IV PLOKA OP NEW ZEALAND. 



Astrolabe), and accompanied by M. Lesson, a distinguished naturalist. The combined collections of 

 these individuals and two voyages, amounting to 200 species of flowering plants and Ferns, were pub- 

 lished by the late Professor A. Richard, in his ' Essai d'une Flore de la Nouvelle-Zelande.' This is 

 a work of considerable merit, in which were included all Forster's plants in the Paris Museum, with 

 extracts from his MSS. that accompany them. 9 



On the establishment of Colonial Gardens and botanists at Sydney, New Zealand became an ob- 

 ject of especial interest to the latter, and the Bay of Islands was visited by Mr. Charles Frazer in 

 1825, by his successor Allan Cunningham in 1826, by Richard Cunningham (brother to the latter) 

 in 1833, and again by Allan in 1838, during which visit this indefatigable collector contracted, through 

 exposure and fatigue, the illness which terminated his life at Sydney in 1839. After his first ex- 

 pedition Allan Cunningham prepared his Prodromus, which was published in detached portions in 

 several botanical periodicals*. In this he enumerated all the previously published species of Forster 

 and A. Richard, but the work is so unsatisfactory and incomplete that were it not for the invaluable 

 herbarium of both Cunninghams, now hi Mr. Heward's possession-)", I should have found it impos- 

 sible to have quoted the ' Prodromus' with any degree of confidence. 



Amongst the earlier explorers of this period, Dr. Logan, now a resident in the colony, deserves 

 especial mention; his contributions of excellent specimens arriving at a time when New Zealand 

 plants were almost the rarest, and scientifically the most interesting. It is however within the last 

 twelve years, and since New Zealand has attracted the notice of colonists, that the most important 

 accessions to its botany have been made, and it is to correspondents, most of them still alive, and 

 actively engaged in pursuing their investigations, that I am indebted for the materials of these 

 volumes. The Reverend William Colenso, Dr. Andrew Sinclair, R.N., my lamented friend J. T. 

 Bidwill, Esq., Dr. Dieffenbach, M. Raoul, and Dr. Lyall, stand pre-eminent as indefatigable ex- 

 plorers and collectors. Mr. Colenso' s researches have extended uninterruptedly over upwards of 

 twelve years, during which he has traversed a great part both of the coast and interior of the Northern 

 Island, and has been the principal contributor to our knowledge of its botany. Dr. Sinclair has also , 

 devoted many years to the New Zealand Flora, and has made numerous most interesting discoveries, 

 especially on the east coast, and has transmitted such copious suites of excellent specimens as are 

 most valuable for botanical purposes. Mr. Bidwill and Dr. Dieflenbach were the first explorers of 

 the lofty mountains of the interior: Mr. Bidwill indeed ascended both Tongariro and the Nelson 

 range, and formed collections of the greatest interest and value, accompanied by valuable notes on the 

 elevation at which the plants were gathered, their variations, periods of flowering, and many other 

 important points J. M. Raoid accompanied the French frigate L'Aube in 1840 and 1841, and again 

 L'Allier in 1842-3, during which voyages he made a very complete botanical exploration of Banks' 

 Peninsula and the Bay of Islands. His admirable collections were deposited in the Jardin des 

 Plantes at Paris, where they were placed at my disposal by M. Raoul, with whom I had the pleasure 

 of examining them in 1845 ; a complete set was also detached for Sir TV. Hooker's Herbarium, and 

 has been of the greatest use to me. A selection from the new species was described by MM. Raoul 



* Under the title of ' Florae Nova? Zelandise Prsecursor,' in the ' Companion to the Botanical Magazine,' 

 vol. 2, and concluded in the 'Annals of Natural History,' vols. 1, 2, and 3. 



t I am indebted to Mr. Heward's liberality for the unreserved use of this extremely valuable collection. 



% The Nelson Mountains have since been again explored by Dr. Monro, who has added a few remarkable 

 novelties that had escaped Mr. Bidwill's notice, and whose excellent collections are, I hope, an earnest of still 

 further discoveries. 



