with Descriptions of two New Species . 755 
Economic History. 
Corynocarpus laevigata occupies, among plants, a promi- 
nent position in the history and traditions of the Maoris of 
New Zealand and the Morioris of the Chatham Islands. It is 
one of the few trees of the country yielding an edible fruit, 
and it was of great importance to the aboriginal inhabitants 
as an article of food. One of the most interesting points con- 
nected with it is the tradition, both in New Zealand and the 
Chatham Islands, that the immigrant ancestors of the Maoris 
introduced this tree from the unknown island of Hawaiki. 
Geographers are not agreed as to the position of this island, 
and the fact that the genus Corynocarpus was unknown outside 
of the New Zealand region made it difficult to accept this 
tradition. But the discovery of a species in New Caledonia, 
and of another, very closely allied to the New Zealand species, 
in the still more distant New Hebrides, removes the difficulty. 
Indeed, it seems quite probable that C. laevigata may yet be 
found in some of the islands of Western Polynesia, but not 
in Eastern Polynesia, where most geographers have placed 
the Hawaiki island of Maori traditions. The eastern islands 
have been more or less thoroughly explored botanically, 
and the presence of such a distinct and conspicuous tree 
would hardly have been overlooked. On the other hand, 
New Caledonia, the New Hebrides, and the Solomon Islands 
are still, to a great extent, unexplored. C. laevigata , both 
in a wild, and formerly cultivated state, thrives only in the 
warmer parts of the New Zealand region. Kirk (Forest Flora, 
p. 173) states that it is very rare in the South Island, being 
restricted to a few localities in the Nelson, Marlborough and 
Canterbury Districts. So it may be inferred that it is probably 
a native of a warmer country, generally, than New Zealand. 
Featon(Art Album of the New Zealand Flora, p. ico) regards 
all the localities in the South Island as the remains of 
cultivation. 
The Morioris of the Chatham Islands represented to 
