Island high-mountain flora is probably due as pointed out later 

 rather to there being so little space above the forest line for 

 its development than to any other cause. Also it cannot extend 

 further north than the Thames Mountains, these being the final 

 heights suitable for occupation by other than forest plants, while 

 on them it is the wind factor alone which has rendered the small 

 high-mountain element possible. Other statements and facts 

 appear in the body of this lecture which have an obvious bear- 

 ing on Willis's work, but I am purposely not calling attention 

 to their import. To Dr. J. C. Willis, F.R.S., as he has pointed 

 out 5 , I wrote some time ago at considerable length regarding his 

 theory, and he has done me the honour in referring to this letter 

 to state that my suggestions and criticisms will receive consider- 

 ation in his further papers on New Zealand 



Before concluding these general remarks, I must express 

 my thanks to Mr. W. C. Davies, Curator, Cawthron Institute, for 

 valuable assistance in preparing the photographs for publication 

 and to Mr. F. G. Gibbs, M.A., whose untiring labours have 

 thrown a flood of light upon the distribution of the Nelson 

 flora. 



2. THE NATURAL FLORISTIC AND ECOLOGICAL 



DIVISIONS. 



(a) The Coastal, Lowland and High-Mountain Floras. 



From the standpoint of distribution it is not satisfactory to 

 deal with either the flora or vegetation of New Zealand as a 

 whole, since both may naturally be divided into three groups, 

 virtually independent of one another the coastal, the lowland 

 and the high-mountain each of which possesses a large per- 

 centage of species, associations, and to some extent growth- 

 forms, wanting in the other two groups. There are also a 

 considerable number of generic and some family distinctions. 



(1) THE COASTAL FLORA. 



The coastal flora consists of about 144 species which are 

 confined to the coast-line, or its immediate neighbourhood ; also 

 some 46 species which occur inland to a limited extent are 

 virtually coastal. Eight families and 35 genera are confined, or 

 almost so, to the coast-line. Possibly about 100 species occur 

 both inland and on the coast, some of which ascend far into the 

 high mountains, e.g., Aciphylla squarrosa 6 , Celmisia Lindsayi 

 (see Figs. 2 and 3), Claytonia australasica, Dracophyllum 

 longifolium, Gunnera albocarpa, Netera Balfouriana, Metro- 

 sideros lucida, Olearia Colensoi, 0. Fosteri\ O. insignis, 

 Phormium Colensoi, Raoulia australis var., R. apice-nigra, 

 Scirpus aucklandicus, Senecio lagopus var., and S. Monroi. 



5- "The Flora of Stewart Island (New Zealand): A Study iu Taxonomic 

 Distribution," Ann. Bot., vol. xxxiii, 1919, p. 42. 



6 - None of the lists in this article aim at completeness. 



? This species ascends to about 4000ft. altitude in the Inland Kaikoura 

 Mountains. 



