XXVill HISTORY OF 
appointment of draughtsman and botanist to the Geological Survey 
of Otago, then being organized by Dr. (now Sir James) Hector. Th 
the two or three years immediately following he accompanied Sir 
James Hector in a succession of adventurous journeys, during which 
a great part of central and western Otago was visited and explored. 
The collections made, which were mostly forwarded to Kew, contamed 
many interesting and remarkable discoveries, among which may 
be mentioned Ranunculus Buchanani, Pachycladon nove-zealanhe, 
Hectorella cespitosa, Azorella exigua, Celmisia ramulosa, Veronrca 
Buchanani, &c. In 1865 Mr. Buchanan prepared his “ Sketch of the 
Botany of Otago,” the first local Flora issued in the colony, and a work 
of considerable merit, evidencing much industrious research. It was 
written at the request of the Commissioners of the New Zealand Ex- 
hibition of 1865, but was not actually published until 1869, when it 
appeared in the first volume of the Transactions of the New Zealand 
Institute. On the establishment of the Geological Survey of New 
Zealand in 1866 he was appointed draughtsman and botanist, and 
removed to Wellington. He was successively engaged in botanical 
explorations of the North Auckland Peninsula, the Kaikoura Mountains, 
and Mount Egmont, some interesting notes on the two last-mentioned 
‘districts being printed in Vol. x. of the Journal of the Linnean Society. 
In 1873 he published a valuable paper on the flora of the Wellington 
Provincial District ; followed in 1874 by his “ Flowering-plants and 
Ferns of the Chatham Islands,” based on the collections made by Mr. 
H. H. Travers in 1863 and 1871. His most important work, published 
in 1880, is the “ Indigenous Grasses of New Zealand,” a folio volume 
of nearly two hundred pages, illustrated with sixty-four lithographic 
plates. It contains descriptions of the whole of the species then known 
to inhabit New Zealand, together with notes on their economic value, 
distribution, &c. Mr. Buchanan’s contributions to New Zealand 
botany include forty separate papers, stretching through twenty 
volumes of the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute. His last 
communication appeared in 1887, after which persistent ill health 
compelled him to give up botanical work. His death took place in 
1898. His earlier collections were mostly forwarded to Kew, but in 
later years he formed an extensive herbarium for the Colonial Museum. 
His private collections, drawings and analyses, manuscript notes, &c., 
were bequeathed to the Otago University Museum. 
No account of the history of botanical discovery in New Zealand 
would be complete without reference to the labours of Sir James 
Hector, the first Director of the Geological Survey and Manager of 
the New Zealand Institute. Arriving in the colony in 1861, his first 
duty was a geological and topographical exploration of the Province 
of Otago, a work which at that time involved many difficulties and 
hardships, and no small amount of danger. As previously mentioned, 
he obtained the services of Mr. Buchanan as collector and artist ; 
