xlviii 



INTRODUCTION. 



Bare plants and shrubs from other parts of Neiv Zealand have been introduced and planted, 

 with the intention of making it an epitome, as it were, of the indigenous flora. For example, 

 here are brought together, and all in nourishing condition, the ' puriri ' and the ' kauri,' from the 

 far north, and the ' pohutukawa,' potted by himself and sent by Sir George Grey from his island- 

 home at Kawau ; the large-leaved and now nearly extinct Meryta sinclairii from the Hauraki 

 Gulf and the beautiful Olearia angustifolia from Stewart Island ; the graceful Todea superba 

 from the Euahine mountains and the edible horse-shoe fern (Marattia salicina) from the foot 

 of Mount Bgmont ; the rare ' toi ' (Gordyline indivisa) from the Murimotu plains and the 

 'ti-tawhiti' from the Wanganui river ; Hoheria populnea, with its wealth of "orange blossom," 



.' 



OTOMURI I A NOTED KAKA RESORT IN FORMER TIMES. 



from the south, and flowering Pittosporums of various species from all parts of the country. 

 Here also are to be seen rare plants from the Auckland Islands, and from the Chatham Islands, 

 such, for instance, as the so-called Antarctic Forget-me-not (Myosotidiuwi nobile) — with its 



with the bodies of moths, flies, beetles, and other small insects collected there, which appear to undergo a process of 

 gradual dissolution and absorption. Now, the question arises, Is this fungus, like the Drosera, a carnivorous plant, 

 and is it endowed with its pungent odour, added to its flower-like brilliancy, for the purpose of attracting its insect-food? 

 And is the fluid itself a solvent, with the acid constituent for aiding the process of digestion ? My answer is in the 

 affirmative. I dissected one of the stems, and found that it was hollow, or nearly so, with what appeared to be a 

 membranous sac at the bottom containing fluid matter ; but the examination, made on the spot, was necessarily a 

 very hasty and imperfect one. As is generally known, we possess in New Zealand several species of Drosera, a 

 group of plants which not only catch insects by means of their tentacles and the viscid matter secreted from their 

 glands, but which, as Darwin has conclusively shown, have likewise the power of dissolving animal matter by the aid 

 of this secretion, which contains an acid, together with a ferment almost identical in nature with pepsin, the matter 

 thus digested being afterwards absorbed into the system of the plant as a means of nourishment." 



