SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OP NEW ZEALAND. [Historical. 



Mr. Matthews, the late Chief Government Forester, visited the islands at the 

 same time and made a very extensive collection of \Wmg plants, some of which he 

 succeeded in sending to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. 



In 1901 Macqiiarie Island was visited by the National Antarctic Expedition 

 ship " Discovery " on her way to New Zealand before she left for the south polar 

 regions, and some further collections from that island were then made. On their 

 return from the antarctic regions in March, 1904, the three vessels, " Discovery," 

 " Morning," and " Terra Nova," rendezvoused in Port Ross, Auckland Island, thus 

 once more justifying the name of Rendezvous Harbour, which had been given to it 

 by Ross more than sixty years previously. During their stay the officers of tlie 

 " Discovery " made several further collections. 



In the winter of 1903 Dr. Cockayne visited all the islands with the exception 

 of the Snares, at which he was unable to land owing to bad weather, and made 

 extensive collections of the plants, and very extended observations of their 

 winter aspect, which he afterwards embodied in a valuable paper (1904). At the 

 same time he collected zoological specimens belonging to various groups, including 

 some from the Bounty Islands, which were of especial interest. Some of these 

 have been already described in various papers, and others are included in the 

 reports in these volumes. 



In February, 1907, at the request of His Excellency the Governor (Lord 

 Plunket), Professor W. B. Benham and Mr. E. R. Waite accompanied him to the 

 islands in the Government steamer " Tutanekai," and extensive collections were 

 made by them, most of which have been incorporated in the various reports in 

 this volume. 



In November of the same year the expediti(j]i organized by the Philosophical 

 Institute of Canterbury, which has been the immediate cause of the appearance of 

 this work, visited the Auckland and Campbell Islands, a party being left on each 

 for some time. A brief narrative of the expedition, with the list of members, has 

 been already given. During the expedition, Dr. L, Cockayne, acting under instruc- 

 tions from the Government, secured twelve specimens each of the Auckland Island 

 flightless duck (Nesonettn aucUandica), the Antipodes Island parrakeet {V yanorham- 

 phus unicolor), and the Auckland Island parrakeet (C novae-zealandme). These 

 were afterwards liberated on the native birds' sanctuary on Kapiti Island, where, 

 according to the last reports, they were doing well. 



In the following year Mr. B. C. Aston, a member of the Auckland Island party, 

 visited the whole of the islands in the Government steamer " Hinemoa," and made 

 further botanical collections, which he generously placed at the disposal of Messrs. 

 Cheeseman and Petrie. 



Here, for the titne, the story of the scientific investigation of these islands ceases ; 

 but it cannot end here. They are the most readily accessible and the richest bio- 

 logically of all the subantarctic islands ; they lie almost in the direct path leading 

 to the best approach to the regions furthest south ; and the Balleny, Macquarie, 

 Campbell, Auckland, and Snares Islands form the best series of transitional steps 

 from the barren ice-clad lands of the Antarctic Continent to a country covered with 

 a rich temperate and subtropical vegetation, and their more complete investigation 

 will necessarily follow. Particularly do the Macquarie and the Balleny Islands call 

 for immediate attention: they could be investigated in a short time, and at a 



