324 Transactions. — Botany. 
luxuriance ; thickets of tupakihi (Coriaria ruscifolia, Br.,) are frequent, and of 
large size. Occasional patches of Lycopodium densum and Pomaderris phyli- 
cifolia are found, but are decidedly rare when compared with their abundance 
north of the Waitemata. The forest through which the road passes is 
composed chiefly of Vesodaphne tawa, Metrosideros robusta, Podocarpus totara, 
P. ferruginea, Atherosperma nove-zealandie, Tetranthera calicaris, Knightia 
excelsa, and Suttonia australis; Cyathea dealbata, C. medullaris, Dicksonia squar- 
rosa, and D. antarctica were frequent, in many localities the last named being 
the prevalent form, and exhibiting a marked extension of its range north- 
wards. Hrechtites prenanthoides is abundant on moist banks. In places 
where the forest has been cleared for the line of telegraph a dense rank 
growth of Solanum aviculare and Fuchsia excorticata has made its appearance. 
These plants, sometimes alternating with Pteris esculenta and Gleichenia 
circinata are the first to occupy the soil after the destruction of forest in the 
northern part of the province. Their seeds must often have been lying 
dormant for lengthened periods as the phenomenon takes place in districts 
where mature plants are absent or extremel y rare. 
Roroitt, 
At the pa Mourea, on the narrow strip of land which separates Rotoiti 
from Rotorua is the largest specimen of Coprosma baueriana I have seen. At 
a short distance it may readily be mistaken for the kohe-kohe (Dysoxylum 
spectabile, Hook. f.) It is said to have been planted by Hatupatu, a chief of 
the district, who also planted the pohutukawa on the Island of Mokoia, and 
attempted to naturalize the snapper in the waters of Rotorua, thus on a 
limited scale anticipating the efforts of the acclimatization societies of the 
present day. The Ohua stream, which connects Rotorua with Rotoiti, 
contained masses of Myriophyllum variefolium, Potamogeton, n.s., Callitriche 
muelleri, Azolla rubra, Lemna minor, ete. A close growth of uliginal plants 
occupied the margin of the lake, but presented nothing worthy of special 
mention. Glossostigma elatinoides formed extensive patches in various places, 
often submerged. 
On the high ground above Rotoiti Poa australis, var. lævis, was first 
observed but sparingly ; on approaching Te Ngae it becomes more abundant, 
and is intermixed with Danthonia semi-annularis, Microlæna stipoides and 
Leucopogon frazeri. Its isolated dwarf tussocks become abundant in the 
small valleys further south, and at a distance present a similar appearance to 
the northern Dichelachne stipoides, so common on sea shores and the margins 
of mud-flats. In nutritive qualities it is greatly inferior to the typical form 
which occurs sparingly on the Auckland Isthmus, 
