many fine and curious flowering shrubs, sonic of whicli are 

 now well known in cultivation. Towards the west the pre- 

 vailing trees are several species of Nothofagus, a very interesting 

 group of small-leaved, mostly evergreen beeches, miscalled 

 " birch " in New Zealand, and " myrtle " in Tasmania. Trees 

 of this genus are also predominant in the forests of Western 

 Tasmania and Western Patagonia, to which they impart a 

 characteristic aspect in common with those of New Zealand ; 

 and their present-day distribution strongly suggests the 

 common origin of these widely-dispersed trees in a long- 

 vanished sub-Antarctic land. 



Comparatively few of the trees and shrubs in the lowland 

 forests have conspicuous flowers, with the exception of the 

 genus Veronica, which here includes trees of considerable 

 dimensions, and the Myrtaceous genus Melrosideros, in which 

 are some fine timber-trees as large as English oaks, whose 

 many-stamened crimson and pink blossoms are in their 

 season a most beautiful and conspicuous feature of the " bush." 

 Where not actually under cultivation, the open ground un- 

 occupied by forest is, in the North Island, covered in great 

 part with a dense growth of " manuka " or " tea-tree " 

 {Leptospermurn), a Myrtaceous shrub or small tree whose 

 |)rofuse and fragrant white blossoms rival those of the haw- 

 thorn in their attractiveness to insects ; or with a robust 

 variety of our bracken {Pleris aquilina var. esculenla), the 

 rhizome of which in old times formed an important item in 

 the food-supply of the Maoris. In the South Island are wide 

 expanses of level or slightly undulating land, sometimes 

 many miles in extent, and covered with tall grass growing 

 in definite " tussocks," other vegetation being usually little 

 in evidence. This " tussock-land," which forms the finest 

 of pasture, extends in places far up the mountain-sides, where, 

 above the " timber-line," an Alpine flora exceedingly rich in 

 species, and including many of the most remarkable and 

 beautiful plant-forms of New Zealand, is found up to the 

 limits of perpetual snow. 



The diversified surface, the favourable climatic conditions, 

 and the luxuriant vegetation of these beautiful Islands, at 

 once suggest the existence of a profusion of species and 



PROC. ENT. SOC. LOND., Ill, IV, V, 1920 H 



