238. Foreign Notices: — Australia. 



by a large grub. Its stem is from 12 ft. to 20 ft. in circumference, and it grows 

 to a height of 30 ft. without branching. 



Rewa-rewa (Knlghtia. excelsa), a slender tree, growing to the height of 50 

 or 60 feet, furnishes a brown wood, beautifully mottled with red. It is durable, 

 and splits easily, and is therefore well adapted for fencing. 



Mairi (Podocarpus), attains a height of from 40 ft. to 60 ft., but its circum- 

 ference never exceeds 12 ft. It furnishes a red, smooth-grained, and durable 

 wood, of great weight. 



Tanehaha {Podocarpus asploiifolius) grows to the height of about 45 ft., 

 with a girth of only 2 ft. It furnishes excellent masts for small craft, posts 

 and floors for verandahs, and planks for decks of vessels. Its wood is rather 

 darker and more durable than that of kaori, and smells strongly of turpentine. 



Miro (Podocarpus ferrugmeus), of the same size as the preceding, furnishes a 

 berry, the principal food of the wood-pigeon, which becomes very fat at this 

 season. Its value as a timber is considerable, being the most durable of all the 

 pines. 



Toneai, also a Podocarpus, a tree similar in its dimensions to the preceding. 

 It is said never to grow in the same forest with kaori. 



AM, a short crooked tree, varying in the diameter of its stem from 6 in. to 

 1 ft. Its wood is finely marked and close-grained, takes a most beautiful 

 polish, and is therefore adapted for the finest fancy cabinet-work. It is called 

 the lignum vitas of New Zealand. 



Pohutukana (Callistemon ellipticus), a tree of great size, but of irregular form, 

 with a dark and umbrageous foliage, resembling the 7 N lex. Between December 

 and January it assumes a splendid appearance, being covered with flowers of 

 the richest purple. It always grows by the sea-shore, on rocky precipices 

 almost destitute of soil, and gives much beauty to the sequestered bays and 

 inlets of New Zealand. The wood, when polished, would form a good substi- 

 tute for rosewood. 



Hinau (Dicera dentdta) grows to a large size, and inhabits rich alluvial 

 lands. Its bark furnishes a fine light-brown dye, which withstands washing. 

 It is first pounded, and then thrown into water, which holds its colouring 

 matter in solution. 



Rata (Metrosideros robustus), a tree which attains a great size, with habits 

 very peculiar, and as yet little understood. Its trunk and branches send down 

 shoots to the ground, which sometimes become so massive as to support the 

 old stem, having apparently exhausted its vitality. In fact, the rata is an enor- 

 mous epiphyte, growing to, not from, the ground, which will explain the saying 

 of the natives — that this tree is never young. Its timber is robust and 

 durable, and its branches are well adapted for ship timbers. There is a remark- 

 able circumstance, to which my attention was directed by Mr. Waterton, a 

 brother of the celebrated naturalist of that name. At the base of the rata, 

 and no where else, as the natives declare, is found a vegetable grub, or, to 

 describe its appearance in two words, a wooden caterpillar. From its head 

 there issues a long process, terminating in a point, closely resembling the 

 fibrous root of a plant. As I had not an opportunity of inspecting the interior 

 of this seemingly anomalous piece of Nature's handiwork, I shall not attempt 

 to theorise on the subject, or to pronounce whether it is or is not a chrysalis. 



Many of the smaller trees in the forests of New Zealand belong to the lau- 

 raceous order. Of these the most notable is the Tarairi (Y,aurus macrophylla), 

 which produces a berry resembling the damson in size and appearance, and is 

 eaten by birds, but is noxious to man. The timber is valueless; but, as a highly 

 ornamental tree, the tarairi deserves notice. The towai (also a lauraceous 

 plant) produces berries of the shape of a small sloe, which are also noxious, 

 but are sometimes eaten by the natives, who boil them previously to use. Of 

 the New Zealand ferns fifty or sixty species have been collected, the most re- 

 markable of which is the tree fern, which arrives at perfection only in damp 

 and shaded situations, to which the beautiful divergent form of its branches gives 

 a tropical appearance. There is another variety of the tree fern (called by the 



