13 
prehensive a knowledge he had of the dis- 
tribution of plant life in the South Island. 
His name is commemorated in the en- 
demic genus Hectorella, and in one of_the 
finest of our flowering shrubs, senecio Hec- 
tori, and also in one of the most striking 
of the whipcord species of the veronica, 
V. Hector. 
In the early sixties Mr H. H. Travers, 
following in the footsteps of his father, 
Mr W. T. L. Travers, was an industrious 
collector. As a very young man he visited 
the Chatham Islands in 1863, with the 
special object of botanical research. Dur- 
ing a stay of several months he succeeded 
in forming large collections of interesting 
plants, some of them new species. He 
again visited the Chathams in 1871 and 
added considerably to his first collection. 
Mr Travers has also collected largely im 
various parts of New Zealand, and has 
maintained a keen interest in the botany 
of the dominion right down to the present 
day. 
Dr M‘Kay, of Greymouth, a well-known 
medical practitioner in that town, promises 
to be a valuable asset to New Zealand 
botanically. He is a very active and en- 
thusiastic collector, and has climbed every 
mountain of note within thirty mules of 
Greymouth. He is brim full of informa- 
tion concerning the flora of the West Coast, 
and being blessed with health, youth, and 
stamina, will, in the near future, supply 
many plants from the West Coast moun- 
tains. Dr M‘Kay has a marvellous and 
most retentive memory, and it 1s a treat 
to listen to him when he is recounting the 
result of his botanical expeditions. He has 
a thorough botanical knowledge and a won- 
derful cognition of the distribution of our 
native plants. What a combination he and 
Mr Speden, of Gore, would make! ‘The 
builders of Herbaria would be kept busy 
if these two enthusiasts were let away from 
their occupations for a few months. 
Mr Townson collected in the north-west 
portion of the South Island down to West- 
port, and a Mr Helms worked as far south 
as Okarito, and spent a considerable time in 
the country below Ross and in the vicinity 
of the Franz Joseph Glacier. 
