534 Transactions. — Botany. 



Mr. Buchanau had previously done good botanical work in 

 various parts of the district. Some of his additions were de- 

 scribed in the Handbook, while others, such as Colobanthus 

 huchanani, C. canaliculattis , &c., have but recently received 

 the attention they merit. In 1865 he prepared his " Sketch 

 of the Botany of Otago," with a catalogue of the flower- 

 ing-plants and ferns collected in the district to that date.. 

 This was not published until 1869, when it appeared 

 in the Appendix to the first volume of " Transactions of 

 the New Zealand Institute," greatly increasing the value- 

 of the volume. In the Sketch he divided the provincial 

 district into an eastern and a western region, the dividing- 

 line extending along the course of the Clutha from Lake 

 Wanaka to the Nuggets. He enumerates 600 species, of 

 which 393 are dicotyledons, 118 monocotyledons, the re- 

 mainder ferns and fern allies. When the difficulties under 

 which the author had to labour at that time are considered, 

 and the fact that the concluding portion of the Handbook had 

 not been published is taken into account, it will be seen that 

 its accuracy is remarkable. In this respect it has not been 

 excelled by any later production of a similar character. Until 

 his removal to Wellington Mr. Buchanan held the office of 

 botanist and draughtsman to the Geological Survey of Otago. 

 Numerous papers on Otago plants, with illustrations from his 

 facile pencil, are scattered through the annual volumes of 

 "Transactions of the New Zealand Institute." It should b& 

 added that his "Sketch of the Botany of Otago" was the 

 first local flora published in the colony. 



In 1872 Mr. J. S. Webb published a short list of plants 

 found in the vicinity of Invercargill in the fifth volume of the 

 "Transactions of the New Zealand Institute," which com- 

 prised three or four species not previously recorded for the 

 Otago district. 



Mr. G. M. Thomson published a copious list of interesting 

 plants not previously recorded for the Otago district in the 

 " Transactions of the New Zealand Institute," vol. ix., p. 538. 

 Amongst them are several species of considerable interest — 

 Melicytiis macroi)}iylhis, a northern plant, the occurrence of 

 which in Otago could not have been anticipated ; Senccio 

 sciadoyhilus ; and Myrsine chathamica. A catalogue of the 

 naturalised plants of the district, by the same author, ap- 

 peared in vol. vii., p. 370, of the Transactions. 



Under the title of " Contributions to the Botany of Otago." 

 a list of about a hundred flowering-plants and ferns not pre- 

 viously recorded for the district was published by the present 

 writer in the tenth volume of the Transactions. The list com- 

 prised CarmicJiaelia monroi, Drosera pyginaa, only known 

 elsewhere in the colony at its northern extremity, Celmisia 



