Kirk. — On the Lake District of the North Islayid. 339 



The open plains present but few plants of interest ; patches of Raoulia 

 hectori and Muhlenheckia axillaris are found in one or two localities south of 

 Oruanui and attain here their northern limit. Carex inversa occurs sparingly 

 in dry sandy places, the culms being extremely slender. Isolepis auchlandicus 

 and Lomaria alpina are found sparingly in moist, sheltered spots. Draco- 

 phyllum suhulatum is common on plains throughout the district. 



Waikato River. 

 Crossing the Waikato, near the northern extremity of Lake Taupo, much 

 of the low scrub at a short distance from the river banks is seen to be stunted 

 and depauperated ; the cotton grass {Gelmisia longifolia) forming large masses 

 on the spots that appear too barren to allow the growth of Poa Icevis. By 

 the road side at Wciipihi, and in other places on the margin of the lake, 

 attention is at once arrested by the heavy growth of littoral plants, Chenopo- 

 dium ambiguum and Convolvolus soldanella. The pohutukawa also is found 

 on the Island of Motutaiko, and I believe in several places on the shores of 

 the lake, but is nowhere so abundant or of such large dimensions as at Lake 

 Tarawera. 



Opepe. 



About Opepe most of the hills are capped with patches of forest in which 

 the totara, miro, matai and kahikatea are the most common trees. Elceocarpus 

 hookerianus is also abundant, and attains a large size. Griselinia lucida is 

 also common, and in this locality affords support to the larvae of Hepialus 

 virescens, the so-called vegetable caterpillar, which offers a nidus for the 

 curious fungus, Cordiceps rohertsii. Many rare ferns, as Lomaria patersonii, 

 Todea superha, Lomaria alpina, L. vulcanica, Dicksonia antarctica, and 

 D. lanata are found in great abundance. Panax sinclairii, Gentiana montana^ 

 and Coriaria thymifolia, the ground tute of Otago, attain here their northern 

 limits. The small indigenous form of Leontodon taraxacum and Viola JUicaulis 

 are also found in abundance. 



The exceptional position of the forest is doubtless the result of denudation. 



The hills have been formed by successive pumiceous deposits, the more 

 recent of which have been washed from the higher lands, so that the older 

 submarine deposits, which are more or less decomposed, have been laid bare to 

 a greater or lesser extent, and are now covered with a vegetation not only of 

 luxuriant growth but comparatively rich in the number of species which it 

 contains. 



The low grounds are intersected by deep gullies and ravines, produced by 

 sub-aerial denudation, which are often of great depth, and in some cases filled 

 with a dense vegetation presenting but little variety. An inconspicuous 

 Haloragis, new to science, occurs profusely in these situations. 



