chapter II 



HISTORICAL RECORD 



1 HE history of the naturalisation of animals and plants in large 

 island areas has never, to my knowledge, been fully studied anywhere. 

 Isolated introductions have frequently been dealt with, especially 

 in recent cases, but apparently no one has sought to work out the 

 history of the whole of the introduced fauna and flora of any country. 

 The reason almost certainly is that, with one notable exception, the 

 beginnings of the introductions could never be ascertained. The one 

 exception is New Zealand. Here we have an area of land of very con- 

 siderable extent lying far away from any other large areas, in which the 

 first introduction of a majority of the species which now occur and are 

 not indigenous to the country, can be traced. We can tell when and 

 how many of the species which are now so abundantly represented 

 first came into the country. We can learn of numerous attempts to 

 introduce species which have, however, failed to establish themselves. 



On the other hand we find that a vast number of species, both of 

 animals and plants, have found their way into the country, as it were, 

 by chance. We do not always know with certainty where they came 

 from, though we have a knowledge of their geographical distribution 

 which enables us to form a fairly correct impression. We often cannot 

 tell the time of their introduction, nor the means by which this was 

 accomplished. The most we can do — and even this is not always 

 possible — is to record the first notice of their appearance in the 

 country and their subsequent history. 



The first date which we can fix upon as that at which a definite 

 introduction of new species commenced is that of the arrival of 

 Captain Cook in New Zealand on his second voyage, in 1773, when 

 he landed at Dusky Sound, and later at Queen Charlotte Sound. On 

 these occasions besides leaving various animals, he sowed several 

 kinds of European seeds, mostly garden vegetables. Some of these 

 are known to have survived. 



Previous to that date the native inhabitants had brought with 

 them from Polynesia, and perhaps from Melanesia, certain species 

 of plants which they cultivated, and apparently also they had carried 

 with them a species or rather a variety of dog. Unintentionally also 

 they probably introduced the Polynesian rat (Mus exulans), as well 

 as at least one species of flea — probably Pulex irritans (some think 



