

248 Mr. J. J. Quelch on Thuiaria zelandica, Gray. 



At the end of liis description he states that this species differs 

 from Th. articulata in the form of the cells, and he notifies 



W 



othecae) 



i 



struck with the resemblance which Th. dolichocarpa, Allman 

 (as figured in the i Journal of the Linnean Society,' vol. xii.), 

 bore to the specimens of Th. zelandica in its regularly plu- 

 mose habit with pinnately disposed opposite ramuli, a charac- 

 ter that is rare in the genus. Through this I was led to a 

 careful examination of Dr. Gray's species, with this result, 

 that Th. dolichocarpa is found to be identical with Th. ze- 

 landica ; and therefore the name dolichocarpa :, established by 

 Prof. Allman, must give place to zelandica, established by 

 Dr. Gray more than thirty years previously. 



The description as given by Dr. Gray is utterly inade- 

 quate ; and it is only legitimate to state that it would have been 

 impossible to identify the species by it. The reason for 

 this, however, as it seems to me, is not far to seek. When 

 the New-Zealand species was described, the genus Thuiaria 

 had been but very recently established by Fleming for the 

 reception of the two British species, Th. thuja and Th. articu- 

 lata ; and Dr. Gray had only to give a very brief description 

 in order to distinguish it from the latter ; so that, but for the 

 re-examination of the type specimens, Th. zelandica would 

 have remained unrecognized, though its occurrence in the 

 New-Zealand fauna has been in reality twice recorded since 

 by different writers. 



For the identification of this species, instead of the descrip- 

 tion by Dr. Gray, that by Prof. Allman must be taken — a 

 description so complete that it would be easy to identify the 

 species with certainty, even if the figure which accompanies 

 it had not been given. 



The type specimens, which are apparently young ones, are 

 eight in number, and range from 40 to 90 millim. in height. 

 They were obtained by Dr. Sinclair, R.N., from New Zealand 

 (the exact locality is not stated), and were presented by him 

 to the British Museum in December 1842. 



The single specimen described by Prof. Allman under the 

 name Th. dolichocarpa was contained in Mr. Busk's collec- 

 tion, and was obtained from the Northern Island, New Zea- 

 land, by Dr. Andrew Sinclair — presumably the person referred 

 to above. 



The only other record, that I know, of the occurrence of 

 Th. zelandica is that of Mr. D'Arcy W. Thompson, in the 

 Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (5) vol. iii. p. 110. The single 

 specimen there referred to Th. dolichocarpa, Allman, was ob- 







