J3G 



NOTE. 



Since tlie above Lecture was delivered I have observed tliat Professor RoUeston is 

 reported in JSi'ature (No. 47, Sept. 22, 1870, p. 426) to have made the following remark in 

 addressing the Biological Section of the British Association, in September last, namely, 

 ' ' To this I would add that experiments with a positive result, and that positive result in 

 favour of the second hypothesis, if hjrpothesis it can be called, are being constantly tried 

 in our colonies for us, and on a large scale. I had taken and written here of the Poly- 

 gonum aviculare, the "knot" or "cowgrass" — having learnt on the authority of Dr. 

 Hooker and Mr. Travers (see Natural History Review, January, 1864, p. 124., Oct., 1864, 

 p. 619), that it abounds in New Zealand, along the roadside, just as it does in England — 

 as a glaring instance, and one which would illustrate the real value of the second 

 explanation even to an unscientific man and to an unassisted eye. But on Saturday 

 last I received by post one of those evidences, which make an Englishman proud in 

 thinking that whithersoever ships can float thither shall the English language, English 

 manners, and English Science be carried, in the shape of the second volume of the 

 Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, full like the first, from beginning to the last 

 page with thoroughly good matter. In that volume, having looked at its table of contents, 

 I turned to a paper by Mr. T. Kirk on the Naturalized Plants of New Zealand, and in 

 this, at p. 142, I find that Mr. T. Kirk prefers to regard the Polygonum aviculare of New 

 Zealand as indigenous in New Zealand. Hence that illustration which would have been 

 a good one falls from my hands." 



I regret to differ with Mr. Kirk in regard to Polygonum aviculare being indigenous in 

 New Zealand. In common with others, who for upwards of twenty years have had 

 large opportunities of observing the flora of this country over very extensive areas, I 

 look upon it as an introduced plant. Dr. Hector and Mr. Buchanan in particular both 

 concur with me on this point. The natives, moreover, who sufi'er much inconvenience 

 from its spread, call it a "pakeha" or foreigner. — W. T. L. Travers. 



