HorLowAv.—Studies in the New Zealand Hymenophyllaceae. 89 
plants are as green as ever. I have found here H. multifidum grow- 
ing frequently side by side with the two other species; and in 
the damp gullies in the scoria slopes, shaded by the shrubbery, are 
scabrum, Н. Tunbri 
period 1911 to 1920 was 49-32 in., and the number of rainy days 195:3. 
The mean humidity for the same period was T9-1—that is to say, 3-4 · 
higher than at Hokitika, in Westland. There is no doubt also that the 
scoria-blocks, and the humus in their interstices, absorb and hold much 
dew as well as rain-water. The humidity of the climate is also seen in 
the fact that the tree-fern Cyathea medullaris is commonly grown in the 
open in the city private gardens. Nevertheless the exposed position on 
associated with it, viz.—H. dilatatum and H. scabrum; and elsewhere in 
New Zealand it is sometimes to be found in sheets on the floor of southern- 
beech forests unaccompanied by the latter. On the other hand, in the 
neighbourhood of Dunedin, and also in Stewart Island, H. dilatatum is 
abundant and luxuriant while the other two species are scanty or absent. 
I have been able to examine the forests on the eastern side of the 
North Auckland Peninsula at various places, and have observed that, 
generally speaking, the Hymenophyllaceae are more restricted to low 
forests, or than they are, as Mr. Cheeseman informs me, in the gullies 
on the low western ranges of Auckland. This will probably be due to 
the lighter character of these eastern forests in North Auckland. As 
described in my previous paper, T. elongatum and T. humile form a very 
characteristic association on the creek-bed walls of these forests. 
C. The Outlying Islands. (See map 1, on page 68.) 
The Kermadec Islands, which lie to the north-east of New Zealand, 
are a widely-separated group, of which the largest island, Raoul or Sunday 
