210 
Memoranda of an Excursion 
posed a bed of yellow clay, and a rich black soil next the 
surface. 
The country in the neighbourhood is volcanic, and covered 
with scoriae and vesicular lava. 
Melbourne , February 21, 1044. 
Note. —From subsequent examination of teeth, froA the same locality, 
I am inclined to think the bones belong to a colossal rodent.—E. C. II. 
Art. X.— Memoranda of an Excursion, made in the North¬ 
ern Island of Nexo Zealand , in the summer of 1841-2; 
intended as a contribution towards the ascertaining of 
the Natural Productions of the New Zealand Groupe: 
with particular reference to their Botany . By William 
Colenso. 
[The following Paper was transmitted by the Author twelve 
months ago, but its publication in the Tasmanian Journal 
has been unavoidably postponed. In Sir W. J. Hooker’s 
London Journal of Botany, of January and February 1844, 
similar information appears under the title, “ Journal of a 
Naturalist,” and the introductory remarks of that eminent 
* botanist are transferred to the columns of the Tasmanian 
Journal .] 
Ever since the publication of the celebrated Voyage of Captain Cook, a 
lively interest has been felt in all that concerns the productions of New 
Zealand. Of late years that interest has been increased tenfold, in con¬ 
sequence of the rapid colonization of the islands by British emigrants. 
Still, to the naturalist, it has been very much a sealed country. Many 
of the plants collected during Sir J. Banks’ and Mr. Menzies’ visits are 
yet lying in our Herbaria unpublished ; and the “ Florce Insularum 
Nova Zelandia Precursor * of Mr. Allan Cunningham, edited by our¬ 
selves, partly in the “ Companion to the Botanical Magazine,” and partly 
* Companion to the Botanical Magazine, vol. ii. p. 230, 
