Nothofagus.] FAGACEAE, 313 
8-16 or more; filaments filiform, exserted; anthers obling. Females: 
Minute, 1-3, sessile within a lobed involucre composed of several scales 
grown together at the base. Perianth-tube adnate to the ovary ty limb 
3-5-lobed. Ovary inferior, 3-celled ; styles short, linear, stigmatose within 4 
ovules 2 in each cell, pendulous from the top of the cell. Fruiting- 
involucres small, hard, lobed, armed with transverse scales or lamellae at 
the base; lobes ultimately splitting to the base. Nuts enclosed within 
the involucre, 3-celled. Seed pendulous ; cotyledons plaited. 
A genus composed of 13 or 14 species ; 6 of which are endemic in New Zealand ; 
3 in Australia or Tasmania; and 4 or 5 from temperate South America. It is the 
southern representative of the beeches (Fagus) of the Northern Hemisphere, from 
which it only differs in the small evergreen leaves, few-flowered male heads, and in 
the small fruiting-involucres. 
A. Fruiting-involucres clothed with recurved linear processes. 
Leaves 4-4 in., ovate-rhomboid, coriaceous, doubly crenate os J. NN. Menziesz. 
B. Fruiting-involucres with flat transverse lamellae. 
Leaves #-ldin., broadly ovate, obtuse, thin, veined, pubescent, 
deeply serrate .. 
ns + ed Ss Se N. fusca. 
Leaves #-lin., oblong, apiculate, entire or obscurely toothed 
bo 
towards the tip .. os C4 i a3 .. 3 N. apiculaia. 
Leaves 3-3 in., evate, acute, entire, glabrous above, fulvous beneath. 
Involucre 4-valved oe a i ay fet » & WN. Blain, 
Leaves }-3 in., oblong, obtuse, entire, glabrous above, white beneath. 
Involuere 3-valved Se -" = hy: .. & NN, Solandri. 
Leaves 4-2in., ovate, acute, rounded or cordate at the base, 
glabrous above, white beneath. Involucre 3-valved .. .. 6, N. cliffortioides. 
The six species of Nothofagus enumerated above constitute a large 
proportion of the forests of the South Island, and even in the central and 
southern portions of the North Island the area now or recently covered 
by several species of the genus is by no means small. The economic 
value of these forests is much larger than is usually supposed, and under 
the pressure of the world-wide scarcity of timber may be expected to 
become much greater. Under such circumstances, considerable interest 
attaches to the discovery by Dr. Cockayne of the remarkable fact that 
hybridism on an enormous scale is constantly taking place between several 
of the species of Nothofagus, and that the resulting hybrids intercross. 
Dr. Cockayne’s conclusions cannot fail to affect our present ideas on the 
classification of the species. His work is still in progress; but I am happy 
to publish in this place-a short memorandum furnished by him at my request, 
giving an abstract of the chief results of his work. 
‘“ Hybridism in Nothofagus : After a personal examination of the Notho- 
fagus forests in many localities in Wellington, Nelson, Marlborough, Can- 
terbury, Westland, Otago, and Southland, together with a critical examina- 
tion of many hundreds of specimens (seedling to adult) collected in all 
parts of the Nothofagus area of distribution, I have, unhesitatingly, come 
to the following conclusions: (1.) That hybridism occurs to an astonishing 
extent in the genus, with Nothofagus fusca (in a wide sense) as one parent 
and NV. cliffortioides or N. Solandri, as the case may be, as the other parent. 
(2.) That N. fusca is made up of a number of true-breeding varieties, of 
which the type (called by me var. typica) and var. Colensoi are two, but 
there are others; and these varieties cross both amongst themselves and 
with the two species already mentioned. (3.) That these hybrids show 
