INTBODUCTION. 



xlvii 



Through the bush-reserve on the eastern side of the estate the Ohau stream, from the 

 Euapehu range, runs over a shingly bed, its banks fringed with beautiful ferns and other ever- 

 greens, and its sparkling waters well stocked with trout. The reserve itself contains representa- 

 tives of nearly all the New Zealand trees and shrubs; and there are still preserved in this 

 romantic spot some noble specimens of the ' totara,' a tree now extremely rare all over the 

 district.* 



IN THE PAPAITONGA BUSH-EESEEVE. 



* In one of these bush-reserves there are to be seen numerous examples of a remarkable fungus, Aseroe rubra, 

 thus described by Sir Joseph Hooker: " Two to four inches high; stem as thick as the thumb, even. Eays of the 

 pileus about 8, bright red, long, subulate, 1 in. — 2 in. long, split to the base, continuous with the stem, not divided from 

 them by a deep groove." ' 



I have met with this plant in other parts of New Zealand, always in the depth of the woods, its star-like form and 

 bright colour attracting immediate notice. But an interesting fact discovered by me, at Papaitonga, was that this 

 fungus appears to be insectivorous in its habits of life. I communicated an account of the discovery at the time to the 

 Wellington Philosophical Society, and will reproduce here a passage from my paper (' Trans. N.Z. Inst.,' vol. xxv., pp. 

 302-304) : " From the interior of the stem a viscid, foul-smelling fluid is secreted, and this rises 'nto the cup and mixes 





