HonLowav.—Studies in the New Zealand Hymenophyllaceae. 93 
of Westland, although the atmospheric humidity in the former remains 
undoubtedly high. 
5. It was shown (18) that in Westland a large proportion of the species 
occur in groups according to their habits. These natural groups can be 
etween 
are in some cases discernible also in their behaviour in the forests of 
Westland. 
6. The species,. both lowland and upland, including nearly all 
those of Trichomanes, which were shown (18) to be in the Westland 
forests the most hygrophilous of the family are either altogether absent 
from the drier forests of Canterbury and Nelson or are the most locally 
distributed. 
7. The geographical distribution of the family in the New Zealand 
Biological Region is to be seen with respect to several of the species. 
T : 
parts of the South Island, Banks Peninsula being apparently their southern 
limit. These two species belong to the Malayan element in the New 
Zealand flora. On the other hand, the following species—viz., H. pul- 
cherrimum, H. ltatum, Н. Malingw, Н. rufescens, Н. villosum, and 
but it has also been reported from Lord Howe Island. 
8. The outlying islands of the New Zealand Biological Region do not 
possess any Hymenophyllaceae which are not present in New Zealand 
itself, and, judging from the composition of their filmy-fern flora, the 
occurrence in them of members of this family would seem to have resulted 
rather from chance dispersal from New Zealand or from elsewhere than 
from the effect upon a once larger number of species of a changing climate 
- due to a shrinking and subsiding land-area. Of the endemies, H. villosum 
occurs in the Auckland and Campbell Islands, and T. reniforme on 
Chatham Island. 
9. Of the nine species which are endemic to the New Zealand Bio- 
logical Region, three—viz., H. villosum, H. rufescens, and Н. atrovirens— 
can possibly be regarded as specialized forms of other species also present 
in New Zealand—viz., H. sanguinolentum, H. flabellatum, and H. australe 
respectively. Т. strictum is said to be most nearly related to the widely- 
spread T. rigidum. With regard to H. minimum, J. D. Hooker (20, p. 104) 
has suggested the cosmopolitan H. Tunbridgense, or the Polynesian 
H. multifidum, or the Fuegian H. caespitosum as the species to which this 
and are markedly specialized. 
