228 Transactions.— Botany, 
erimson glory of the rata and the pale racemes of the akamai. But speak- 
ing generally the quality of the soil is not of the first class, and with the 
abundance of land still waiting inhabitants in both the North and South 
Islands, it would be most wasteful policy to destroy the fine timber of the 
lower levels simply for the sake of forcing settlement. Except in the loca- 
lities indicated above, a wise policy would retain the island as a timber 
reserve, for not only is timber abundant, but it is of more durable quality 
than much of that grown on the west coast of the South Island. Past 
attempts to force settlement on Stewart Island have resulted in the expen- 
diture of large sums of money without any return, as may be seen in the 
Government barracks now decaying at Port William, happily in this case 
without requiring the continuous annual outlay rendered necessary by pre- 
mature settlement in other localities, 
Art. XXV.—On the Ferns and Fern Allies of Stewart Island. 
By T. Ker, F.L.S. 
[Read before the Southland Institute, 13th January, 1885.) 
From the short sketch of the chief physical and climatal characteristics 
of Stewart Island given in a previous paper,* it will be seen that the 
conditions are highly favourable to the development of a luxuriant fern-flora, 
and such we accordingly find, whether considered with regard to the rich 
free growth of the individuals composing a species, or to the actual number 
of species found on the island. Swamp, forest and open land—sea-level, 
hillside and mountain-peak—alike exhibit characteristic forms, and include 
species whose occurrence in such high latitudes could not have been 
anticipated. 
The chief points of general interest presented by the fern-flora of 
Stewart Island are— 
1. The great abundance and luxuriance of arborescent ferns, which occur 
in nearly all situations at low levels, and exhibit an extension of the geo- 
graphical range usually given in our text-books (45°50) to 47°20 S. 
2. The large, unusually large, proportion of Hymenophyllacem. Of the 
twenty-seven species of *' filmy-ferns” generally recognized by botanists in 
New Zealand, no fewer than twenty occur in Stewart Island. They form 
only one-fifth of the entire fern-flora of the colony ; but rise to one-third on 
Stewart Island. 
* See above, Art. xxiv. 
