414 Transactions.— Botany. 
Arr. XLVIL—A Revision of the New Zealand Species of Carex. 
By T. F. Curzseman, F.L.S., Curator of the Auckland Museum. 
| [Read before the Auckland Institute, 12th November, 1883.] 
Tur genus Carex, the largest among Cyperacea, and indeed of the Glumifere 
generally, is well represented in New Zealand, as in most temperate and 
mountainous countries. In New Zealand, too, the species possess that 
tendency to vafiability which has made their elucidation so difficult and 
perplexing to the student of northern floras, and which, through the diverse 
views entertained by authors as to the amount of difference required for 
specific distinction, has led to the needless multiplication of names, and 
much confusion as to the limits and range of the species. Here, fortunátely, 
the creation of species out of mere varieties has not been so regularly and 
consistently carried out ; although, as New Zealand naturalists are no more 
likely than their European brethren to agree on the questio vexata of what 
constitutes a species, a very similar result may be anticipated. Notwith- 
standing this, the study of the genus in New Zealand has been beset with 
serious difficulties, few of which have yet been removed. In some cases the 
species have been described from insufficient material, the deseriptions 
being consequently incomplete and inexact ; in others the specimens were 
from one or two localities only, and, although numerous, did not always 
represent the predominant form of the species. Mistakes in the identifica- 
tions have thus occurred, apart from the difficulty that is commonly ex- 
perienced in recognizing, from descriptions alone, species of so variable a 
genus as Carev. But it is hardly necessary to pursue this part of the sub- 
ject further—all qualified persons are aware that considerable confusion 
exists, and that the species are in urgent need of revision. The want of 
confidence in their own conclusions, openly expressed by those who have 
specially attended to the genus, may be taken as a fair proof of this state- 
ment. 
Under these circumstances, I have ventured to prepare the following 
re-arrangement of our species. Of its imperfections and deficiences, no one . 
can be more sensible than myself,—many of them are inseparable from the 
pursuit of systematic botany in a country where there are no large public 
herbaria and few scientific libraries; and, as to the rest, I trust that they 
are not more numerous than what might be expected to attach to the first 
attempt made in the colony to revise the species of a difficult genus like 
Carew. Such as it is, I can state that it is based upon the actual study in 
the field of most of the species ; in addition to the conscientious examina- 
tion of many hundreds of dried specimens from all parts of the islands, and 
a comparison of these with allied plants from other parts of the world. 
