[Read before the Auckland Institute, 15th October, 1900]

Caltha obtusa, n. sp.

Smaller than C. novæ-zealandiæ, seldom more than 2 in. high. Leaves smaller; blade broader, wide-ovate or almost rounded, coarsely dentate, notched at the apex, 2-lobed at the base; lobes turned upwards and appressed to the surface, toothed. Flowers white, ½in. diameter; at first sessile amongst the uppermost leaves, but the scape elongates in fruit. Sepals 5, oblong, obtuse or subacute, broadest above the middle. Stamens 10—15. Carpels 5—8, narrow-ovate; style long, slender. Ripe fruit not seen.

North Island: Herb. Colenso! (probably from the Ruahine Range, but without locality or collector's name). South Island: Mountains at the head of the Broken River, Canterbury, 5,000 ft.-6,000 ft., T.F.C.; Otago.—Mount St. Bathan's and Dunstan Mountains, 5,000ft.-6,000 ft., Petrie !; Black Peak, 6,000 ft., Buchanan !

The white flowers and blunt oblong sepals distinguish this at once from C. novæ-zealandiæ, but in a flowerless state it is easily mistaken for a dwarf form of that plant, although the leaves are always broader and coarsely dentate. The sepals are markedly different from the long, tapering, almost caudate sepals of C. novæ-zealandiæ. I have not been able to compare it with the Australian and Tasmanian C. introloba, which is said to have white flowers, but, judging from descriptions, it is amply distinct.

Chiloglottis formicifera, Fitzgerald, Austral. Orchids, i., 3 (1877).

A small delicate herb, 2 in.—3 in. high. Leaves 2, at the base of the stem, sessile, 1 ½in.—2 in. long; linear-oblong or oblong-lanceolate, obtuse, thin and membranous; margins often undulate when fresh. Scape 2 in.—3 in. high, robust, 1-flowered, with a single sheathing bract towards the top. Dorsal sepal erect, linear-spathulate; lateral sepals about the same length, narrow linear-spathulate, acuminate. Petals linear-lanceolate, deflexed by the side of the ovary, rather longer than the sepals. Lip horizontal or ascending, contracted at the base into a long and narrow claw, above suddenly expanded into a short and broad spoon-shaped or