88 Transactions. 
B. North Island. 
With regard to the distribution of the Hymenophyllaceae in ii North 
Island, the “most outstanding feature to be mentioned is the altitude 
attained by the lowland species generally. In the northern Rum of this 
Island, where there are only one or two mountains of as great an altitude as 
3, 000 ft., there is practically no distinction to be traced between lowland 
and upland species. In a description of the pant d: of Te Aroha 
Mountain (3,176 ft.), at the southern extremity o e South Auckland 
Botanical District, J. Adams (1) remarks that the Sodio of the top of 
the mountain makes it one of the most favourable localities for ferns, and 
he shows that the Hymenophyllaceae, including such species as H. dilatatum, 
Н. scabrum, T. reniforme, and Н. australe, are to ae found for the most 
part at the summit. The same observer has reported T. reniforme and 
T. venosum from the summit of Te Moehau Modnati (2,750 ft.), on the 
Cape Colville Peninsula (2). For this reason the altitudinal range of many 
of the species as given by Cheeseman (10) will be far greater than what 
it is found to be in Westland or in other parts of southern New Zealand. 
In the more онук parts of the North Island, as in the South Island ` 
generally, H. villosum and H. multifidum ascend to higher altitudes and 
altitude of 5,600ft. In his Botanical Report on the Mount Tongariro 
National Park (13), which lies at an altitude of 3,000ft. and upwards, 
L. Cockayne frequently refers to H. multifidum along with the hardy 
Polystichum vestitum and Blechnum penna marina as being the ferns 
which most affect the physiognomy of the southern-beech forest-floor, 
the eas being the most conspicuous of the mat- -forming 
plan 
Several members of the family do not extend into the northern part 
of the North Island. According to Cheeseman (10), H. pulcherrimum, 
H. peltatum, H. Malingiti, and H. rufescens reach their northern limit on 
Te Aroha Mountain, Н. villosum on Mount Te Moehau, and 7. Colensoi 
Inbocedrus Bidwillii, to which it is almost invariably restricted. Cheese- 
man does not record H. minimum from the North Island. This spécies 
is distributed, though somewhat discontinuously, throughout the South 
Island; it was said by T. Kirk (23) to be not infrequent in Stewart 
Island, ‘and it is present also on Auckland Island (27). From these facts 
it would appear to be a southern plant. Oliver (2), however, has also 
reported it from Lord Howe Island, off the coast of New South Wales, 
so that there seems to be no reason for its apparent absence from the 
North Island. Т. elongatum and T. humile are both abundant species 
in the Northern Botanical Districts of the North Island, and extend, 
though more sparsely, throughout its Southern Districts and even into the 
Northern Districts of the South Island. They both occur in the islands 
of the Western Pacific Ocean, and so may be regarded as I to 
the Malayan and Polynesian element in the New Zealand flor 
arious writers have commented upon the luxuriance of the ‘shrubbery 
and other low-growing vegetation on the scoria-fields of the Auckland 
