586 Transactions. 
and some again are altogether terrestrial or low epiphytic plants, a really 
satisfactory description of the distribution can only be gained by going 
into the question in much greater detail. 
The only published information dealing with the occurrence of the 
Hymenophyllaceae in Westland is contained in a list of plants collected 
. Hamilton in the district of Okarito, south Westland. He there 
records (13) the presence of twenty species, omitting the four which I also 
have been unable to find, and also H. australe, H. Malingii, and H. bivalve. 
Hamilton was not able to explore the flanks of the ranges. In the same 
volume T. Kirk published some brief notes on a few of the species col- 
lected by Hamilton. 
I have found that in Westland the species occur to a great extent in 
groups according to their habits. It will be convenient to refer to them 
as far as possible in these groups. 
A. The Groups of Species and their Occurrence. 
(a.) H. dilatatum, H. scabrum, T. reniforme. (Plates 62, 64, 59, 71.) 
Beginning with those species which are more or less confined to the low- 
lands, there is first the group H. dilatatum, H. scabrum, and T. reniforme. 
assume a shorter and more deltoid form when growing erect on rocks, the 
species of this group are unable to modify the frond-form by stunting and 
imbrication after the manner of certain other mid-epiphytie species of 
the fa y. The fronds of T. reniforme, however, inroll closely under 
atmospheric conditions, and it is no doubt the possession of this character, 
combined with its short stiff frond-form, that enables this species to climb 
higher than the two others, and to endure a mid-epiphytic station in locali- 
ties too exposed for the latter. 
It is well known that these three species, contrary to what is the case 
in the family as a whole, possess in the adult frond a lamina which is 
. several cells in thickness, and with respect to this character they have 
TIRES 
