364 Transactions. — Ijotamj. 



gcrmanicum, Weiss, affords another instance of tlie tenacity with which 

 plants maintain their existence under the most unfavourable conditions. 

 Adiantum cajnllus-veneris, L., Woodsia ilvensis, Br., W. liypcrhorea, Br., 

 Nephrodiuni cristatum, Eich., are similar examples. Not only have the 

 plants here named to endure the changed conditions brought about by 

 agricultural and pastoral occupations, but they have suffered largely from 

 the ravages of vulgar curiosity-hunters, who value a thing only for its 

 rarity, and sometimes strive to render the habitat of a rare plant unproduc- 

 tive, in order to enhance the value of the specimens in their possession ; 

 and from the mania for fern-collecting, which for years past has been a 

 fashionable pursuit in Britain, as well as from the more legitimate but far 

 less destructive indents of botanists, they may therefore be taken as extreme 

 cases. 



Numerous flowering plants exemplifjang the same tenacity of existence 

 under unfavourable conditions, and the power of adapting themselves to 

 changed circumstances, might be named, but I will only state that during 

 a detailed examination of the flora of the Auckland Isthmus and North 

 Shore, extending over ten years, I failed to obtain the slightest evidence 

 that a single species had become extinct, yet the district sustains a popula- 

 tion of about 25,000 souls, on an area of 43,000 acres, less than half the 

 extent of many sheep runs in the South Island. It is one of the oldest 

 settled districts in the colony, and agriculture is in a more advanced state 

 than in many other places ; the only remains of forest are the few small 

 patches of bush at the mouths of gullies between Takapuna and Lucas 

 Creek, all traversed by cattle, while the open lands not actually under 

 cultivation have been subjected to repeated burnings. Yet under these 

 unfavourable conditions this small area, no xoart of which is above 650 feet 

 in altitude, contains 440 species of phtenogamic plants and ferns, represent- 

 ing 78 natural orders out of 91 under which these plants are arranged 

 thoughout the colony, and giving an average of six species to the square 

 mile. Moreover, this area is shared by 300 naturalized species, of which 

 nearly two-thirds are as much at home as the natives of the soil. It is 

 needless to offer further statements in support of my conclusion. 



This paper is intended simply as a contribution to our knowledge of the 

 distribution of naturalized plants in the colony and comprises an enumera- 

 tion of the species observed by the writer in the Welhngton district, with a 

 few others for which the authority is stated in each case. It must not, 

 however, be taken as exhaustive, since, without doubt, the list would be 

 considerably increased by a careful examination of the more distant parts 

 of the Wau'arapa, the Upper Eangitikei, the country between Marton and 

 Wanganiii, and between Wanganui and the southern boundary of Taranaki, 

 witli all of which I am personally unacquainted. 



