334 Transactions.— Botany. 
Gleichenia dichotoma to a single habitat, are significant facts, but I defer 
further remark on this head until referring to their distribution in the Taupo 
district. It is extremely difficult to account for the absence of all notice of 
Nephrodium unitum, as it occurs in vast abundance in situations where it 
could not possibly have been overlooked by the numerous travellers who have 
visited the lake. Gleichenia dichotoma, originally discovered in this locality 
by Captain Gilbert Mair, although far more striking in general appearance, 
may easily have been passed by, owing to the difficult and unlikely nature of 
its habitat. Although this fern was first described as a native of New 
Zealand by Forster, it has been generally considered that he did not collect it 
in these islands. Its discovery at Matata, on the East Coast, however, throws 
a new light on the subject, and suggests the possibility of its having been 
collected by him at some other isolated locality in the Bay of Plenty or in 
Poverty Bay, although its inclusion amongst the plants used by the Maoris as 
food is probably an error. 
TARAWERA MOUNTAIN. 
The land between the eastern extremity of Tarawera Lake and the base of 
Tarawera mountain is much broken by deep ravines with precipitous sides. 
The majority of these are filled with Leptospermum and other common shrubs, 
the most prominent being large-leaved forms of Pittosporum tenuifolium. 
Much of the open portion had been burnt shortly before my visit, and in 
many spots the surface was hidden by a young growth of common Danthonia 
and Agrostis quadriseta, the latter excessively rigid and scabrid. The base of 
the mountain is strewed with masses of fallen rock, amongst which a few 
common shrubs are growing in a more or less stunted condition. Large 
terrestrial specimens of Metrosideros robusta occur at the entrance to the 
gorge separating Ruawahia from Te Wahunga. The ascent of the central 
portion, Ruawahia, is attended with some little difficulty on account of its 
precipitous character, and the danger arising from loose fragments of rock 
which become detached with the slightest touch. Single aneroid observations 
gave rather less than 2,500 feet as the height of the central peaks above the 
lake level; this added to the usually received altitude of the lake gives a 
result. nearly identical with that published by the Director of the Trigono- 
metrical Survey from corrected observations, 3,609 feet. 
The vegetation on the face of the mountain is scanty and stunted, but 
notwithstanding the arid nature of the situation diminutive specimens of 
Hymenophyllum bivalve and other species occurred in crevices. Astelia 
trinervia grew in sheltered places up to 3,200 feet, with Gaultheria oppositi- 
Jolia and Cyathodes acerosa, etc. A dwarf shrubby vegetation occurs in 
sheltered places on the summit, and affords cover for a luxuriant growth of 
