Fune 4, 1885 | 
content ourselves by thus referring to ; it is too long to 
quote, and too good to condense. 
Two solitary tufts of two Alpine plants were also de- 
tected on this occasion. One, Helichrysum Colensot, 
the edelweiss of New Zealand, was found on the edge of 
the top of a mountain composed entirely of dry shingle 
of various sizes, from big lumps to dust. The other, 
Geum parvifiorum, grew near the former, but, unlike it, 
has been found on the South Island. This first attempt 
to cross the range failed, though its summit was reached ; 
but a second attempt, made in February, 1847, was suc- 
cessful. A short sojourn was made at Matuku, the 
principal of the Patea villages ; the route thereto was the 
long round-about by Taupo. From Matuku, on March 
25, the ascent of the Ruahine was made, and the Mission 
Station at Waitanga was reached on March 3, after many 
hardships and difficulties. The narrative abounds in 
numerous records of great interest. The following is an 
account of one of the largest, we suspect, of flower visitors, 
honey-seekers, and one unknown to Darwin or Hermann 
Miller :— 
“Close to the village, and even within its fence, were 
several very large Kewhai trees (Edwardsta grandiflora) ; 
these were covered with their golden flowers, and mostly 
without leaves. The sun was shining brightly, and the 
parrots (Vestor meridionalts) flocked screaming from the 
forests around to the Edwardsia blooms ; it wasa strange 
sight to see them, how deftly they managed to go out to 
the end of a long lithe branch (preferring to walk parrot 
fashion), and there, swinging back downwards, lick out the 
honey with their big tongues, without injuring the young 
fruit . . . For, seeing but very few petals falling (and those 
only vexillae), I sent some of the boys to climb the trees 
and bring me several marked flowering branches, which 
had been visited by the parrots. I found that all of the 
fully expanded flowers had had the upper part of their 
calyces torn open, and the uppermost petal (vexillum) 
torn out ; this the parrots had done to get at the honey. 
As the flowers are produced in large thick bunches, some 
are necessarily twisted or turned upside down ; still it 
was alwavs that peculiar petal and that part of the calyx 
(though often in such cases undermost) which had been 
torn away. Through this no injury was done to the 
young fruit inclosed, which would in all probability have 
been the case if any of the other petals had been bitten 
off. It cannot be said that it is owing to the vexillum 
being the largest petal (as it is in many papilionaceous 
flowers) that it is thus laid hold of and torn away by the 
parrot, such not being the case in this genus: for the 
long fruit runs down through the two carinated lowermost 
petals, that are often quite two inches long, and is further 
protected by the two side ones (al), which four, from 
their being closely imbricated together, form a much 
larger and firmer hold for the bird’s beak. 
“Further, as these parrots are large birds with huge 
bills, and as the flowers are always produced on the tips 
of the small branches, which bend and play about under 
the weight of their bodies, one cannot but suppose that 
it ismo easy matter for the birds to get a bite at them 
at all,so as to make the proper openings whereby to 
insert their thick tongues and lick out the sweet contents 
without injuring the young immature fruits, especially 
when we further consider that the common practice of 
this parrot is to take up in its claws whatever it wishes 
to discuss. Of all the flowers I examined, only the upper 
part of the calyx and corolla had been torn, and on none 
was the young fruit wanting, nor did I notice any bunches 
which had had their flowers wholly torn off. What with 
the glistening snow, the sun shining, and the golden 
blossoms of those trees, the numerous parrots diligently 
and fearlessly at work so close to the village, yet often 
screaming, it was altogether a peculiar and interesting 
sight.” 
What delightful corners for the botanist are to be met 
NATURE 
109 
with in this range the next paragraph will show. Many 
of the species are of the greatest interest—quite Alpine 
gems ; and some few of them, or of closely-allied species, 
grow freely with us. We would be prepared to welcome 
them all. 
“Tn the open ground, on two or three mound-like hills 
of peaty-looking soil, and near each other, on the west 
side, grew that remarkably fine Ranunculus, A. zvszgzis. 
On my discovering it I was astonished at its size—its 
largest golden flowers being nearly 2 inches in diameter, 
its flowering stems 3 to 4 feet high, and some of its 
round crenated leaves measuring 8 to 9 inches across! 
Both Sir Joseph Hooker and his father were equally sur- 
prised and delighted, and as it was (then) by far the 
largest species known, Sir Joseph Hooker gave it that 
appropriate specific name—zzsignzs. I only found it in that 
locality, but it was in great plenty; its principal neigh- 
bour was the notorious Tamarea plant (A céphylla Colenso?), 
already fully noticed; and those splendid composita- 
ceous plants Celmisia sfectabilis and C. tmcana, which 
generally grew close together, forming large, dark-green, 
shining patches, and bearing a profusion of fine white 
flowers—a striking contrast to their leaves. At first sight 
I saw that this new Ranunculus was closely allied to 
R. pinguis, of Lord Auckland’s group and Campbell’s 
Island—then lately described in the “ Flora Antarctica,” 
of which work I had received an early part just before 
I Jeft the station. Other plants of those far-off Antarctic 
islets were also found here, on the summits—notably 
Oreobolis pumilio, growing in dense tufts in exposed 
places ; while the peculiar straggling Cyathodes empetri- 
folia, and the pretty little flowering-plants Euphrasia 
antarctica and Myosotis antarctica flourished in half- 
sheltered hollows with Plantago Browniz and the grass 
Catabrosa antarctica. With these last also grew, very 
closely intermixed (much as we have seen the daisies and 
buttercups among low turfy grasses in our English mea- 
dows), the curious plant Drapetes dieffenbachii ; the little 
elegant Ourisia cespitosa, abounding in flowers; a very 
small and new species of Plantago (P. wmzjflora); and a 
similar-sized botanical novelty, Astelia linearis, a tiny 
plant bearing a large orange-coloured fruit ; a little Caltha 
(C. Nove Zealandia), having pale, star-like flowers ; two 
graceful Gentians (G. montana and G. pleurogynoides), 
and a very small, shrubby, prostrate Coprosma (C. 
pumila), together with several elegant, shrubby little 
Veronice. Two orchideous plants, Pterostylis foliata 
and Caladenia bifolia (of which I wished for better speci- 
mens), I also detected growing sparingly, and with them 
a couple of Carices, C. acicularis and C. inversa, and 
also two species of Uncinia, U. divaricata and U. fili- 
formis; and with them several interesting Hepatic 
and Mosses. Only in one or two spots, in shady, shel- 
tered places near the top, and just within the forest, did 
I meet with that pretty little plant, Owrisza Colensoz, but 
in those spots there were plenty of them, and always 
beautifully in flower; the plants of this species grew 
apart, as if they liked room—in this respect differing alto- 
gether from the other species of this genus I have seen.” 
The lover of flowers can easily judge from these ex- 
tracts how interesting to them would be this memoir of 
the now venerable explorer ; there is much more of the like 
nature throughout its pages, and we trust the Hawke’s Bay 
Philosophical Institute will send some copies of this “ In 
Memoriam” narrative to this country, on sale for their 
benefit. 
NOTES 
THERE will be a conversazione at the Royal Society on 
Wednesday next, June Io 
THE conversazione of Sir F. Bramwell, the President of the 
Institution of Civil Engineers, will be held in the International 
