286 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
limits of the country afford contrasts and transition areas usually 
much farther dissociated. Perhaps for this reasan the country 
has been termed, by some travelers from larger continents, an 
area of ‘‘samples’’ but without extensive development of the vari- 
ous types because of the small size of the islands. This diversity 
insures a rich flora both as regards individuals and species. A 
considerable proportion of the higher plants is endemic. Dr. 
Cockayne estimates that 74% of the vascular plants is restricted 
to New Zealand. Or, if the more readily distributed ferns and 
monocotyledons are disregarded, the proportion of endemic species 
among the dicotyledons and gymnosperms rises to 85%. Super- 
imposed upon a primitive New Zealand flora, probably that of an 
ancient Antarctic land mass, are its derivatives together with later 
migrants from the neighboring land areas,—Australian, Malayan, 
etc., as well as others with kinships reaching out much farther. 
In comparison with our north temperate flora one finds little in 
common. For instance their great coniferous forests are mainly 
taxids including the splendid Dacrydiwm, Podocarpus, Agathis, 
Araucaria, ete., while our conifers include the pine, spruce, fir, 
and hemlock types. 
The northern part of North Island is the home of the kauri 
pine, one of the noble but vanishing trees of the world. Running 
out from Auckland I saw considerable groves of them, but was 
unable at that season of the year to get north to the regions where 
lumbering operations are now being carried on. This tree, Agathis 
australis, is a southern hemisphere gymnosperm of unique appear- 
ance. The lower branches are shed as the tree grows, their de- 
tachment being achieved by a regular abscission-layer which 
smoothly cuts off the limbs at the base. The higher branches are 
spread out abruptly into a more or less rounded top which crowns 
the long, smooth and unbranched axis. This log is so smooth and 
symmetrical that it looks as though it had been turned out with a 
lathe. Agathts has quite large leaves which are two or three 
inches long and three-fourths of an inch wide. We saw another 
species of this genus in Fiji, Agathis vitiensis. 
It is from the secretions of this tree that the noted kauri gum 
is secured. This resinous substance is formed within cavities of 
the trunk in considerable masses. The museum in Auckland has 
several fine specimens of many pounds weight looking like high 
grade resin and taking a beautiful polish. Naturally this stable 
substance does not decay with the decomposition of fallen logs 
