364 Transactions. — Botany. 
germanicum, Weiss, affords another instance of the tenacity with which 
plants maintain their existence under the most unfavourable conditions. 
Adiantum capillus-veneris, L., Woodsia ilvensis, Br., W. hyperborea, Br., 
"s REY e & Ww Misa: "t 
Nephrodium cristatum, Rich., are similar examples. Not only have the 
plants here named to endure the changed conditions brought about by 
agrieultural and pastoral occupations, but they have suffered largely from 
the ravages of vulgar curiosity-hunters, who value a thing only for its 
rarity, and sometimes strive to render the habitat of a rare plant unproduc- 
tive, in order to enhance the value of the specimens in their possession ; 
and from the mania for fern-collecting, which for years past has been a 
fashionable pursuit in Britain, as well as from the more legitimate but far 
less destructive indents of botanists, they may therefore be taken as extreme 
cases. 
Numerous flowering plants exemplifying the same tenacity of existence 
under unfavourable conditions, and the power of adapting themselves to 
changed circumstances, might be named, but I will only state that during 
a detailed examination of the flora of the Auckland Isthmus and North 
Shore, extending over ten years, I failed to obtain the slightest evidence 
that a single species had become extinct, yet the district sustains a popula- 
tion of about 25,000 souls, on an area of 48,000 acres, less than half the 
extent of many sheep runs in the South Island. It is one of the oldest 
settled districts in the colony, and agriculture is in a more advanced state 
than in many other places; the only remains of forest are the few small 
patches of bush at the mouths of gullies between Takapuna and Lucas 
Creek, all traversed by cattle, while the open lands not actually under 
eultivation have been subjected to repeated burnings. Yet under these 
unfavourable conditions this small area, no part of which is above 650 feet 
in altitude, contains 440 species of phenogamic plants and ferns, represent- 
ing 78 natural orders out of 91 under which these plants are arranged 
thoughout the colony, and giving an average of six species to the square 
mile. Moreover, this area is shared by 800 naturalized species, of which 
nearly two-thirds are as much at home as the natives of the soil. It is 
needless to offer further statements in support of my conclusion. 
This paper is intended simply as a contribution to our knowledge of the 
distribution of naturalized plants in the colony and comprises an enumera- 
tion of the species observed by the writer in the Wellington district, with a 
few others for which the authority is stated in each case. It must not, 
however, be taken as exhaustive, since, without doubt, the list would be 
considerably increased by a careful examination of the more distant parts 
of the Wairarapa, the Upper Rangitikei, the country between Marton and 
Wanganui, and between Wanganui and the southern boundary of Taranaki, 
. with all of which I am personally unacquainted. 
