486 SUBANTARCTIC islands OE new ZEALAND. [Plant Formations. 



On certain Species previously erroneously recorded from the Island. 



It is clear that several species have in error been asserted to grow on the island. 

 These are mostly plants which occur on the Auckland Islands, and doubtless the 

 confusion of habitats has arisen from the fact that observers' visits to the islands 

 have been short and hurried. All naturalists know how easily mistakes are made 

 under such circumstances. 



The following passage from the pen of Mr. T. Kirk* contains the names of several 

 species which are almost certainly not to be found on the island : " The vegetation 

 is less varied than that of the Auckland Islands, and is much less luxuriant. The 

 rata {Metrosideros lucida), the characteristic tree of those islands, is extremely rare 

 on Campbell Island, and of very low stature. In fact, the ligneous vegetation is 

 limited to four species of Coprosma — C. foetidissima, C. cuneata, C. parviflora, C. 

 ciliata — and Myrsine divaricata, which form the bulk of the scrub, with occasional 

 specimens of Draco'phyllum longifoUum and D. Urvilleanum, Cassinia Vauvilliersii, 

 and Veronica elliftica, the two last, together with the true Draco'phyllum scoparium, 

 being found only in open places." 



I have found this passage puzzling. Of the above species, three at least have 

 apparently been recorded from Campbell Island by Mr. Kirk alone — viz., Metrosideros 

 lucida, Coprosma foetidissima, and Cassinia Vauvilliersii. Moreover, I could find 

 only two species of Dracophyllum, which have been identified by Mr. Cheeseman as 

 D. longifoUum and D. scoparium. These, not the Coprosmas referred to, constitute 

 the bulk of the scrub. Dr. Cockaynef considers that there are possibly three species 

 of Dracophyllum on the island, and has shown me specimens in confirmation of his 

 view. Although I searched the Dracophyllum scrub of the island with this theory 

 in mind, I was able to make out only two species, as above, but observed that in 

 certain forms or states of D. longifoUum it approached in foliage at least to D. Urville- 

 anum, and, as the two types of foliage appear on the one tree, I consider that Dr. 

 Cockayne's D. Urvilleanum, A. Rich (?), is probably only a state of D. longifoUum. 



CheesemanJ recognises the existence of Metrosideros lucida on Campbell Island, 

 but not of Cassinia Vauvilliersii or Coprosma foetidissima. None of the three species 

 just mentioned is recorded from Campbell Island by Hooker in the " Flora Ant- 

 arctica " or by Decaisne in the Botany of the " Voyage au Pole sud," nor do any of 

 them appear in the list of species from Campbell Island drawn up by Kirk§ himself 

 from specimens collected by the French Transit of Venus Expedition. Buchanan 

 makes no mention of them in his article on Campbell Island and its flora.] I It would 

 seem, therefore, as if they had by some error crept into Kirk's notes. The three 

 species are all marked with queries in Dr. Cockayne's list.lj He himself failed to 

 find them, and, according to Mr. Gordon, who was then head shepherd, and who 

 seems to have known these species on the mainland, they did not occur on the island. 

 Mr. Nicholson, the head shepherd during the visit of the " Hinemoa " in 1907, had 



* Rep. Austr. Ass., vol. iii, p. 223. 



■f " Botanical Excursion," Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xxxvi, p. 322. 



X Manual N.Z. Flora, p. 163. 



§ Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xiv, p. 387. 



II Trans. N.Z. Inst., vol. xvi, p. 398. 



11 Loc. cit„ p. 320. 



