22 HISTORICAL RECORD 



almost destitute of fish, with shy song birds and few game birds, and 

 certainly no quadrupeds but lizards, it seemed to them that it only 

 wanted the best of the plants and animals associated with these 

 earlier memories to make it a terrestrial paradise. So with zeal un- 

 fettered by scientific knowledge, they proceeded to endeavour to re- 

 produce — ^as far as possible — the best-remembered and most cherished 

 features of the country from which they came. No doubt some 

 utilitarian ideas were mingled with those of romance and early associa- 

 tions, but the latter were in the ascendant. They recked not of new 

 conditions, they knew nothing of the possibilities of development 

 possessed by species of plants and animals which, in the severe 

 struggle for existence of their northern home had reached a more or 

 less stable position. 



This wonderful wave of sentiment manifested itself especially in the 

 sixties. From Auckland to the BluflF the people founded acclimatisa- 

 tion societies for the purpose of introducing what seemed to them 

 desirable animals, and they allowed their fancy free play. In their 

 private capacities they got their friends at home to send them seeds 

 of the wild flowers they had loved, and they sowed these in all sorts 

 of localities, wherever it seemed to them that they would grow. No 

 biological considerations ever disturbed their dreams, nor indeed 

 did they ever enter into their calculations. I have been on the council 

 of an acclimatisation society, and I know the enthusiasm, unalloyed 

 by scientific considerations, which animates the members. As far 

 as flowering plants were concerned disappointment followed many 

 of their efforts; the primroses and bluebells, the heather and the 

 wood violets, refused to grow either in the bush or in the open 

 country, and the sowers were frankly disappointed. Even when the 

 seed was sown in the garden or the greenhouse and the plants were 

 put out in the open, they would not reproduce their kind. Most of 

 these early colonists recked not of such things as cross- and self- 

 fertilisation, and those who did know were not prepared to recom- 

 mend an insect invasion to secure the fertilisation of their favourite 

 wild flowers. 



In time some of the plants and animals which had been introduced 

 not only established themselves securely, but increased at a rate 

 which upset all calculations. Conditions were produced which had 

 never been anticipated and the introductions became dangerous and 

 expensive pests. Then public measures had to be taken to check the 

 newcomers, and in some cases their natural enemies had to be 

 introduced. This has led to further complication and unexpected 

 results. These natural enemies, like the things they were meant to 

 check, did not always do what was expected of them ; they frequently 



