notably at Nelson and Christcliurcli in tlic South Island, one 

 may walk for a long distance without seeing a single indi- 

 genous plant, so completely has the native flora been ousted 

 by introduced trees, shrubs, and weeds, mostly from our own 

 country. No fewer than 350 species of these intruders were 

 a few years ago enumerated by Mr. T. F. Checseman as having 

 become more or less established in the neighbourhood of 

 Auckland,* and many of these weeds grow with a vigour and 

 luxuriance quite unknown in their native land. The disas- 

 trous effect on all forms of life of this destruction and replace- 

 ment of the original vegetation need hardly be enlarged upon, 

 and as it continues at an even accelerated pace, the necessity 

 is only too obvious for immediate and thorough research in 

 what still remains of the endemic animal life of New Zealand, 

 before many of its most interesting forms are lost for ever. 

 Fortunately there is in the Dominion at the present time a 

 small but exceedingly capable body of Entomologists who 

 arc fully alive to the urgency of the matter, and the number 

 of new and interesting forms in all Orders of insects brought 

 to light by them in recent years bears ample testimony to 

 their successful exertions. Even near the larger towns, 

 notably at Dunedin, where a wide belt of " bush " surrounding 

 the city has been specially reserved, some patches of the original 

 woodland have escaped the general destruction, and still 

 give shelter to many interesting insects and other forms of 

 indigenous life. 



The New Zealand forest is mostly evergreen in character, 

 and thus varies but little in aspect at different seasons of the 

 year. In many parts, especially at low elevations, it is 

 largely composed of four or five noble species of Coniferous 

 trees, chief of which is the famous " Kauri," one of the most 

 magnificent timber trees in the world, but now rapidly 

 approaching practical extinction, and found only in the 

 northern half of the North Island. In the less settled parts 

 of the Dominion, and in particular on the flanks of the moun- 

 tain ranges, large stretches of forest still remain practically 

 in their primeval condition, the subalpine scrub being of an 

 exceedingly dense and impenetrable character, but containing 

 * Transactions, N.Z. Institute, XV, pp. 268-298. 



