FIJI-NEW ZEALAND EXPEDITION 287 
but is left in the soil or on the ground of areas once covered by 
forests of this species. Some such regions are now open country 
or even under the sea margin. A considerable number of ‘‘gum- 
diggers’’ gain a livelihood by excavating resin from the regions 
of former forests. They explore the ground with long pointed 
rods by means of which they find even deeply buried masses of 
resin. New Zealand exports annually great quantities of this 
gum which is used as an ingredient of varnishes. 
The forests of North Island are given a tropical aspect by the 
great numbers of perching and climbing plants as well as by the 
numerous fern-trees throughout this island. The perching-lilies 
(Astelia) are conspicuous on the branches of larger trees to- 
gether with epiphytic ferns and lyeopods. Climbing plants of the 
most varied forms abound, ranging from climbing ferns to the 
supplejack, Rhipogonum scandens, whose slender stems are almost 
unbreakable. 
The ferns in general are varied and abundant. They spread 
out everywhere in a great variety of forms. The delicate filmy 
ferns, Hymenophyllum and Trichomanes, are common in the rain- 
forests. Most conspicuous are the beautiful tree-ferns which grow 
commonly to a height of twenty to thirty feet, and in favored 
places nearly twice that high. They belong to three genera, 
Cyathea, Hemitelia, and Dicksonia, and Cockayne reports six of 
their species as endemic. Related groups include the numerous 
lycopods and the rare T'’mesipteris which grows sparingly on the 
trunks of tree ferns. 
Certain introduced plants, here as in Fiji, seem to offer a prob- 
lem. For example, considerable areas of northern New Zealand 
were possessed by the gorse and it would be difficult to imagine 
a more unfavorable visitor. Its thorny stems form such dense 
growth that grazing is nearly impossible. It may be recalled by 
some that it was this plant which, when first seen by the great 
Linneus, caused him to fall on his knees in admiration cf its 
beauty. An apochryphal story has it that when his knees struck 
the thorns of some of the stems lying on the ground he forthwith 
sprang up in a less devotional mood. 
The Auckland district has a number of small extinct voleanic 
cones, some of them quite low and but a few hundred feet above 
the level of the ocean. One of the higher and most symmetrical 
of these is Rangitoto, a mountain-island approximately one thous- 
and feet in height which stands in the edge of Hauraki gulf, which 
