

The Australasian Association. 285 



number of described species of animals as 5498. The num- 

 ber of mammalia has been doubled through the more 

 accurate study of our seals, whales and dolphins. Then 

 the list of birds has been increased from eighty-four 

 to one hundred and ninety-five, chiefly through the exer- 

 tions of Sir Walter Buller, whose great standard work on 

 our avifauna has gained credit and renown for the whole 

 colony. The number of fishes and moluzca has been more 

 than trebled, almost wholly by the indefatigable work of 

 our Secretary, Professor Hutton. But the greatest increase 

 is in the group which Dr. Gray placed as annulosa, which, 

 chiefly through the discovery of new forms of insect life, 

 has risen from 156 in 1840 to 4,295, of which over 2,000 are 

 new beetles described by Captain Broun, of Auckland. 



When we turn to botany we find that Deiffenbach, who ap- 

 pears to have carefully collected all the references to date in 

 1840, states the flora to comprise 632 plants of all kinds, and, 

 as I have already mentioned, did not expect that many more 

 would be found. But by the time of the publication of 

 Hooker's " Flora of New Zealand " (1863), a work which 

 has been of inestimable value to our colonists, we find the 

 number of indigenous plants described had been increased 

 to 2,451. Armed with the invaluable guidance afforded by 

 Hooker's "Handbook," our colonial botanists have renew- 

 ed the search, and have since then discovered 1,460 new 

 species, so that our plant census at the present date gives 

 a total of 3,355 species. It would be impossible to make 

 mention of all who have contributed to this result as col- 

 lectors, and hardly even to indicate more than a few of 

 those to whom science is indebted for the description of the 

 plants. The literature of our post Hookerian botany is 

 scattered about in scientific periodical literature, and as 

 Hooker's "Handbook" is now quite out of print, it is obvi- 

 ous that, as the new discoveries constitute more than one 

 third of the total flora, it is most important that our young- 

 botanists should be full}'- equipped with all that has been 

 ascertained by those who have preceded them. I am glad 



to be able to announce that such a work in the form of 



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