INTRODUCTORY NOTICE. 



5$*fe 



HE death of Professor Kirk before the " Flora " was completed 

 involves, among other serious losses to scientific progress, the 

 publication of the completed portion of the work without such 

 an introductory chapter on geographical distribution, on the 

 wider questions of affinity, and on the historical aspect of Botany 

 and botanical research in New Zealand as he intended to write, and was pre- 

 eminently qualified to write. The same sad cause accounts for the fact that 

 the glossary and other addenda to the work have been compiled without his 

 supervision. 



The Government have in view the necessity for making arrangements for 

 the completion of the work. The plates selected to illustrate the "Flora" will 

 form a separate volume. 



Through the kindness of the Trustees of the British Museum, who sent 

 out complete sets of the plants collected by Sir Joseph Banks and Dr. Solander, 

 the great advantage was gained of an examination of the specimens actually 

 collected by these botanists. The valuable help of the Trustees did not end 

 here, as thej^ also gave permission to use the beautiful copper-plates engraved 

 for Sir Joseph Banks, and done with marvellous care and accuracy. With 

 regard to these plates, the following extract from Sir Joseph D. Hooker's 

 biographical sketch of Sir Joseph Banks, appended to the " Journal of the Right 

 Hon. Sir Joseph Banks," 1896, will be of interest : " About seven hundred 

 plates were engraved on copper, in folio, at Banks's expense, and a few prints or 

 proofs were taken, but they were never published. Five folio books of neat 

 manuscript, and the coppers, rest in the hands of the Trustees of the British 

 Museum. The question arises, Why were they never utilised ? . . . This 

 has always been regarded as an insoluble problem." The writer goes on to 

 show that, in all probability, it was Solander's death that arrested publication. 



