me-not" by the Islanders. Found also by him on 



Phillip Island. 



PALM-ffi. 



128. Rhophalostylis Baueri, H. Wendl. and Drude, Bot. 

 Zeit. XXXV. (1877) 63. (►Syn. Kentia Baueri, Seem., FI. Vit. 

 269 : jireca sapida, Endl., Prod. Norf. 64, non Solander ex 

 Forst.). 



Hooker (Hbk. N.Z. Fl., 288) points out that sapida and 

 Baueri are closely allied, but that the latter is a larger plant. 

 While this plant is supposed to be peculiar to Norfolk Island and 

 Chatham Island (N.Z.), Mr. I. Robinson informs me that it also 

 occurs on Sunday Island, in the same latitude, a statement that 

 might be borne in mind by any botanist or collector visiting the 

 latter Island. 



The Norfolk Islanders call this palm " Nikau," which is the 

 New Zealand name for JR. sapida, and which has probably been 

 borrowed from New Zealand. 



The midribs are used for brooms, and there. is some illicit 

 felling of the palms for this purpose, which should be prohibited. 

 The following interesting account of the palm is by Backhouse ; 

 and here I may mention that Backhouse's descriptions of the flora, 

 usually entirely accurate, are particularly valuable inasmuch as 

 the vegetation has been so much interfered with since his day: — 



"In the woody gullies the Norfolk Island Cabbage-tree, Areca sajnda, 

 abounds. It is a handsome palm, with a trunk about twenty feet in height, 

 and from one and a half to two feet in circumference, green and smooth, 



