Petbie. — On the Flora of Stewart Island. 323 



6. Dichotomous branching from node. Sections of basal internode and the 



next two above, as seen by the naked eye. (Three times nat. size.) 



a. Limiting tissue. 



b. Cortical tissue. 



c. Inner tissues. 



d. Cavity containing saline solution. 



7. Dichotomous branching from node. 



8a. Polychotomous branching from node. Front view. 



a, b, etc., mark the same branches as in fig. 86. 

 86. Ditto. View from above. 



a, b, etc., mark the same branches as in fig. 8a. 

 9. Lateral branching from node and internode. 



Aet. XL. — A Visit to Stewart Island, with Notes on its Flora. 

 By D. Petrie, M.A. 

 [Read before the Otago Institute, 22th June, 1880.] 

 In the month of January of this year Mr. G. M. Thomson and I made a 

 short excursion to Stewart Island for the purpose of dredging in the inlets, 

 and examining, as far as we could, the flora of that little-known part a£New 

 Zealand. Our examination of the flora was confined to the country around 

 Paterson's Inlet, and that in the neighbourhood of Port Pegasus. 



Paterson's Inlet is for the most part comparatively shallow, and extends 

 more than half-way across the greatest breadth of the island. It is sur- 

 rounded on nearly all sides by hills of moderate elevation, with rather steep 

 slopes that are clothed with " bush " to the water's edge. At the head or 

 north-western extremity of the inlet however, it is bordered by a low tract 

 some three miles in width, which is difficult of access except near high 

 water, in consequence of extensive shoals. From this part of the inlet there 

 extends for a good many miles to the westward a flat swampy area, some 

 three miles or less in average width, and raised but little above sea-level. It 

 is drained by a forked creek, which is tidal in its northern branch for at least 

 six miles. About six miles from the inlet this flat area is connected by a 

 rather narrow, low, boggy valley bending to the south, with a similar area 

 of low swampy land abutting on Mason Bay and the west coast of the island. 

 The distance from sea to sea is probably about thirteen miles. Sand-hills 

 occur at intervals throughout the flat areas at the head of the inlet and 

 Mason Bay respectively, but they do not extend into the connecting valley. 

 It is evident that at no remote date a strait here ran across Stewart Island, 

 separating the high land in the north, of which Mount Anglem is the culmi- 



