126 The Plant Formations. 
and Brachyglottis repanda. The presence of Freycinetia, Astelia Cunninghami 
and Metrosideros florida in the forest of the Western district clearly distinguish 
that association from the remainder of the forest of the Southern botanical province., 
A census of the forest-species shows that in the Northern botanical pro- 
vince there are 311 (pteridophytes 85, spermophytes 226), in the Central 324 
(pteridophytes 86, spermophytes 238) and in the Southern 292 (pteridophytes 78, 
spermophytes 214). Stewart Island, though a portion of the Southern province, 
contains only 155 species (pteridophytes 52, spermophytes 103). If the whole 
Fig. 28. Late stage in evolution of vegetation near Franz Josef glacier, Western bot. dist”. 
In foreground: — Blechnum discolor and Leptopteris superba. Photo L. Cockayne. 
of the forest-area of the three islands be considered, the species which occur 
throughout number 134 (pteridophytes 30, spermophytes 84), but a number of 
these will be absent in many forests. If the forest of Stewart Island be ex- 
cluded, the number of species rises to 232. The above figures, so far as they 
concern the Central botanical province are misleading, for the excess of species 
in that area above the total of the Northern province does not denote that a 
typical central lowland-forest contains more species than does one of the N. 
but rather that certain characteristic northern plants extend for a short distance 
into the Central province and that, in addition, there are a few species, gen- 
erally quite local, confined to the latter. In fact there is a gradual decrease 
in forest-species in proceeding from N. to S., a-happening suggestive of their 
