228 Transactions. — Botany. 



crimson glory of the rata and the pale racemes of the akamai. But speak- 

 ing generally the quality of the soil is not of the first class, and with the 

 abundance of land still waiting inhabitants in both the North and South 

 Islands, it would be most wasteful policy to destroy the fine timber of the 

 lower levels simply for the sake of forcing settlement. Except in the loca- 

 lities indicated above, a wise policy would retain the island as a timber 

 reserve, for not only is timber abundant, but it is of more durable quality 

 than much of that grown on the west coast of the South Island. Past 

 attempts to force settlement on Stewart Island have resulted in the expen- 

 diture of large sums of money without any return, as may be seen in the 

 Government barracks now decaying at Port William, happily in this case 

 without requiring the continuous annual outlay rendered necessary by pre- 

 mature settlement in other localities, 



Art. XXV. — On the Ferns and Fern Allies of Steivart Island. 

 By T. Kirk, F.L.S. 

 [Read before the Southland Institute, 13th January, 1885.] 

 From the short sketch of the chief physical and climatal characteristics 

 of Stewart Island given in a previous paper,* it will be seen that the 

 conditions are highly favourable to the development of a luxuriant fern-flora, 

 and such we accordingly find, whether considered with regard to the rich 

 free growth of the individuals composing a species, or to the actual number 

 of species found on the island. Swamp, forest and open land — sea-level, 

 hillside and mountain-peak — alike exhibit characteristic forms, and include 

 species whose occurrence in such high latitudes could not have been 

 anticipated. 



The chief points of general interest presented by the fern-flora of 

 Stewart Island are — 



1. The great abundance and luxuriance of arborescent ferns, which occur 

 in nearly all situations at low levels, and exhibit an extension of the geo- 

 graphical range usually given in our text-books (45°- 50) to 47 o, 20 S. 



2. The large, unusually large, proportion of Hymenophyllaceae. Of the 

 twenty-seven species of " filmy-ferns " generally recognized by botanists in 

 New Zealand, no fewer than twenty occur in Stewart Island. They form 

 only one-fifth of the entire fern-flora of the colony ; but rise to one-third on 

 Stewart Island. 



* See above, Art. xxiv. 



