358 Transactions. — Botany. 



seen in close vicinity. We looked in vain for the floating 

 mass of seaweed which was supposed to protect the 

 entrance to Hades ; but possibly the sea was too rough or 

 the tide not low enough for us to observe it. 



To the eastward of the Eeiuga the coast is high, rocky, 

 and precipitous. In many places the sea beats full against 

 the foot of the cliffs, so that further progress along the beach 

 became quite impossible. Travelling along the top of the 

 cliffs for about two miles, we reached a sheltered little inlet 

 called Otongawhiti. A pretty little stream runs into it, its 

 banks fringed with pohutukawas, amongst v?hich we noticed a 

 few handsome and well-grown specimens of Sapota. Entelea, 

 Iloheria, and Myrsine urvillei were plentiful ; and Coprosma 

 rhamnoidcs and Bhahdothamnus formed dense thickets by the 

 side of the stream. At the head of the little valley were 

 numerous specimens of Veronica diosmcBfolia, varying from 

 12ft. to 15ft. in height, some even reaching 20ft. The slender 

 trunk was about the thickness of a man's wrist, and was 

 bare almost to the very top, where it suddenly expanded into 

 a broad and dense round head. The whole appearance of 

 the plant was so very different from the usual form of the 

 species, which is a closely-branched bush 2ft. to 4ft. high, 

 that at first I took it for Veronica parviflora, a large form of 

 which it much resembled. It was only by breaking down a 

 specimen and obtaining flowers and fruit that I satisfied my- 

 self of its true nature. 



A short walk over very uninteresting country brought u& 

 to Tapotopoto Bay, one of the most picturesque indentations 

 on the northern coast. Its sides are formed by steep rocky 

 cliffs, which, near the entrance, reach a considerable height. 

 At the head is a narrow strip of sandy beach, perhaps half a 

 mile in length, backed by a miniature belt of sand-dunes, with 

 the usual covering of Cassinia and Phormium. Further back 

 still the bay is shut in by a semicircular range of hills, most 

 of which has been cleared and grassed, although in many 

 places the indigenous vegetation is again asserting itself. A 

 little sandy flat near the sea has at one time been planted with 

 buffalo-grass {Stenotaphrum), which still holds its own, and 

 has even pushed colonies up the sides of the hills. A stream 

 of considerable size enters the bay at its eastern side. At its 

 mouth it forms a brackish-water inlet, covered with mangroves, 

 Plagiantlms divaricatus, Juncus maritimus, Dichelachne sti- 

 poides, and other well-known littoral plants. A little distance 

 up the valley the stream forks, and near the junction is a little 

 patch of bush containing some fine tree-ferns (Cyathea viedul- 

 laris). The principal trees noticed were Vitex, Tetranthera, 

 Eugenia, Dodoncea, Melicytus ramijiorus, and Iloheria populnea. 

 The last mentioned appears to be abundant in the northern 



