166 



Distinguished from P. natans by tlie roiinded minute fruit, and tlie 

 jietioles being invariably leaf-bearing. A depauperated state occurs, in wlncli 

 tlie entii-e plant is less than three-quartei'S of an inch in height. 



Ponds and marshes. Great Omaha, Papakura. 



Abundant in Europe, but I am not aware of its existence elsewhere, except 

 in New Zealand. 



Sc'hyus fliiitans, Linn. 



Isolepis fluitans, R. Br. Eleogiton fluitans, Luih. 



Eleocharis fluitans, Hooli. 



Stem floating or erect, branched, leafy, compressed, flower stems with a 

 sheathing linear leaf at the base, spike solitary, terminal, ovate, few flowered, 

 glumes obtuse, keeled, with membranous edges, outer ghimes shorter than the 

 spike, which they envelope, stigmas two, bristles 0, nut obovate, tipped with 

 the base of the style. 



Still waters, and margins of lakes, etc. Whangape, Waikare, and Waihi 

 Lakes, Waikato ; jirobably common elsewhere in New Zealand, but easily 

 overlooked. 



Europe, abundant. 



Art. XXIX. — On tlie Botany of the Northern Part of tlie Province of 

 Auckland. By T. Kirk. 



[Read before the AucMand Institute, October 10, 1870.] 



In the " List of Plants " of this district, by Mr. Buchanan and myself, pub- 

 lished in the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute for 1869, several errors 

 and omissions were made, which it seems desii-able to explain and correct. The 

 list there given is a compilation from the notes of Mr. Buchanan's exploration of 

 the district, in 1865-6, and from my own examination of certain points on its 

 eastern side, in April, 1868. It was, however, prepared for jjublication by 

 Mr. Buchanan under extreme pressure from other business, and under circum- 

 stances which precluded the possibility of a copy of the complete list being- 

 sent to me for examination, until after it had left the hands of the printer. 

 As some of the errors and omissions which have thus crept in are of con- 

 siderable importance, especially from a pliy to-geographical point of view, I 

 now pui-pose to supply the necessary corrections, and to add thereto the results 

 of recent research in the district. 



Before doing this, however, I am desirous of offering a few remarks, chiefly 

 upon points of interest not noticed by Mr. Buchanan in his introduction. The 

 district from Whangarei Harbour to the head of Doubtless Bay, may be 

 roughly estimated at about eighty miles in length by fifty miles in width ; of 



