316 Transactions. — Botany. 



Banks and Solander, 1769. — These botanists examined a large number of 

 rich and interesting localities between the " Bay of Islands and Otago, 

 inchiding the shores of Cook Strait." The expedition spent five months in 

 exploring the coast, and the number of flowering plants and ferns collected 

 or recorded during its stay is larger than that of any other botanist named by 

 Mr. Travers, yet it is under 380 species. 



The Forsters and Dr. Sparrman, 1772. — Their collections were remarkably 

 small, numbering only 160 species. 



Anderson, 1777. — Dr. Hooker states that this collector obtained "very 

 little indeed, and nothing of any importance." 



Menzies, 1791, devoted himself to the collection of mosses and Hepaticce. 



D'Urville, 1822, and Lesson, 1827, collected in the Bay of Islands, the 

 Thames River, Cook Strait, and other rich botanical localities, yet their joint 

 collections numbered only 200 species, which were described with 60 or 70 of 

 the Forsters' plants by Professor Richard. 



Fraser, 1825. — Dr. Hooker writes : " Mr. Charles Fraser, the Superinten- 

 dent of the Sydney Botanical Gardens, landed for one day in the Bay of 

 Islands, and made a small collection of dried plants. He, however, procured 

 more living ones." 



Allan Cunningham, 1826. — After deducting the vast number of spurious 

 species described by this energetic explorer the total number of plants collected 

 by him will be found somewhat less than that of Banks and Solander. 



Notwithstanding Mr. Travers' opinion on the singularity of no mention of 

 the knot-grass having been made by Anderson and Menzies, I am sure that 

 most observers will agree with me in considering that the extremely limited 

 collection of the one, and the almost exclusive attention paid to Cryptogams 

 by the other, afford excellent reasons for neither having made special mention 

 of so common a plant. Neither could it be supposed that Fraser would have 

 collected it during his single day's exploration at the Bay of Islands. 



Leaving out of consideration, on account of their extremely fragmentary 

 character, the small collection of 160 species made by the Forsters and Dr. 

 Sparrman, by D'Urville and Lesson, of 200 species during two voyages, the 

 very few plants collected by Anderson, and the mere names (so far as Mr. 

 Travers' views are concerned) of Menzies and Fraser, the only collections of 

 any extent are those of Banks and Solander, and of Cunningham. As the 

 remarks I shall have to make apj)ly with almost equal force to each I shall 

 confine myself more particularly to that of Banks and Solander. 



As already stated the recorded number of species of phsenogamic plants 

 and ferns observed by these botanists is between 370 and 380, collected 

 during five months in '' Poverty Bay, Tegadoo, Tolaga, Opuragi, the Thames 

 Biver, Bay of Islands, Queen Charlotte Sound, and Admiralty Bay." Does 



