1904.] 27 



pink Ratas ( Metrosideros) , are innst striking and conspicuous objects 

 when in full blossom ; and the Alpine ilora, of which I had but a 

 glimpse, is exceedingly rich in showy and peculiar forms. 



In no part of the world has the indigenous Flora been displaced 

 by introduced and cultivated plants, and by the weeds which every- 

 where follow the footsteps of civilized man, to so great an extent as 

 in New Zealand. Mr. T. F. Cheeseman (Trans. N. Z. Institute, 

 vol. XV, pp. 268 et seq.) enumerates no fewer than 350 species of 

 plants, mostly common British and European forms, which have 

 become naturalized in the immediate vicinity of Auckland. In the 

 outskirts of some of the older settlements, notably at Christchurch 

 and Nelson, the present vegetation is entirely English in character, 

 and scarcely a single indigenous herbaceous plant or shrub has been 

 left surviving by its more vigorous Old "World competitors. Gorse, 

 broom, sweetbriar, and brambles now cover large areas in the South 

 Island, and are regarded as the most noxious of weeds. The 

 Australian Eucalypti, especially E. glohulus and E. amygdalina, make 

 very fine and handsome trees, and this is also the case with the 

 Californian Pinus insignis, a great favourite in the North Island ; 

 and oaks, elms, poplars, willows and all the ordinary home fruit-trees, 

 attain to perfection in this genial climate. 



The native land-birds, like the indigenous plants, have been to a 

 great extent superseded by our familiar British species, and one must 

 now go far afield to see any but a very few of them. Starlings, 

 sparrows, larks, greenfinches, linnets, and especially goldfinches, have 

 quite taken their place in all the settled districts, and in many places 

 have become so numerous as to be a serious nuisance to the fruit- 

 grower and farmer. Even the insects of such comparatively recent 

 introduction as the hive-bee, the humble-bee (Bovibus terrestris, L.), 

 the blue-bottle fly {Calliphora vomitoria, L.) and the drone-fly (-E^Ws- 

 talis tenax, L.) are much more in evidence to the casual observer 

 than any of the indigenous forms. 



On first landing in New Zealand, the entomologist can hardly 

 fail to be impressed with the great apparent scarcity of insects. 

 Excepting the Diptera, of which some species are individually 

 numerous, a long day's walk without special search would probably 

 reveal very little more than hosts of a common Cicindela (C. tuher- 

 culata, White, in the North, and O. latecincta, White, in the South 

 Island) along the roadsides, the sandy banks of which are everywhere 

 riddled with the burrows of their larva) ; a large and fine dragon-fly, 

 Uropetala carovei. White, and on the " tea-tree " blossoms, in early 



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