[Read before the Otago Institute, 10th February, 1880.]

The following is the generic character of Hemiphues, Hook. fil., translated from Hooker's Flora of Tasmania:—

Fruit ovate, oblique, swollen, one-celled, the mericarps cemented together, or one wholly suppressed, crowned by five unequal, deciduous, lobes of the calyx limb, without vittæ, five-ribbed, the ribs inconspicuous and placed opposite the calyx lobes. Petals five linear, sometimes none? Stamens five. Stylopodia connate, divided into two short erect styles.

Alpine herbs, densely cæspitose, scapigerous, more or less pilose or woolly; the leaves all radical, petiolate, spathulate, quite entire or toothed; scapes short, stout; the umbel simple; the leaves of the involucre adhering and forming a many-toothed cup; flowers sessile, inconspicuous.

The plant which I refer to this genus was found in Stewart Island, in low boggy situations, in the open land at the head of Paterson's Inlet, and in open moist situations ranging in altitude from sea-level to 1,500 feet, to the west of Port Pegasus. The character of the habitat agrees entirely with that of its Tasmanian congener, Hemiphues bellidioides, Hook. fil. The Tasmanian species flowers in October and November, and the New Zealand one probably flowers in November and December, as the specimens gathered by Mr. Thomson and myself, in the middle of January, had the fruit ripe and ready to fall off.

We had the good fortune to meet with one imperfect and withered flower, which exhibited on dissection anomalous characters allied to the Umbelliferæ. The habit and general appearance of the plant agree very closely with the generic description, the only points of divergence being that the leaves are not radical but arranged along the stem, while the involucral leaves are not adherent except at the base. In Tasmania, H. bellidioides occurs at an elevation of 4,000 feet, but the Stewart Island species descends to sea-level, as might be expected from the difference in latitude. I propose to designate this highly interesting addition to the flora of New Zealand, Hemiphues novæ-zealandiæ. The following description is necessarily very incomplete, as the plants were long past flowering when gathered:—

Hemiphues novæ-zealandiæ, n. s.

A densely tufted prostrate perennial herb with short very slender stems. Leaves alternate exstipulate spathulate rather fleshy, glabrous save for a few hairs on the margin at and near the tips, base sheathing silky. Scapes axillary, 1/4-inch high, with four or five oblong involucral leaves enclosing five or fewer flowers. Stylopodia connate conical, at length divided into