Vol. L, No. 2, N.Z. JOUENAL OP SCIENCE (New Issue) MAECH, 1891. 



THE FORTHCOMING "FLORA" OF NEW ZEALAND. 



Our last issue contained the announcement that there is every 

 prospect of the early appearance of a new Students' Flora of the 

 colony, from the pen of Mr. Thos. Kirk, F.L.S., of Wellington. For 

 the formidable task which he has set himself Mr. Kirk possesses 

 many high qualifications, and all interested in the study of the native 

 Fowering Plants and Ferns will regard the completion of his work 

 with satisfaction. 



Many years ago the Government of the Colony spent a con- 

 siderable sum in helping to bring out Sir J oseph PI ooker's well known 

 Handbook, and we feel confident that the Government of the day 

 will equally recognise the duty of providing the very modest subsidy 

 which Mr. Kirk considers a sufficient reward for many years of loving 

 and laborious preparation for this work. 



The need of a new Flora will be disputed by no one who knows 

 anything about the subject. Not only is feir Joseph Hooker's 

 Handbook out of print, and procurable only at a high premium on 

 the original price, but since its publication the number of flowering 

 plants has been augmented by nearly a third. The description of all 

 these new species are scattered through the twenty- two volumes of 

 the "Transactions of the N.Z. Institute," and a few other publications, 

 and are practically inaccessible to young workers, as well as to all 

 who do not live in or near the few populous centres where literary 

 and scientific interests are actively cultivated. Nor is this all. We 

 greatly need an authoritative revision of the new matter published in 

 this sporadic fashion, such as Mr. Kirk, from his wide experience in 

 the field and his ripe and extensive knowledge, is well qualified to 

 give us. The extraordinarily numerous discoveries that have been 

 made in the Hawke's Bay district in recent years evidently demand 

 careful reconsideration, an ordeal that may very well result in a 

 considerable reduction in the number of new species that will be 

 permanently recognised from that district. The same process will 

 be applied, doubtless on a much smaller scale, to the recent additions 

 from other parts of the colony as well. In discharging this dis- 

 agreeable but highly salutary duty to the goddess of Science, Mr. 

 Kirk may certainly count on the sympathy and support of most of 

 the botanical workers and students in the colony. Judicial revision 

 of established species usually falls to the lot of a succeeding generation 

 of workers, and this avoids the heartburning and disappointment by 

 which the process is likely enough to be attended in the present case. 

 We trust that no personal considerations will be allowed to interfere 

 with a rigid performance of this scientific duty. 



In compiling a new Flora of a region now fairly well explored, 

 many improvements can be made on the arrangement and infor- 

 mation in Hooker's Handbook. In the first place the naming of not 

 a few genera and species will have to be corrected in consequence of 

 the more accurate knowledge we now possess of their history and 

 affinities. The genera will be brought into harmony with Bentham 



