PREFACE. 
The preparation of this work was ordered by Government, in consequence of a resolution carried in 
the House of Representatives, on the 29th June, 1876, on the motion of Sir George Grey, K.C.B., to 
the effect that a work on the native grasses of the Colony should be prepared, with nature-printed 
plates, and descriptions of each species, the work to be accompanied by an essay on the grasses and 
forage-plants likely to prove useful in New Zealand. 
In the course of the discussion relative to this resolution, it was urged that prizes should be offered 
for essays on the subject, and that the best essay should be selected for incorporation with this work. 
It was, however, pointed out that, until the publication was accomplished of an illustrated work to 
facilitate the accurate recognition of the different species, many persons who might possess a practical 
knowledge of the subject, but be at the same time unacquainted with the botanical nomenclature of the 
grasses, would be precluded from joining in the competition. 
The publication of the systematic portion of the proposed work was, therefore, committed to this 
department in January, 1877, but the actual printing could not be commenced until December last, 
owing to the want of proper lithographic stones and other appliances, which could not be procured in 
the Colony. 
The whole of the illustrations have been drawn from nature by Mr. Buchanan. To insure 
accuracy of form, the specimens of the various grasses were lightly inked and faintly impressed on the 
prepared surface of the lithographic stone; but the details were filled in by hand, together with the 
enlarged drawings showing the anatomical characters of the inflorescence in each species, all of which 
are from original microscopic dissections made by Mr. Buchanan, whose excellent botanical knowledge, 
combined with his skill as a draftsman, peculiarly fitted him for the work. For the satisfactory manner 
in which the plates have been printed, the work is indebted to the skilful supervision of Mr. J. Earle, 
the Government Lithographer. 
The descriptive letter-press accompanying each plate has been collected from the best authorities, 
but, in many instances, structural details have been furnished by Mr. Buchanan, which have not been 
previously published; and many of his remarks on the growth and value of the grasses, founded on 
experience acquired during twenty-seven years’ residence in the Colony, possess great value, although, in 
view of the expected essay on this branch of the subject, they have been made as brief as possible. 
For the general system of classification the work is indebted chiefly to Sir Joseph Hooker’s works 
on the New Zealand Flora, but the method in which the generic and specific characters have been 
arranged is adopted from a more recent work on the British Flora by the same author. 
The condition imposed, that the plates should be nature-printed, has rendered it necessary to 
publish the work in this large size, which is both inconvenient and expensive; but, as only a small 
edition will be issued in this form, it is proposed to reduce the plates by photo-lithography, and 
reproduce the book in octavo form, together with such additional information relative to the economic 
value of the grasses as may be elicited through the distribution of the present work. 
The complete work will contain fifty-five plates, and will be published in five parts, of which the 
two first are now issued. 
JAMES HECTOR, 
Colonial Museum , Wellington , 1st June , 1878. Director. 
