HorLowav.—sStudies in the New Zealand Hymenophyllaceae. 83 
grow in a pendulous position. In Canterbury they have just as wide a 
range as in Westland, but are very local. H. Malingi occurs in Westland 
from sea-level to the subalpine forests wherever the kawaka is present. In 
Canterbury it seems originally to have had the same range, being reported 
from Banks Peninsula by Potts (30, p. 359) as occurring on the decayed 
trunks of both the kawaka and the mountain-totara, and from the valley 
of the Wilberforce River on the eastern flanks of the main ranges by 
. N. Adams (see reference in Cockayne and Laing, 16, p. 343), in which 
pec = kawaka is the dominant tree. 
outhern-beech type of forest is less favourable for the Hymeno- 
руй анде than is the mixed rain forest ; but the comparison of the different 
forest types in the Eastern Botanical District with respect to their filmy- 
fern content is not quite so simple in the Eastern Botanical District as it 
will be seen to be in certain parts of the North-western District, for in the 
former the effect of forest type on the distribution of the Hymenophyllaceae 
Reis be studied apart from the effect of both altitude and general 
clim 
II. THE GENERAL е OF THE SPECIES IN OTHER PARTS OF THE 
W ZEALAND BIOLOGICAL REGION 
paper with regard to the behaviour of the species. 
A. South Island. 
In the neighbourhood of Dunedin, where the humidity conditions are 
similar to those prevailing on Banks Peninsula, and there is a comparative 
absence of the dry north-west wind, the taxad rain forest was originally 
widespread. For the period 1911-20 the average annual rainfall at 
Dunedin was 39-98 in., and the number of rainy days 155. From my 
observations, and from the List of Species of this neighbourhood published 
by the уе нә Field d Club (17), it is apparent that the Hymenophyllaceae 
are here more abundant and also show a greater tendency to the epiphytic 
habit than in any of the existing Canterbury forests. Moreover, in the 
heavily forested gullies a few of the species range dria outside the 
actual creek-beds, and various species occur more luxuriantly stil in 
the forests of the upper slopes of certain of the higher ан) hills where 
at altitudes of 1,000-1,500 ft. drifting mists are a well-marked feature. 
g 
However, the extent to which they become epiphytic must be accounted 
quite restricted compared with their behaviour in the Westland forests. On 
the whole, the upland species are very poorly represented, and the same 
may be said of “~ — hygrophilous section of the family. Thus 
the Dunedin forests may be classed on their Hymenophyllaceae as 
belonging to the vii, and their humidity may be reckoned to fall 
considerably short of the consistently high humidities of the forests of 
Westland 
