394 SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NE W ZEALAND. [Systematic Botany. 



a long tufted rank grass was the only plant seen by those who landed." No doubt 

 this grass was Poa foliosa, which has been recorded by all visitors to the island. On 

 the return voyage of the vessels, the brig " Porpoise," which had become separated 

 from the rest, paid a visit to the Auckland Islands, anchoring in Port Ross on the 

 7th March. A stay of three days only was made, a period altogether insufficient for 

 any scientific work of importance, especially when it is borne in mind that the whole 

 of the scientific staff remained in Australia during the cruise. However, the surgeon 

 of the " Porpoise," Dr. Holmes, collected a few plants, which were the first obtained 

 on the island. Later on, the expedition proceeded from Australia to the Bay of 

 Islands, where the scientific stafi rejoined it, and made larger collections, with which 

 Dr. Holmes's Auckland Island plants were incorporated. After Wilkes's return to 

 the United States, and after many delays, the botanical collections were intrusted 

 to the eminent American botanist Asa Gray, and ultimately appeared (in 1854) in 

 two volumes quarto, with a folio atlas of 100 plates. Not one of the Auckland Island 

 plants is figured, and Ranunculus aucMandicus is the only species described which 

 had not been previously recorded by Hooker. 



For many years after the visits of the three scientific expeditions mentioned 

 above no addition of any importance was made to our knowledge of the botany of 

 the southern islands. Now and then they were visited by a British man-of-war, 

 and on one of these occasions the late General Bolton made a small collection of 

 plants, which included a few species not noticed by Hooker. These are recorded in 

 the first part of the Handbook, published in 1864. In 1874 the French Govern- 

 ment despatched an astronomical expedition to Campbell Island for the purpose 

 of observing the Transit of Venus. Two of the party. Dr. Filhol and Lieutenant 

 Rathouis, made collections of plants. Some of the specimens were retained in the 

 colony, and were examined by Mr. Kirk, who contributed a list of the species to 

 the " Transactions of the New Zealand Institute " (vol. xiv, p. 287). 



In 1880 Professor J. H. Scott visited Macquarie Island for the purpose of in- 

 vestigating its flora and fauna. Before referring to his visit, however, it should be 

 mentioned that prior to 1832 Mr. C. Fraser, then Superintendent of the Sydney 

 Botanical Gardens, sent to Sir W. J. Hooker a few plants which he had obtained 

 from the island, probably through the master of some vessel. These are Acaena 

 Sanguisorbae, Acaena adscendens, Azorella Selago, Pleurophyllum Hookeri, Cotula 

 plumosa, Luzula campestris var. crinita, Poa foliosa, and Aspidium vestitum. The 

 collection is interesting, as being the first recorded from any of the southern islands. 

 Professor Scott has published an account of his visit in the " Transactions of the 

 New Zealand Institute " for 1882 (vol. xv, p. 484), from which an excellent idea of 

 the physiography of the island and the general character of the vegetation can be 

 obtained. His catalogue of the plants observed includes the names of sixteen phanero- 

 gams and three vascular cryptogams, or nineteen in all. But an introduced grass 

 {Poa annua) must be deducted ; and it is now quite clear that a mistake was made 

 in including Azorella lycofodioides, the specimens so identified being probably a 

 form of Colohanthus muscoides. Deducting these two species, the total number 

 becomes seventeen. 



In this place it will be convenient to mention the later visit of Mr. A. 

 Hamilton, made in 1894. Although much hindered by illness and by excep- 

 tionally severe weather, he succeeded in materially adding to our knowledge 



