296 IOWA STUDIES IN NATURAL HISTORY 
ests in which the Nothofagus is prominent and accepted the kind 
invitation of Mr. Atkinson to spend the day on his extensive tract 
of timber land running from tide water up over hills to a height 
of several hundred feet and overlooking the outer harbor. With 
Mr. Cunningham of the Experiment Station I crossed over on the 
early morning ferry. We were met at the pier by Mr. Atkinson 
who lives on that side and we were hospitably weleomed by Mrs. 
Atkinson to their beautiful home which stands near the border of 
the forest and on a slight elevation affording a fine view across 
the water to Wellington. It seems that after the fashion of Am- 
ericans I had been complaining about some of the things experi- 
enced in New Zealand, one of them the total lack of drinkable 
coffee. They have oceans of tea but no real coffee, so while we 
were warming ourselves for a moment by the fireside Mrs. Atkin- 
son brought in real coffee which I enjoyed very much. 
Thus fortified we then set out up the steep slopes of the low 
mountain bordering the harbor. Passing up a deep valley with 
many fern trees and various evergreens we found the beech for- 
mation at an elevation of a few hundred feet. This was my first 
contact with the New Zealand Nothofagus, one of the few decidu- 
ous trees of North Island. This interesting genus is represented 
by various species occupying the southern end of North Island and 
extending all over South Island and Stewart Island. The black 
trunk is suggestive of our beech and the branching and foliage 
reminds one also of our Fagus, so that their kinship is quite 
evident. 
Late in the forenoon as we worked down the slopes we found 
Mrs. Atkinson by a comfortable camp fire in the valley. Swing- 
ing from a metal tripod was a coffee kettle and in the big basket 
were the other factors of our fine noon time lunch. With the 
sun’s rays shining warmly into the notch between the forested 
hills we were so comfortable that we could quite forget that it 
was midwinter. Indeed with fern trees and evergreen vegetation 
all around us it was difficult to discover by the eye, at least, that 
it was not midsummer. 
Following the descent we spent a pleasant hour with the Atkin- 
sons in their home, and noticing the many beautiful pictures I 
complimented him on the decoration of his walls. Noticing over 
the fire-place a large canvas which was obviously none other than 
a picture showing the surrender of the German fleet, I suddenly 
turned on Mr. Atkinson and said, ‘‘You painted that picture, and 
