402 Transactions. 



some twenty-two times, but as the stream was low the fords 

 presented no difficulties, and at the end of our journey we were 

 hospitably entertained by a settler who runs cattle on the river- 

 flats. Sometimes on O'Brien's land, where the surface is under- 

 mined by subterranean streams, huge rata - trees disappear 

 bodily, and where they stood will be pools of water from 

 which a few of the toj^most twigs of the trees protrude. On 

 Mount Bovis I collected Celmisia hellidioides, Ourisia ccespi- 

 tosa, Veronica vernicosa, Ahrotanella ccespitosa, and Epilobium 

 gracilipes. 



There is a noticeable absence in these ranges of the mountain 

 forms of Ranunculus, and no varieties of Myosotis were found on 

 the Paparoas. There are no Carmichcelias, whilst the only 

 Raoulias are 7?. grandiflora and R. eximia, and the whipcord 

 Veronicas are almost unrepresented. No mountain varieties of 

 Clematis were ever observed by me, and I only collected three 

 species of this genus in the whole district. The Paparoas are 

 bush-clad to an elevation of from 2,000 ft. to 3,000 ft., and 

 much of the lands on the flat are clothed with forest, and beyond 

 Bullock Creek there are grand belts of Podocarpus spicata growing 

 on limestone country which will doubtless prove valuable grazing 

 lands when cleared. Rhopalostylis sapida is found in magnificent 

 groves dotted about on the coastal bluffs as far south as I reached, 

 but they do not extend inland very far. 



The excessive rainfall, which reached 72 in. in 1904 and 

 1905, may account for the absence of many plants which are 

 found further inland, and in the mountains especially many 

 plants that one would naturally expect to find at a given eleva- 

 tion are conspicuous by their absence. They may still be dis- 

 covered on the sheltered eastern face of the ranges when they 

 are examined. 



Some southern plants seem to make the Westport district 

 their northern limit — for instance, Gentiana montana and G. 

 saxosa, Liparophyllum gunnii. Ranunculus lyallii, Actinotus novce- 

 zealandicB, Epilohium gracilipes, Euphrasia cockayniana, Coprosma 

 retusa, Senecio rotundifolius, Veronica elliptica, and Ehrharta 

 ihomsoni. On the other hand, many northern species find their 

 southern limit in the vicinity of the Buller, amongst which are 

 Lepidium flexicaule, Notothlaspi australe var. stellatum, Myrio- 

 phyllum robustmn, Nertera cunninghamii, Olearia cunninghamii, 

 Celmisia dallii, Astdia hanksii, Orthoceras solandri, Calochilus 

 paludosus, Pterostylis venosa and P. puberula, Corysanthes cheese- 

 manii, and Poa anceps ; and amongst the Filices, Adiantum 

 CBthiopicum, Pteris macilenta and P. tremula, and Asplenium 

 umhrosum. Mr. Cheeseman has several times remarked whilst 

 looking over my specimens that Westport and its immediate 



