Nov. 6, 1884] 



NA TURE 



2 3 



lunch more ancient origin, and was derived from another an 1 quite 

 distinct region. Incidentally Mr. Meyrick suggests an affinity 

 with Smith America, hut in a collection made by the Rev. T. 

 Blackburn in the Hawaiian Islands, the CEcophoridaj appeared 

 to be altogether absent, their place being taken by a peculiar 

 group of Gelechidae. 



Mr. Meyrick also contributes a monograph of the New Zea- 

 land Geometrina. He does this with some diffidence, owing to 

 the difficulties he has laboured under of consulting type specimens 

 |Bd of the absence of works of reference. A large number of 

 published names are reduced to the rank of synonyms ; some 

 30 species are added to the list, which now stands at 89. 

 In addition to the description of both genera and species, 

 analytical tables of these are given througho it, and the mono- 

 graph appears to be such as will enable the student to easily 

 identify his captures and will still induce hiar to the further 

 study of this group, and especially to the transformation- of the 

 species contained in it. 



Capt. !•'. W. Hutton gives a very important revised list of the 

 wca of New Zealand. From the ample collections 

 that have passed under his examination, he has been enable 1 to 

 determine satisfactorily all but a very few of the described 

 specie-, a- well as to indicate fairly their distribution in the islands. 

 The list contains 116 species, of which 13 remain unknown to 

 the author. Seven have been introduced from England. The den- 

 tition of 60 and the internal anatomy of 26 species have been 

 1 by Capt. Hutton in vols. xiv. and xv. of the Transac- 

 tions. So far as at present known, one-half of the species are con- 

 fined to the North Island, one-quarter to the South Island, and 

 ,11 -quarter are common to both. The closest connection of the 

 land molluscan fauna would appear to be with North Australia, 

 but there is a considerable generic affinity with the faunas of New 

 Caledonia, Polynesia, and South America. 



An interesting paper on the habits of earthworms in New 

 Zealand is contributed by Mr. A. T. Urquhart. The spei ies ire 

 . but with such wonderful opportunities as Mr. Urquhart 

 possesses for making a collection of these, may we hope that, in ad- 

 dition to his following out his painstaking observations as to their 

 habits, he will also advance science by making a careful collection 

 of the forms and placing them in the hands of some of the able 

 naturalists of the Auckland Institute for description? It will be 

 remembered that Darwin assumes that in old pastures there may 

 be 26,886 worms per acre, and that Henson gives 53>767 worms 

 per acre for garden ground and about half that number in corn- 

 field-. Mr. Urquhart g-ves, as the result of his investigations of 

 an acre of pasture-land near Auckland, the large number of 

 348,480 worms as found therein. It being suggested to him that 

 in his selection of the spots for examination he may have uncon- 

 sciously selected the richest, the experiment was again tried in a 

 liel i evenl ten years in grass. Apiece was laid out into squares 

 of 120 feet, and a square foot of soil was taken out at each corner ; 

 Worm, hanging to the side walls of the holes were not counted, 

 and in one hole, where the return of worms was a blank, the 

 v :1! ,; • ... led with worms. As a result there was an aver- 

 age of 18 worms -per square foot, or 784,080 per acre. Although 

 age is very striking when compared with that of Henson, 

 it is worthy of note that the difference between the actual weight 

 of the worms is not so marked. According to Henson, his 

 average of 53,767 worms would weigh 356 pounds, while Mr. 

 Urquhart finds that the average weight of the number found 

 by him came to 612 pounds 9 ounces. 



Apropos of a description of the head in Palatums lalan- 

 dii, by Prof. T. Jeffery Parker, founded on specimens which 

 happened to lie brought on board at the Cape of Good 

 Hope during his voyage to New Zealand, we have a very 

 natural classification of the species of this genus offered to us. 

 The genus Falinui us, Fabr., would contain three subgenera. For 

 the species in which the stridulating organ is absent and the proce- 

 phalic processes are present Prof. Parker proposes the very ap- 

 propriate generic name of Jasus ; while for those forms in which 

 the'stridulating organ is present and the procephalic processes 

 are absent he would reserve the name Pal inurus, Fabr., retaining 

 Gray's subgenus Panulirus for the longicorn species. He notes 

 that, omitting /'. Ion 'imanus and P. frontalis, of which he could 

 obtain no definite information, all the species of Jasu 

 fined to the Southern Hemisphere (Ethiopian and \ 

 Regions) ; a Palinurus are restricted to the 



Hemisphere; while those of Panulirus occur in both Hemi- 

 spheres. 



Dr. Walter Puller furnishes a series of notes on some rare 



species of New Zealand birds. Sceloglaux albifacies, the laugh- 

 ing owl, has been found by Mr. W. W. Smith in deep fissures 

 of the limestone rocks at Albury, near Timaru. After many 

 futile efforts Mr. Smith bethought himself of smoking them out ; 

 after a few whiffs the owls began sniffing, and then in a few 

 moments quietly walked out ; four were captured. They soon 

 became quite tame. On waking up at nightfall, their call was 

 " precisely the same as two men cooeying to each other from a 

 distance." The male is the larger and stronger bird, with a 

 harsher cry. The female performs most of the duty of hatching. 

 They showed a decided perference for young rats, but would eat 

 beetles, lizards, mice, or mutton. The crannies of the rocks in 

 which they make their nests and live during the day are dry, very 

 narrow at their entrance, and often five or six yards in depth. 

 While casting their feathers they become almost naked, and two 

 of Mr. Smith's birds while in this state were stung to death by a 

 swarm of bees which passed through the wire netting of their 

 cage. 



Mr. R. H. Govett gives some startling facts as to the bird- 

 killing powers of Pisonia brunoniana or P. smclairii. A sticky 

 gum is secreted by the carpels wdien they attain their full size, but 

 is nearly as plentiful in their unripe as in their ripe condition. 

 Possibly attracted by the flies which embalm themselves in these 

 sticky seed-vessels, birds alight on the branches, and on one 

 occasion two Silver-eyes (Zosterops) and an English sparrow 

 wee found with their wings so glued that they were unable to 

 flutter. Mr. Govett's sister, thinking to do a merciful act, col- 

 lected all the fruit-bearing branches that were within reach, and 

 threw them on a dust-heap. Next day about a dozen silver-eyes 

 were found glued to them, four or five of the pods to each bird. 

 She writes : — " Looking at the tree one sees tufts of feathers and 

 legs where the birds have died, and I don't think the birds could 

 possibly get away without help. The black cat just lives under 

 the tree, a good many of the birds falling to her share, but a good 

 many pods get into her fur, and she has to come and get them 

 dragged out." In a note Mr. T. Kirk says that Pisonia umbclli- 

 fera, Seeman, = P. sinclairii,Ho6\a.i., is found in several localities 

 north of Whangerei, both on the east and west coasts, also on the 

 Taranga Islands, Arid Island, Little Barrier Island, and on the 

 East Cape, possibly in the last locality planted by the Maoris. 

 The fruiting pericarp is remarkable for its viscidity, which is 

 usually retained for a considerable period after the fruit is fully 

 matured. It can be readily imagined that small birds tempted to 

 feed on the seeds might easily become glued to a cluster of 

 fruits. 



Among new species of plants collected on Stewart Island by 

 Mr. Kirk, he describes a beautiful new Olearia ( O. traillii), called 

 after his old and valued friend C. Traill, who has done so much 

 for the natural history of Stewart Island. It forms a large 

 shrub from five to twelve feet high. The terminal panicles are 

 from four to nine inches long. The disk florets are purple. It is 

 one of the most striking plan's in the New Zealand flora, and 

 one we hope we may soon see in cultivation. Mr. Kirk also, 

 among other important contributions, publishes notes on Car- 

 michaelia with descriptions of new species, one of which, C. 

 uniflora, seems to be the same as a new species, with the same 

 specific name, described in a paper read the sa ue night before 

 the Wellington Philosaphical Society by Mr. J. Buchanan. 



Mr. J. Buchanan gives an interesting account of Campbell Island 

 and its flora. The island, thirty miles in circumference, is three 

 good days' steaming from Wellington. Peat abounds, and the 

 extremely damp in the low-lying regions. The highest 

 altitude is 1500 feet. Only a day and two half-days were available 

 for botanical research, but five species were added to the flora, of 

 which three were new. Many of the species had large and showy 

 flowers, such as Celmisia vernicosa, Hook. f. , and the various 

 species of Pleurophyllum. These and the like were confined within 

 an altitudinal range of 500 feet above sea-level, but the shrubby 

 forms, such as species of Coprosma, I Irachophyllum, Veronica, 

 and Myrsine, ranged from sea-level, where they were most 

 abundant, to the highest altitude. An Alpine flora may also be 

 recognised, as a few plants were only found at the highest 

 altitude, such as Genliana concinna, Hook. f. , and Trineuron 

 spathulata, Hook. f. 



Mr. T. F. Cheeseman contributes a very valuable revision 

 of the New Zealand species of Carex, admitting 40 species, 

 of which 25 are peculiar to the country ; of the other fifteen 

 found elsewhere, eleven are recorded from Tasmania and 

 Australia, nine of these are found in Europe, North and West 

 Asia, and North America, seven in Southern or Eastern Asia, six 



