350 Transactions. — Botany. 



were noticed, but apparently it is far from common in this 

 locality. 



Leaving the coast, we crossed to the track leading to the 

 head of Ohora Harbour. Veronica dlosmcefolia was observed 

 in a small gully which flows into the harbour from the north- 

 west side of Mount Camel, but only in small quantity. Our 

 road now led over open kauri-gum land with the usual sparse 

 vegetation oi Leptospcrmum, Ptcris, Dracopliyllumurvilleanum, 

 Epacrls ixmcijiora, &c. Many of the gullies contained large 

 clumps of Todea barbara, its erect rigid habit and massive 

 mode of growth making it easy of recognition from a con- 

 siderable distance. It was often associated with GleicJienia 

 flabellata, to which it offered a most striking contrast. We 

 reached the Waihopo Stream, at the head of Ohora Harbour, 

 a little before dusk, and camped near Mr. Tynan's gum-store. 



The Waihopo, which is a stream of considerable size, in 

 the lower portion of its course flows through an extensive 

 raupo swamp, which we had not time to visit. Near our 

 camping-ground it was fringed with Gladium and Eleocharis, 

 amongst which the New Zealand form of Nephrodium thely- 

 piteris was not uncommon. Large masses of Myriophyllum 

 varicBfolium choked the bed of the stream, and Glossostigma 

 was plentiful on the muddy banks. Further on, the banks of 

 the stream became higher, and were covered with Leptosper- 

 mum and occasional bushes of Coprosma cunninghanm. In a 

 warm and sunny corner some distance back from the stream 

 Melianthus m.ajor was abundantly naturalised. The road to 

 Pareugarenga, on which we were now travelling, follows the 

 course of the Waihopo for two or three miles. For the whole 

 of this distance, and as far beyond as we could see up the 

 valley, the stream was fringed with thickets of an Australian 

 Acacia with lanceolate phyllodia. In many places both sides 

 of the stream were entirely blocked with it, and single plants 

 were thickly scattered on the slopes of the hills flanking the 

 valley. It is evidently spreading fast, but I was unable to 

 gather any particulars as to the mode of its introduction. 

 Leaving the Waihopo, the road traverses a dreary stretch of 

 kauri-gum land, with the usual vegetation of Ptcris and Lepto- 

 spervium. For several miles the only plant of interest noticed 

 was Spiranthes australis, which was abundant in one little 

 swamp, specimens fully 2ft. in height being collected. The 

 flowers vary in colour from dark-rose through pink to white. 

 With the exception of a solitary locality on the Great Barrier 

 Island, it had not been previously observed to the north of the 

 Auckland isthmus. At noon we reached the Maori settlement 

 of Te Kao, situated near the head of a little stream flowing 

 into the southern branch of Parengarenga Harbour. The 

 settlement consists of about twenty whares, a meeting-house, 



