800 Transactions. — Botany. 



Hab. Mountains of Nelson. Summit of Gordon's Nob, alt. 4,000 feet. 

 Eaglan Mountains, Wairau Valley, alt. 4,000-5,000 feet. 



This belongs to the section of the genus with solitary axillary flowers, 

 of which V. canescens, Kirk, is the only other species described from New 

 Zealand. Our plant differs in habit, larger size, smaller white flowers, and 

 in the pinnatifid leaves. 



4. Pterostylis mutica, B. Br. 

 (E. Br., Prodr. 328; Bentham, Flora Australiensis, vol. vi., p. 362.) 



Leaves in a radical rosette at the base of the stem, ^-% inch long, ovate, 

 shortly petiolate, reticulate, apparently withering at the time of flowering. 

 Stem 2-5 inches high, with 2-4 empty sheathing bracts below the flowers. 

 Flowers 2-5, arranged in a slightly spiral spike, greenish-brown. Galea 

 broad, much incurved, obtuse or subacute at the tip, hardly three lines 

 long. Lower lip broad, almost orbicular in outline, concave, reflexed, with 

 two short broad lobes. Labellum placed on a short flat claw, short, broad, 

 and obtuse ; appendage nearly as broad, entire, rounded. Column erect ; 

 wings broad, lower lobe broad and obtuse. 



Hab. Lee Stream, near Dunedin ; Mr. Sydney Fulton. 



I am indebted to Mr. G. M. Thomson, of Dunedin, for specimens in 

 spirit of this curious little species. It was first found in New Zealand by 

 Mr. Fulton some two years back, and was identified in the " New Zealand 

 Journal of Science " with P. aphylla, Lindl., a local Tasmanian species. It 

 clearly belongs, however, to the section of the genus having the lower lip 

 reflexed, and agrees so closely with the well-known Australian P. mutica, 

 Br., that I cannot doubt its being the same species. New Zealand speci- 

 mens are much smaller than Australian, but that may be due to the 

 nature of the locality in which they were found. The structure of the 

 flower agrees very well with the details given in Mr. Fitzgerald's plate in 

 his " Australian Orchids," and with dried specimens that I have examined ; 

 with the exception of a slight difference in the shape of the appendage to 

 the labellum — always a variable organ in this genus. 



5. Scirpus (Isolejris) crassiusculus, Hook. f. 

 (Benth., Flora Australiensis, vol. vii., p. 326.) 



Bhizome apparently elongated, branched, rooting at the nodes. Leaves 

 very narrow linear, almost filiform, 1^-2 inches long. Stems about 3 inches 

 long. Spikelet solitary, terminal, pale brownish-green, ovate, rather more 

 than ^ inch long, many-flowered. Glumes ovate, obtuse, striate, herbace- 

 ous, with a green centre and purplish-brown margins. Stamens 3. Style- 

 branches 2. Nut greyish-white, very nearly orbicular, but slightly broader 

 above and produced into a short point, much flattened, centre biconvex, 

 then becoming thinner, margin thickened all round. 



