Transactions
of the
New Zealand Institute,
1906.

first appearance. On the other hand, the species of Fomes are all perennial, hard, and woody, and form a new hymenial layer of tubes each year; consequently in old specimens the tubes are described as “stratose,” each stratum of tubes corresponding to one year's growth.

As illustrating the variety of form included in the family, in Boletus, also in some species of Polyporus and Polystictus, there is an agaric type of structure, consisting of a pileus and central stem, pores replacing gills on the under surface of the pileus. In other genera the stem is lateral or altogether absent, the fungus being fixed by a broad base and forming bracket-or hoof-like horizontal projections. In other genera, again, as Poria, the entire fungus is quite thin, forming more or less extended patches firmly fixed to the matrix, and having the free surface completely covered with the hymenium. Some species are quite minute; others, again, are veritable fungal giants, certain species of Polyporus and Fomes numbering amongst the largest of known Fungi.

The family includes a considerable number of destructive parasites; species of Polyporus, Fomes, Merulius, and Poria being more especially destructive to forest and orchard trees; worked timber also suffers unless special precautions are taken.

Boletus alone, so far as is known, contains a few edible species, the members of the other genera being either woody or coriaceous, Strobilomyces, a genus closely allied to Boletus, contains several species from Australia, some of which may prove to be edible.

It is somewhat remarkable that no specimens representing the genera Boletus or Strobilomyces have as yet been recorded as occurring in New Zealand. It would appear highly improbable that representatives of these genera should be entirely absent, considering their comparative abundance in Australia.

Analysis of the Genera.

36.Polyporus. Pileus smooth, fleshy, flesh soft; tubes sharply defined but not separable from the flesh, not stratose.

37.Fomes. Pileus smooth, flesh thick, woody; tubes woody, stratose.

38.Polystictus. Pileus hirsute or silky, flesh quite thin; tubes short, not stratose.

39.Poria. Entirely resupinate; flesh usually very thin; tubes short.

40.Trimetes. Pileus corky, sessile; tubes penetrating different depths into the flesh, not stratose.

41.Dædalea. Pileus corky, sessile; tubes elongated and sinuous, walls thick, elastic.

42.Favolus. Tubes elongated and lamellose, radiating from point of attachment of pileus.

43.Laschia Stipitate or dimidiate; tubes as in Polyporus, but along with the pileus soft and subgelatinous.

44.Merulius. Resupinate, subgelatinous; pores very shallow, irregular, often reduced to irregular wrinkles or folds.

36. Polyporus, Mich.

brown; pores very shallow, whitish, minute, decurrent for a short distance down the stem.

On dead wood, branches, and on the ground. New Zealand. Victoria, Queensland, Europe.

Distinguished from allied species by the black stem tapering upwards. The flesh is white, softish, and not at all woody. When growth is very vigorous the margin of the pileus is often beautifully waved and crisped, and under such circumstances the pores are often larger than usual.

II. Stem lateral when present, often almost obsolete, but pileus attached by a narrowed base.

Polyporus phlebophorus, Berk., Fl. N.Z., ii, p. 177, tab. cv, fig. 3; Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 607; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 4999.

Entirely pure white; pileus about 2.5 cm. long and broad, irregularly fan-shaped, and narrowed behind into a very short, wrinkled, stem-like point of attachment; glabrous; cuticle subgelatinous, then becoming dry and cartilaginous; pores very minute; dissepiments thin, minutely toothed.

On decaying logs. Tarawera, Northern Island, New Zealand.

A very beautiful and distinct species, which does not appear to have been collected since the original specimens on which the species was founded were found by Colenso.

Polyporus xerophyllus, Berk., Fl. N.Z., ii, p. 178, tab. cv, fig. 2; Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 607.

Pileus suborbicular or reniform, 2–3 cm. across, rufousbrown, marked with radiating wrinkles, minutely scabrid, or rough with raised points; stem lateral, up to 0.1 cm. long, black, wrinkled, very minutely velvety; hymenium whitish, pores very minute, dissepiments entire.

On dead wood. New Zealand.

An endemic species discovered by Colenso. Distinguished from allies by the black, minutely velvety stem and radially wrinkled pileus.

Polyporus grammocephalus, Berk., Hook. Lond. Journ., 1842, p. 148; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 5005; Cooke, Austr. Fung., p. 117. Syn., Polyporus emerici, Kalchbr., Grev., x, pl. 145, fig. 125; Polyporus russiceps, Berk. and Broome, Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot.), xiv, p. 48; Polyporus incompletus, Cesati, Myc. Borneo, p. 4; Polyporus platotis, Berk. and Broome, Linn. Trans., ser. ii, vol. i, p. 401; Polyporus fusco-lineatus, Berk. and Broome, Linn. Trans., ser. ii, vol. i, p. 401.

Pileus very thin, 2–3 mm. thick, obovate, irregularly circular or reniform, horizontal, margin sometimes more or less wavy,

coralloides give a better idea of the ramification of the species than any of those of P. frondosus.” (Berk.)

Polyporus lactus, Cooke, Grev., xii, p. 16; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 5047; Cooke, Austr. Fung., p. 119.

Imbricated, much divided, rather thin, tough, tawny-orange or rusty above; pilei dimidiate, coalescing, entire, surface broken up into adpressed scaly zones, converging behind into a narrowed point of attachment, margin acute, sometimes tinged crimson or purple, 7–15 cm. broad; pores large, irregular in form, dissepiments thin, pallid; flesh thin, fibrous, orange-rusty.

On decaying trunks. Northern Island, New Zealand. Victoria.

Closely allied to the European Polyporus giganteus, differing in the bright colour of the pileus and flesh, and in the larger pores.

III. Pileus sessile, attached by a broad base.

Polyporus plebius, Berk., Fl. N.Z., ii, p. 179; Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 608; Cooke, Austr. Fung., p. 126; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 5247.

Pallid or pale-wood colour, imbricated, sessile, attached by a broad base, more or less semicircular, 3–8 cm. across, up to 1 cm. thick behind, becoming thinner towards the margin, which is sometimes rather thick and blunt, at other thinner and acute, not zoned, minutely pubescent when growing, usually even, sometimes with a groove or more or less rugged; flesh corky; hymenium concave; pores minute, ⅙–⅛ mm. diameter.

On dead wood. Northern Island, New Zealand. Himalayas, Queensland, Victoria, Cuba.

The varieties indicated by Berkeley, depending on the acute or obtuse margin of the pileus, are not constant features, both occurring in the same group of specimens.

“In the New Zealand form the older parts are inclined to assume a spuriously laccate appearance.” (Berk.)

Polyporus scruposus, Fries, Epicr., p. 473; Fl. N.Z., ii, p. 178; Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 608; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 5130; Cooke, Austr. Fung., p. 122.

Pileus sessile, attached by a broad base, semicircular or sometimes almost triquetrous, 1 cm. or more thick at the base and becoming thinner towards the acute margin; surface with raised concentric zones, rough with raised points as if minutely corrugated, brown, margin paler; flesh rather thick, orange-brown; tubes 2–5 mm. long; pores very minute, rounded, umber, often with a tinge of purple.

37. Fomes, Fries.

sometimes almost blood-red, polished, shining; tubes 1–1.5 cm. long, pores minute, whitish, then cinnamon; stem very variable in length, irregularly wrinkled, coloured and polished like the pileus; spores 7x5 μ, tinged brown.

On trunks, &c. Northern Island, New Zealand. Common in all tropical, subtropical, and temperate regions.

Very variable in size and form; the stem is sometimes almost or even quite central. The lacquered appearance of the pileus and stem is due to the exudation of a thick glutinous liquid which covers the surface, where it soon dries, giving to the surface a perfectly smooth and polished aspect.

II. Sessile, attached by a broad base.

Fomes igniarius, Fries, Syst. Myc., i, p. 375; Fl. N.Z., ii, p. 179; Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 608; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 5412; Cooke, Austr. Fung., p. 131.

Pileus at first irregularly globose, even, with a delicate brownish nap clothing the surface, then becoming hoof-shaped, rust-colour, changing to opaque dingy-brown, cuticle very hard, uneven, 6–18 cm. across; margin blunt, paler; flesh ferruginous, zoned, very hard; tubes 2–5 cm. long, very small, stratose, cinnamon, filled with white mycelium when old, general surface of hymenium convex; pores ¼–⅓ mm. across, rounded, at first hoary; spores subglobose, hyaline, 6–7 μ; diameter; cystidia scanty, 10–25 × 5–6 μ.

On trunks of various trees, living and dead. Bay of Islands, Northern Island, New Zealand. Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales, South Australia, Western Australia, Tasmania, Ceylon, India, Siberia, Europe, United States.

Sometimes very large, thick, and in section more or less triangular, hence hoof-shaped. Allied to Fomes fomentarius, differing in being a perennial plant, very hard cuticle and flesh, and in the hyaline spores. A destructive wound-parasite, attacking many different species of trees, dissolving and destroying the heart-wood.

Fomes australis, Fries, Hym. Eur., p. 536; Hbdk. N.Z. Flora, p. 608; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 5394; Austr. Fung., p. 130.

Normally bracket-shaped, sessile, dimidiate, concentrically zoned or irregularly wavy or tuberculose, glabrous, dark-brown, external crust exceedingly hard, 8–20 cm. across; flesh not very thick, brown, with a tinge of purple; tubes very long, stratose, brown, substance hard; pores at first whitish, then umber, very minute, about 4 in the space of 1 mm.; margin sterile, often slightly thickened.

38. Polysticus, Fries.

39. Poria, Pers.

40. Trimetes, Fries.

Pileus corky or woody; tubes penetrating unequally into the flesh of the pileus; pores roundish or more or less elongated radially.

Trimetes, Fries, Epicr., p. 488.

Trimetes is intermediate between Dœdalea and Fomes, differing from the former in the rounded or only slightly elongated pores, and from the latter in the tubes running up into the flesh of the pileus at different levels.

Trimetes epitephra, Berk., Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot.), xiii, p. 165 (1873); Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 6240; Austr. Fung., p. 159.

Imbricated; pileus hoof-shaped, with a few more or less prominent ridges, ashy-brown, coarsely velvety; becoming almost

smooth with age, margin whitish, hard, 1–2.5 cm. broad; pores pallid, very much decurrent or running down the bark, more or less elongated, rather large; dissepiments very thick.

On trunks and decaying wood. New Zealand. Adelaide, South Australia.

Remarkable for the very thick dissepiments or walls separating the pores. Might with almost equal propriety have been placed in the genus Dœdalea.

41. Dædalea, Pers.

Pileus woody or corky; pores elongated and irregularly sinuous; dissepiments or walls of tubes thick, flexible.

Dædalea, Persoon, Syn., p. 449.

Distinguished by the wide labyrinthiform pores, with thick, corky, and elastic walls.

Dædalea pendula, Berk., Fl. N.Z., ii, p. 180, tab. cv, fig. 4; Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 610; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 6394.

Imbricated; pileus 3–6 cm. broad and high, sessile, attached by the back and base, pendulous, irregularly cup-shaped, with the opening downwards, thin, flexible, strigose, reddish-grey; hymenium lining the cavity, pinkish-lilac., sparingly and vaguely scattered with tooth-like projections, and irregular shallow pores.

On dead wood. Ngawakatatara, New Zealand.

“Imbricated, coriaceous. Pilei 1 ½ in. long, pendulous, bursÆ-form, pale reddish-grey, tinged with lilac, sparingly zoned, clothed with short, strigose, matted brown hairs; margin tomentose. Hymenium tinged with lilac and reddish-grey, sparingly porous, with irregular tooth-like dissepiments, which are finely setulose. This, if fully grown, is scarcely a Dædalea in its characters, having more the hymenium of a Radulum; but it is evidently allied to such species as D. unicolor; and though the dissepiments are irregular, there are very evident pores, while in some parts there are as evident teeth. The species is at any rate undescribed, whatever may be thought of the genus.” (Berk.)

From the foregoing quotation it will be learned that the fungus under consideration is very imperfectly known, and, as it has not been collected since the type was found by Colenso, much remains to be learnt before its systematic position can be determined with certainty.

Dædalea confragosa, Pers., Syn., p. 501; Fl. N.Z., ii, p. 180; Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 610; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 6347.

Pileus sessile, horizontal, semicircular or subreniform, attached by a stout base, almost flat above, reddish-brown, in-

distinctly zoned, roughened, 4–12 cm. across; flesh pale-wood colour, corky, 1–2 cm. thick at the base, becoming thinner towards the margin; tubes elongated; pores rounded or more frequently elongated and sinuous, grey, then brownish; dissepiments thick, flexible.

On dead wood, more especially Salix. Bay of Islands, Northern Island, New Zealand. Europe, United States.

Variable in size; the pileus is sometimes rough with large irregular elevations, at others only scabrid.

42. Favolus, Fries.

Pileus thin, tough, dimidiate or substipitate; pores large, elongated, extending radially from the point of attachment of the pileus.

Favolus, Fries, Elench., p. 44.

The pores appear to be formed from radially arranged lamellÆ or gills which anastomose and are connected by numerous lateral ridges. Perhaps most closely allied to Cantharellus, but more woody in texture.

Favolus intestinalis, Berk., in Hook. Journ. Bot., iii, p. 167 (1851); Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 610; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 6471.

Pileus thin, soft, irregularly reniform, margin variously undulate or lobed, attached by a very short lateral stem, which is sometimes almost obsolete, extending horizontally, 4–7 cm. long, upper surface very delicately pubescent when fresh; pores inferior, large, shallow, polygonal, up to 0.5 cm. across; spores broadly elliptical, hyaline.

On dead wood, among moss, &c. Northern Island, New-Zealand. India.

Entirely white when fresh, becoming very thin, translucent, and dingy-ochraceous when dry. Berkeley writes as follows of this species, which was described from Indian specimens: “A very singular esculent species, looking like a piece of tripe. The substance dries up so completely that the pores are visible from the upper side, as in some other species.”

43. Laschia, Fries.

Subgelatinous and tremelloid, thin, rigid when dry; under surface irregularly honeycomb-like in structure.

Laschia, Fries, Linnea, v, p. 533.

Distinguished by the flaccid subgelatinous texture, and the irregularly, hexagonal indentations on the under fertile surface; there are frequently protuberances on the upper surface of the pileus corresponding to the indentations on the lower surface.

Laschia thwaitesii, Berk. and Broome, Journ. Lion. Soc. (Bot.), xiv, p. 58; Austr. Fung., p. 167; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 6508.

Cæspitose; subgelatinous when moist; pileus convex, often oblique, thin, even, orange or yellowish-ochraceous, very minutely silky when young, 5–8 mm. across; pores rather large, irregular, yellowish; spores elliptical, obliquely apiculate, white, 6–7 × 4 μ; stem variable in length, up to 1.5 cm. long, sometimes very short, slender, whitish.

On dead stems of Rhipogonum. Pohangina River, New Zealand. Ceylon, Queensland.

A pretty and distinct species, growing mixed with Marasmius subsupinus, Berk., and sent to Kew, along with many other species, by Kirk. The pores are rather irregular, and in some specimens almost resemble gills connected by high transverse ridges. Differs from Marasmius in being subgelatinous when moist.

44. Merulius, Hall.

45. Hydnum, Linn.

Hymenium inferior in stipitate and dimidiate species, superior in resupinate forms, covered with acute spines or teeth that are perfectly free from each other at the base.

Hydnum, Linn., Gen. Pl., no. 968.

Distinguished from allies by the acute awl-shaped or spine-like teeth arising free from each other.

Hydnum clathroides, Pallas, Russ. Reis., p. 2, fig. 3; Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 611; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 6683

Entirely grey, very much branched, trunk divided from the base, branches fasciculate and anastomosing laterally to form an irregular network; upper surface of branches papillose, under surface densely crowded with filiform spines 2–3 mm. long.

On wood (Knightia sp.). Northern Island, New Zealand. Asiatic Russia.

woven threads, which make the base of the aculei tomentose, tips penicillate.”

The above is the account of the species as given by Berkeley, and as there is no specimen in Berkeley's herbarium I am unable to add to the description. The species is placed in the resupinate section.

46. Irpex, Fries.

Pileus dimidiate or resupinate; teeth springing from irregularly arranged ridges or folds.

Irpex, Fries, Elench., p. 142.

The teeth ate somewhat irregular in form, and not so uniformly spine-like and pointed as in Hydnum.

Irpex brevis, Berk., Fl. N.Z., ii, p. 181; Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 611; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 6887.

Sessile, more or less fan-shaped or sometimes attached by a broad base, dimidiate, horizontal or slightly pendulous, about 1 cm. long by 1.5–2.5 cm. broad, very thin; pileus at first whitish, then brownish, more or less zoned and fibrillose; teeth, flattened, often irregularly divided, 2–3 mm. long, pale.

On dead bark, often growing among moss. New Zealand.

Apparently not uncommon, having been sent to Kew by Colenso on several occasions. An endemic species. Very variable in mode of growth. Sometimes several more or less fan-shaped pilei are crowded in an imbricate manner, at others they extend for a distance of several centimetres, attached by a broad base, the free portion overhanging and slightly drooping. The teeth are often decurrent for some distance below the free portion of the pileus. Finally the fungus is sometimes entirely resupinate, without a trace of free margin anywhere, the central portion being furnished with irregular plates or pores, almost resembling a Poria.

47. Phlebia, Fries.

Resupinate; hymenium covering the entire free surface, somewhat gelatinous, everywhere covered with fine radiating wrinkles or folds.

Phlebia, Fries, Syst. Myc., i, p. 426.

Distinguished by the closely crowded series of corrugation or ridges radiating irregularly from centre to margin of the hymenium.

Phlebia reflexa, Berk., in Hook. Journ. Bot., iii, p. 168 (1851); Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 6964; Cooke, Austr. Fung., p. 176.

Densely imbricated or superimposed, reflexed, thin, free portion 2–4 cm. broad, flaccid and tough when moist, rigid

when dry; pileus covered with a dense coat of short down, purplish-brown towards the margin, often greyish-white near the line of attachment, irregularly zoned; hymenium dark-brown, often tinged purple, corrugated behind, almost even towards the margin; spores subglobose, about 4 μ diameter.

On logs of Fagus, &c. Northern Island, New Zealand. Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales, New Guinea, China, Sikkim, Himalayas, Africa.

At first resupinate and spreading widely, but easily detached, then broadly reflexed and dimidiate, 4–6 cm. long, 2–4 cm. broad; very tough and pliant when moist. Distinguished from species of Auricularia by the hymenium being covered with short, irregularly arranged, radiating ribs, giving it a wrinkled or corrugated appearance.

48. Grandinia, Fries.

hispid. In many of the higher forms, as Stereum, Hymenochœte, &c., the sterile surface or pileus is brightly coloured and zoned.

The principal feature of the present group is the even surface of the hymenium, strictly confined to one side of the pileus, and the one-celled or non-septate basidia, as compared with the warts, spines, pores, or gills over which the spore-bearing surface is disposed in other groups. In some of the resupinate species of Corticium and Coniophora, where the flesh of the fungus is very thin, the hymenium often presents a waited or wrinkled surface, but on examination it will be found that this unevenness is due to the very thin substance of the fungus following the irregularities of the wood or other substance upon which it is growing.

Among the hymenial elements cystidia are very frequently highly differentiated, and are of importance in fixing the limits of genera. In Peniophora cystidia are very prominent, colourless, and the portion projecting above the general surface of the hymenium often coated with particles of oxalate of lime. In Hymenochœte, on the other hand, the cystidia are very thick-walled, rigid, and coloured brown. In the two genera just mentioned cystidia are so numerous in the hymenium, and project so much above the level of the basidia, that the surface presents a velvety appearance when seen through a pocket-lens.

In the most highly developed species there is a distinct central stem supporting a pileus which is usually depressed or funnel-shaped, thus resembling in general build an agaric, differing, however, in the absence of gills on the under surface of the pileus, which is quite even and more or less polished.

In some species of Stereum and Lachnocladium the pileus is cut up into numerous narrow strips or shreds, and superficially resembling certain species of Clavaria. In the last-named, however, the hymenium completely surrounds the branches, whereas in Stereum and Lachnocladium one side only of each narrow branch bears the hymenium, the opposite side being sterile and velvety or hairy.

Analysis of the Genera.

49. Coniophora, DC.

Broadly effused, resupinate, margin determinate or indeterminate; hymenium powdered with the smooth coloured spores; cystidia absent.

Coniophora, DC., Flor. Fr., vi, p. 34.

Forming broadly expanded, minutely powdery expansions on bark or wood.

Coniophora sulphurea, Mass., Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot.), xxv, p. 133; Cooke, Austr. Fung., p. 196. Syn., Corticium sulphureum, Fries, Epicr., p. 561; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 7535.

Broadly effused, margin bright sulphur-yellow, often fibrillose and running out in cord-like radiating strands; hymenium thickish, compact, almost waxy, brownish with a yellow tinge, cracking when dry; spores broadly elliptical, brownish-yellow, 11–12 × 8–10 μ.

On wood, bark dead leaves, &c. Northern Island, New Zealand. Tasmania, Ceylon, Europe, United States, Cuba.

Often sterile, and then very showy, as the mycelium and margin is clear yellow. Often extending for many inches.

50. Thelephora, Ehrh.

Varying from central-stemmed, through dimidiate, to resupinate; pileus usually fibrillose or strigose; hymenium usually wrinkled; spores coloured, warted, or echinulate. No cystidia.

Thelephora, Ehrh., Crypt., p. 178.

Differs from Coniophora in rough spores, which usually have a vinous or pale-purple tinge. Stereum differs in colourless spores.

Thelephora vaga, Berk., Fl. N.Z., ii, p. 182; Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 611; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 7181.

Resupinate, variously incrusting, dry, dingy-brown; mycelium byssoid, creeping, loose; spores vinous-brown, irregularly globose, minutely warted, 6–8 μ.

On wood, heaps of dead leaves, &c. Ashburton, New Zealand.

“It grows under pine-trees, chiefly Pinus insignia. I have observed it growing on bare soil, among beds of dead pine-leaves, which become matted into a mass, and also at the roots of Dactylis glomerata, growing under P. insignis.” (W. W. Smith, Ashburton, New Zealand.)

51. Soppittiella, Mass.

Whitish at first, soft and subgelatinous, then becoming rigid, incrusting, form very variable; hymenium collapsing when dry and often tinged brown; spores coloured, spinulose.

Soppittiella, Mass., Brit. Fung. Fl., i, p. 106.

Distinguished by the soft substance when growing. Often creeping up living tufts of grass or other plants in an irregularly shaped fringed mass.

Soppittiella fastidiosa, Mass., Brit. Fung. Fl., i, p. 107 (1892). Thelephora fastidiosa, Berk., Outl., p. 268; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 7161.

Whitish; forming broadly effused, incrusting, amorphous, or forming irregularly flattened branches; hymenium irregularly papillose, becoming rufescent with age or when bruised; spores broadly elliptical, rough, almost colourless, 6–7 × 4–5 μ. Smell of entire plant very fœtid, especially when bruised.

New Zealand. Europe.

White, becoming cream-colour, running as a thin soft film over everything in its way, sometimes forming free flattened branches. Silky or byssoid when young.

52. Peniophora, Cooke.

Resupinate, or with the extreme margin free and more or less raised; hymenium with projecting colourless spines or cystidia; spores colourless.

Peniophora, Cooke, Grev., vii., p. 20.

Differs from Hymenochœte in the cystidia being colourless; the projecting portions of the cystidia are often incrusted with particles of lime. Corticium differs in having no cystidia.

Peniophora velutina, Cooke, Grev., viii, p. 21, pl. 125, fig. 15; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 7701.

Broadly effused, rather fleshy, inseparable, margin running out into long branching strands; hymenium minutely velvety, cream-colour, often slightly tinged with pink or buff; cystidia cylindrical or attenuated upwards, 60–80 × 10–15 μ; spores elliptical with a minute apiculus, 10 × 5 μ.

On wood and bark. New Zealand. Europe, United States.

Often forming patches 5–10 cm. long. When perfectly developed the hymenium bristles with projecting cystidia when seen under a lens; these are more cylindrical and less incrusted with lime than usual. In some specimens the hymenium is very much cracked, in others quite continuous. The marginal radiating strands of mycelium often extend for many inches and connect several distinct fertile patches.

Peniophora ochracea, Mass., Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot.), xxv, p. 150. Syn., Corticium ochraceum, Fries, Epicr., p. 563; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 7600.

Broadly effused, inseparable, magin radiato-byssoid, soon disappearing; hymenium ochraceous, sparkling with very minute crystals of oxalate of lime when fresh, cracked when dry; cystidia fusoid, 40–60 × 18–22 μ; spores elliptical, hyaline, 10 × 5 μ.

On dead bark and wood. New Zealand. Europe, United States.

Closely resembling in habit and general appearance, colour, and in the presence of sparkling atoms on the hymenium Coniophora olivacea, but distinguished by the cystidia and smaller colourless spores.

Peniophora papyrina, Cooke, Grev., viii, p. 20, pl. 124, fig. 9; Austr. Fung., p. 191, fig. 82; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 7688. Syn., Stereum papyrinum, Mont., Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 612.

Very broadly effused, margin usually reflexed, very thin, coriaceous, strigose, grey, concentrically grooved, margin acute, tawny; hymenium umber, becoming purplish, minutely velvety; setÆ fusoid, 80–90 × 12–14 μ; spores subglobose, 6 μ diameter.

On bark and wood. Northern Island, New Zealand. Cuba.

Forming broadly effused, very thin patches, which follow the irregularities of the bark.

53. Hymenochœte, Lév.

Pileus with a central stem, dimidiate or entirely resupinate; hymenium minutely setulose with projecting coloured cystidia; spores hyaline or coloured.

Hymenochœte, Lév., Ann. Sci. Nat., ser. 3, 1846, p. 150.

Distinguished at once by the numerous brown cystidia projecting from the surface of the hymenium. These can be easily seen with an ordinary pocket-lens.

Hymenochœte tabacina, Lév., Ann. Sci. Nat., ser. 3, vol. v, p. 152; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 7428; Cooke, Austr. Fung., p. 189; Mass., Mon. The]., Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot.), xxvii, p. 112; Mass., Brit. Fung. Fl., i, p. 117.

Subcoriaceous, thin, flaccid when moist, margin often reflexed, silky below, at length smooth, subferruginous, intermediate stratum and margin bright golden-yellow; hymenium cinnamon or rusty, usually with a tinge of purple, often cracked, minutely velvety; cystidia conico-acuminate, coloured, 80–130 × 10–14 μ; spores elliptical, olive, 5–6 × 3 μ.

On trunks, branches, &c. New Zealand. Victoria, New South Wales, Malacca, Europe, North and South America.

Distinguished by the golden-yellow margin of the hymenium and the coloured spores. Sometimes almost completely covering the under surface of fallen logs. When moist dirty ferruginous passing to mulberry-colour, rigid when dry, adnate, margin more or less free all round, often lobed, or free and reflexed above, rugulose. Hymenium often cracked when dry in lines radiating from the centre, or from several starting-points in broadly effused specimens.

Hymenochœte rhabarbarina, Cooke, Grev., viii, p. 148; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 7467. Syn., Corticium rhabarbarinum, Berk., Fl. N.Z., ii, p. 184.

Effused, inseparable, hymenium minutely velvety, rusty-orange, margin paler, indeterminate, 8–12 cm. broad; setÆ acuminate, 30–40 × 7–9 μ; spores pale-olive, oblong-ellipsoid, 8 × 4 μ.

On bark. Northern Island, New Zealand.

The present species proves to be a true Hymenochœte, having the hymenium furnished with projecting acute setÆ or cystidia.

Hymenochœte kalchbrenneri, Mass., Journ. Linn. Soc. (Bot.), xxvii, p. 116; Cooke, Austr. Fung., p. 190.

Resupinate, rather dingy brown throughout, submembranaceous, broadly effused, loosely adnate to the matrix, margin

rather well defined, wavy; hymenium minutely velvety; spores elliptical, hyaline, 7 × 5 μ; setÆ cylindrical or subclavate, often rough, 80–90 × 6–8 μ.

On dead trunks. New Zealand. Victoria, Queensland.

There is sometimes a violet tinge on the hymenium. The entire plant is sometimes almost separable from the matrix.

Hymenochœte phœa, Mass., Mon. Thel., Journ. Linn. Soc., xxvii, p. 98 (1891); Cooke, Austr. Fung., p. 188. Syn., Stereum phœum, Berk., Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 612.

Pileus dimidiate, sessile, thin, coriaceous, flexible, zoned, velvety, bay, concentrically grooved, the grooves forming corresponding ridges on the rust-coloured minutely setulose hymenium, 6–10 cm. broad; setÆ scattered, conico-acuminate, 30–50 × 6–7 μ; spores subglobose, 4 × 3 μ.

On bark and wood. Northern Island, New Zealand. Tasmania.

Laterally attached, usually by a broad base, concentrically grooved, blackish-umber when dry; strigose with alternating dark and pale zones, margin crisped; hymenium umber.

Hymenochœte mougeotii, Mass., Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 7449; Austr. Fung., p. 189.

Broadly spreading, forming conspicuous blood-red or dull-red thin patches, sometimes there is an indication of a tinge of purple; closely adnate, margin determinate, dry, very minutely velvety under a lens, cracking when old and dry; cystidia conical, coloured, 30–75 × 5–8 μ; spores elliptic-fusoid, olive, 6–7 × 3–5 μ.

On dead trunks of pine and other wood. New Zealand. Victoria, Tasmania, Ceylon, India, central Europe.

Distinguished by the bright colour of the hymenium. The patches are sometimes 20–30 cm. long.

54. Corticium, Fries.

cracked when dry, minutely pulverulent under a lens; spores elliptical, 12–13 × 4 μ.

On dead bark. New Zealand. Queensland, South Africa, Europe.

Distinguished by the pale-flesh-coloured minutely pulverulent hymenium.

Corticium polygonium, Fries, Hym. Eur., p. 655; Berk., Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p, 613; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 7611.

Closely adnate, inseparable, outline sharp, extreme margin byssoid, soon becoming hard and rigid, 5–10 cm. broad; hymenium dingy flesh-colour, primrose, usually much cracked or nodulose; spores narrowly elliptical, 14–16 × 5–7 μ.

On dead bark and wood. Northern Island, New Zealand. Europe, United States.

Usually extending under the form of small, distinct, Tubercularia - like pustules, which eventually usually become confluent, thick, separating from each other more or less when dry; giving the patch a cracked or tesellated appearance; sometimes continuous, and then the surface is more or less tuberculose; margin thin, adnate, byssoid; hymenium primrose, pinkish, black, or dingy-ochraceous.

Hymenium white at first, sometimes becoming pale-tan or pale-rose colour.

Corticium auberianum, Montag., Crypt. Cuba, p. 372; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 7552; Austr. Fung., p. 194.

Closely adnate, at first orbicular, several patches soon becoming confluent or growing into each other and forming broadly extended patches, 5–10 cm. long and broad, very thin, at first snow-white and minutely primrose, finally glabrous and tinged with dingy-yellow or grey, finely crooked when dry; margin persistently minutely floccose or fibrillose; spores elliptical, 6–7 × 4 μ.

On bark, &c. New Zealand. Australia, Patagonia, Cuba, United States.

Readily distinguished by the hymenium, which is snow-white and primrose when young. When the fungus is old it sometimes partly peels away from the matrix.

Corticium, albidum, Mass. Syn., Aleurodiscus albidus, Mass., Grev., xvii, p. 55; Cooke, Austr. Fung., p. 193, fig. 83.

At first concave, rather fleshy, white, outside and margin tomentose, at first incurved then becoming extended and flattened, up to 6 mm. diameter, often confluent and forming rather large patches; hymenium white, minute mealy, cracking slightly when dry; spores elliptical, 10–12 × 9 μ.

On branches. Northern Island, New Zealand. Queensland.

This species was at first incorrectly determined as Aleurodiscus oakesii. The last-named is not known to occur in New-Zealand.

Corticium scutellare, Berk. and Curt., Grev., ii, p. 4; Brit. Fung. Fl., i, p. 121; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 7647.

Broadly effused, thin, quite inseparable from the matrix, margin indistinct, whitish, then dirty pale-tan-colour or tawny, waxy, smooth, very much cracked into polygonal portions, interstices white, silky; spores elliptical, 5 × 3 μ.

On wood, dead herbaceous stems, &c. Recognised by the brownish areolately cracked hymenium, and small spores.

Corticium leve, Pers., Disp., p. 30; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 7530; Cooke, Austr. Fung., p. 194; Fl. N.Z., ii, p. 184; Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 613.

Forming very thin patches from 5–10 cm. in diameter; hymenium smooth and with a more or less polished appearance, old-ivory colour often suffused with a flesh-colour or rosy tinge, becoming cracked when dry, the interstices silky, margin byssoid; spores elliptical, often slightly curved, 10–12 × 6–7 p.

On dead wood and bark. Northern Island, New Zealand. Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania, Ceylon, Europe, North and South America.

Some forms of this species closely resemble, superficially, Peniophora rosea, but can at once be recognised under the microscope, or even under a pocket-lens, by the absence of projecting cystidia in the hymenium.

Hymenium tinged green.

Corticium viride, Berk., Fl. N.Z., ii, p. 184; Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 613.

Olive-green, crustaceous, effused, cracked; margin very thin, membranous, scarcely byssoid, livid; spores large, elliptic or subglobose.

On dead bark and wood. Northern Island, New Zealand.

Effused, forming small confluent patches of a yellow olivaceous green, with a very thin, membranous, scarcely byssoid, livid margin; hymenium cracked; spores subglobose or elliptic, very large 1/1750 in. long (= about 14 μ). Analogous to Hydnum viride. When old it acquires a darker tinge. There is no specimen of this species at Kew.

55. Stereum, Pers.

On trunks, fallen timber, &c. Middle and Northern Islands, New Zealand. Widely distributed, especially in tropical and subtropical countries both in the Old and New World.

A variable species both in size, colour, and amount of rugosity of the pileus, but readily distinguished by the thin rigid substance; velvety zoned pileus, and smooth ochraceous or greyish hymenium.

Stereum lobatum, Fries, Epicr., p. 547; Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 612; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 7311; Austr. Fung., p. 184. Syn., Stereum perlatum, Berk., in Hook. Journ. iv, 1842, p. 153; Stereum sprucei, Berk., Journ. Linn. Soc., x, p. 331; Stereum luteo-badium, Fr., Epicr., p. 547; Stereum boryanum, Fr., Epicr., p. 547; Stereum ostrea, Nees, Nov. Act. Nat. Cur., xiii, p. 13, pl. 2.

Pileus thin, rigid, umbonato-sessile, coriaceous, tomentose, usually ochraceous and often zoned with bay, margin almost glabrous, 10–40 cm. across; hymenium smooth, even, pallid; spores subglobose, 5–6 μ.

On dead wood. Northern and Middle Islands, New Zealand. Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, New Guinea, Philippines, India, Ceylon, Bourbon, Malay Peninsula, Java, Malacca, Surinam, Seychelles, southern United States, Mexico, Cuba, Brazil, Venezuela, Madagascar, Peru, Mauritius.

A widely distributed and variable species, distinguished by its large size, thin substance, and pale dull-yellow hymenium. The margin is often variously lobed.

Stereum cinereo-badium, Klotzsch, Nov. Act., 19, tab. v, fig. 3; Hook., Fl. N.Z., ii, p. 182; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 7337.

Pileus dimidiate, sessile, robust, coriaceous, tomentose, margined, chestnut-brown, zones smooth, black; hymenium smooth, glaucous, flesh-coloured.

On dead wood. Northern Island, New Zealand. South America.

An imperfectly known species. There is no specimen in the Kew Herbarium from New Zealand or elsewhere.

Entirely resupinate, or with the margin only more or less free.

Stereum illudens, Berk., in Hook. Journ., iv, p. 59; Sacc., Syll. vi, no, 7329; Austr. Fung., p. 185.

Effused on the matrix, the upper part free, horizontal, margin usually crisped and wavy, substance very thin, coriaceous, rigid when dry; upper surface of pileus coarsely velvety, brown, often with paler zones, radially plicate, 2–6 cm. long, 2–3 cm.

56. Lachnocladium, Lév.

Stipitate, much branched, branches narrow, one side tomentose and sterile, the other covered with the smooth hymenium; spores colourless.

Lachnocladium, Lév., in Orb. Dict., viii, p. 487.

Closely allied to Stereum, differing mainly in the much-divided pileus. Superficially resembling some species of much-branched Clavaria; differing in the tougher texture and in the hymenium being confined to one side of the branches.

Lachnodadium flagelliforme, Cooke, Austr. Fung., p. 179, fig. 79. Syn., Clavaria flagelliformis, Berk., Fl. N.Z., ii, p. 186; Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 614; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 8018.

Very much branched, divided to the base or nearly so, branches tufted, cylindrical, fastigiate, forked, tips acute, and

undivided; spores hyaline, broadly elliptical, 5 × 3.5 μ. Entire fungus dingy-white or pale-brown, 4–5 cm. high.

On the ground, probably springing from buried twigs. Bay of Islands, Northern Island, New Zealand.

57. Craterellus, Fries.

Terrestrial. Plant altogether more or less funnel-shaped, hymenium covering the outside of the funnel, glabrous, smooth or rugulose.

Craterellus, Fries, Epicr., p. 531

Resembling superficially some species of Cantharellus; the latter, however, are distinguished by the presence of narrow, thick, irregularly forked gills running down the outside of the pileus.

Craterellus insignis, Cooke, Grev., xix, p. 2; Sacc., Syll. ix, no. 880.

Erect, more or less tufted, sometimes grown together, 3–4 cm. long, about 2.5 cm. broad; pileus fan - shaped, tan - colour, irregularly striate, margin lobed and wavy, flesh thin; hymenium waxy, rugulose, darker than the pileus; stem slender, expanding upwards into the pileus, tan-colour; spores elliptical, tinged brown, 2–5-3 × 1.5 μ.

On dead trunks. New Zealand.

Resembling in general appearance some of the central-stemmed species of Stereum, but differing in the soft fleshy consistency

58. Cyphella, Fries.

59. Clavaria, Fries.

60. Pistillaria, Fries.

61. Exidia, Fries.

Inflated, tremelloid, marginate or vaguely effused, often minutely papillose, black or dusky.

Exidia, Flies, Syst. Myc., ii, p. 224.

Forming irregular subgelatinous masses on dead wood and branches. The spores become 1—many septate on germination, each cell of the spore giving origin to a very short promycelium, bearing a cluster of strongly curved sporidiola.

Exidia albida, Bref., Unters. Mykol., vii., p. 94, pl. v, fig. 14; Sacc., Syll. vi. no. 8352; Austr. Fung., p. 207. Syn., Tremella albida, Huds.

Gelatinous, bursting through cracks in bark and wood, under the form of wavy or contorted heaps 1–3 cm. across; white at first, soon becoming dingy-yellow or brown; when mature primrose, with the dense mass of spores resting on the surface; spores oblong, slightly curved, 16–20 × 5–7 μ.

On dead branches, &c. New Zealand. Australia, Tasmania, Europe, United States.

Very soft and gelatinous, form irregularly lobed, soon deliquescing.

62. Tremella, Dill.

Gelatinous, tremelloid, immarginate, generally smooth (not papillose nor rugulose), variously lobed and contorted, often bright-coloured.

Tremella, Dill, Hist. Musc., p. 41.

Forming foliaceous variously contorted gelatinous masses

oozing out of dead wood, branches, &c.; spores subglobose, continuous, on germination the germ-tube bears numerous broadly elliptical sporidiola. In some species dense racemes of conidia are produced in the substance of the gelatinous sporophore previous to or contemporaneous with the formation of basidiospores.

Tremella lutescens, Pers., Syn., p. 622; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 8377; Cooke, Austr. Fung., p. 208.

Very soft and gelatinous, lobes crowded, entire, wavy, pallid then yellowish, 2–8 cm. diameter; spores subglobose, 12–16 μ. diameter; conidia globose, 1.5–2 μ diameter.

On fallen and rotten trunks and branches. New Zealand. Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, South Africa, Europe, North America, Brazil.

The conidia are produced at the tips of densely corymbose branches buried in the gelatinous substance of the fungus.

63. Nœmatelia, Fries.

Subgelatinous, convex, pallid, with a firm central white nucleus.

Nœmatella, Fries, Syst. Myc., ii, p. 227.

Readily distinguished by the presence of a firm, solid, white central nucleus, around which the subgelatinous sporiferous portion is spread, forming a convex body when extended. In some species the external gelatinous layer contracts and disappears when dry, the white nucleus alone being visible. The original structure, however, returns when the specimen is immersed in water.

Næmatelia nucleata, Fries, Syst. Myc., ii, p. 227; Sacc., Syll. vi, no, 8450.

Sessile, depressed, gelatinous, more or less contorted, almost translucent, with a central, white, opaque, hard mass, 0.5–1 cm. across; spores broadly elliptical, hyaline, 7 μ long.

On damp rotten wood. New Zealand. Britain, southern United States.

Quite glairy and soft when moist; when dry the outermost gelatinous portion contracts, the white nucleus alone being visible.

64. Dacryomyces, Nees.

Gelatinous, homogeneous, more or less contorted, often bright-coloured; spores simple or septate.

Dacryomyces, Nees, Syst., p. 89.

Minute gelatinous fungi occurring on dead wood, often yellow or orange; spores cylindric-oblong, curved, often one or more septate at maturity or during germination, sometimes even

becoming muriform. Chains of conidia resembling the basidiospores in form often occur in immense numbers in the substance of the fungus.

Dacryomyces deliquescens, Duby, Bot. Gall., p. 729; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 8472; Cooke, Austr. Fung., p. 209.

Gelatinous, roundish or irregular and variously gyrose, yellow, almost translucent and subdeliquescent, basal portion root-like, emerging from the matrix, patches 1–4 mm. broad; spores hyaline, cylindrical, obtuse, slightly curved, 3-septate, 15–17 × 6–7 μ.

On decaying wood. Northern Island, New Zealand. Tasmania, Europe, Siberia, United States.

Forming little gelatinous pale-yellow pustules on dead wood, often very abundant in rainy weather.

65. Guepinia, Fries.

Cartilaginous or subgelatinous, erect, substipitate, spathulate or expanded, one surface fertile, the other sterile and minutely velvety.

Guepinia, Fries, Elench., ii, p. 30.

Small, thin, and flexible; distinguished from others with similar basidia by the differentiation into a sterile and fertile surface respectively; spores curved. Chains of conidia sometimes produced on the sterile side of the pileus.

Guepinia spathularia, Fries, Epicr., ii, p. 32; Fl. N.Z., ii, p. 185; Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 614; Cooke, Austr. Fung., p. 210; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 8520.

Cæspitose; pileus erect, spathulate or irregularly flattened, thin, soft and tough, sterile side pale, pubescent, as is also the short rooting stem; hymenium orange, wrinkled; up to 5 cm. high, usually smaller; spores elliptical, becoming septate, 10 × 6 μ.

On dead wood. Northern Island, New Zealand. Victoria, Queensland, New South Wales, Ceylon, Java, India, United States, Cuba, Brazil.

Very tough when growing, often springing out of cracks in wood, extending for some inches and growing more or less into each other, hence becoming very irregular in form. General form more or less battledore or fan shaped, with a stem 1–2 cm. long, especially when springing from cracks in the wood, a very common place of growth, and under such circumstances the plants are often closely crowded into rows following the crack for several inches. Altogether larger and differing from G. pezizœformis in the crowded habit.

Guepinia pezizœformis, Berk., in Hook. Journ., 1845, p. 60; Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 614; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 8518; Cooke, Austr. Fung., p. 210, fig. 96.

Bright orange-red, cartilaginous and elastic when moist, pileus obliquely saucer-shaped or almost flat, stem very short, minutely velvety, 3–4 mm. broad; hymenium slightly corrugated or wrinkled; spores elliptical, hyaline.

On dead wood. Bay of Islands, Northern Island, New Zealand. Tasmania, Queensland, Western Australia.

Usually more or less fan-shaped; rigid and contracted when dry. Growing solitary or scattered.

66. Calocera, Fries.

Cartilaginous, viscid, rigid and horny when dry, vertical, simple or branched; branches terete, often forked at the tips.

Calocera, Fries, Syst. Myc., i, p. 485.

Resembling the branched forms of Clavaria in habit and general appearance; differing in the cartilaginous structure and form of the basidia. Growing on wood. The spores are sausage-shaped and curved, becoming septate on germination and producing clusters of elliptical sporidiola.

Calocera viscosa, Fries., Syst. Myc., i, p. 486; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 8147.

Irregularly branched, all branches of about uniform diameter, 2–3 mm., 3–7 cm. long, deep-orange, viscid, smooth and polished, very tough when growing, rigid and horny when dry, rooting base 3–5 cm. long, tough; spores cylindric-oblong, apiculate, slightly curved, 9–10 × 4–5 μ, hyaline.

On decaying stumps of pines, &c. New Zealand. Malacca, Europe, United States.

Superficially resembling a branched Clavaria, but differing in the tough consistency and different basidia.

Calocera stricta, Fries, Epicr., p. 581; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 8163; Austr. Fung., p. 204

Simple, solitary or gregarious but not crowded and confluent, linear, erect, apex subacute, 1–2 cm. high, 2 mm. thick, orange-yellow, tough when moist, rigid and remaining even when dry, orange or yellow, base with white down; spores elliptical, 7–8 × 5–6 μ.

On dead wood, especially of conifers. New Zealand. Victoria, Ceylon, Europe, United States, Cuba.

Distinguished from the closely allied Calocera striata in being firmer in structure, and hence not shrinking and becoming striate or wrinkled when dry.

Calocera furcata, Fries, Syst. Myc., i, p. 486 (1821); Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 8150.

Tufted, slender, 1–2 cm. long, often once or twice forked, yellow, viscid, branchlets acute, downy, and rooting at the base; spores hyaline, elliptic-oblong, slightly curved, 8–10 × 4–5 μ.

On rotten branches, &c. New Zealand. Europe.

Subgelatinous, slender, not becoming horny when dry, but adhering to the drying-paper. Stem simple slightly pubescent, rooting, sometimes solitary.

Calocera cornea, Fries, Syst. Myc., i, p. 486; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 8158; Austr. Fung., p. 204.

Clubs tufted, rooting, club-shaped, smooth, viscid, subulate, simple or rarely with a short branchlet, orange-yellow or sometimes pale-yellow, about 1 cm. high, 1–2 mm. thick; spores cylindric-oblong, 7–8 × 5 μ.

On naked wood. New Zealand. Australia, Europe, South America, United States.

Very rigid when dry. Frequently grows in rows, springing from cracks in dry hard wood.

67. Auricularia, Bull.

Effused or the upper portion reflexed; hymenium inferior, with raised ribs or folds, inflated and gelatinous when moist, collapsing when dry; sterile surface velvety or strigose.

Auricularia, Bull., Champ. Fr., p. 277.

Resembling species of Stereum in habit and appearance; differing in consistency and in structure of basidia. Spores oblong, curved, producing on germination a branched promycelium bearing several strongly curved sporidiola.

Auricularia mesenterica. Fries, Epicr., p. 555; Austr. Fung., p. 205; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 8294.

Resupinate, upper margin free and reflexed, often very broadly effused, several specimens running into each other, subgelatinous and swollen when moist, rigid when dry, 3–10 cm. across; hymenium wrinkled and folded, smooth, brownish-purple; pileus coarsely velvety, zoned different colours, margin not deeply lobed; spores sausage-shaped, hyaline, smooth, continuous, slightly curved, 18–20 × 7 μ.

On trunks. New Zealand. Australia, Tasmania, Europe, South America, United States.

Often broadly effused and with numerous partly free imbricated pilei. Distinguished at sight from the species of Hirneola by the strigose zoned pileus.

68. Hirneola, Fries.

Substance thin, cartilagineo-gelatinous, soft and tremelloid when moist, rigid when dry; sporophore cup-shaped or human-ear shaped, fertile surface polished, sterile surface velvety.

Hirneola, Fries, Fung. Natal, p. 24.

Differs from Auricularia, its nearest ally, in not becoming bullately inflated when moist, the substance being no thicker when moist than when dry. Basidia rod-shaped or fusoid, transversely septate, each cell bearing a single sterigma which in turn bears an oblong curved spore.

Hirneola polytricha, Montag., Bel. Voy. Ind. Or., Crypt., p. 154; Austr. Fung., p. 206, fig. 90; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 8311.

Hemispherical, then expanded, sessile but narrowed to a more or less central or oblique point of attachment, thin and elastic., rigid when dry; hymenium even, dark-brown with a purple tinge; externally even, minutely but densely velvety, greyish, becoming a rich yellowish-brown when dry; size variable, 4–12 cm. across; spores hyaline, colourless, smooth, sausage-shaped, slightly curved, 14–15 × 6–7 μ.

On trunks, branches, &c. New Zealand. Australia, Tasmania, Java, Ceylon, Tahiti, Madagascar, South Africa, South America, Cuba, Mexico, Chatham Islands, Lord Howe Island, Torres Straits.

Differs from Hirneola auricula-judœ in the absence of raised wrinkles on the pileus. A very widely distributed species, and one of the few fungi used on a large scale, and over a widely extended area, for food. Mr. T. Kirk gives the following account in the “Transactions and Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute,” vol. xi, p. 454 (1878). “An Edible Fungus: Hirneola polytricha is collected and sent to China, where it is highly prized for food and medicine. In 1887 220 tons, valued at μ11,318, were collected in New Zealand and exported.”

Hirneola auricula-judœ, Berk., Outl., p. 289, pl. 18, fig. 7; Cooke, Austr. Hdbk., p. 206; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 8312.

Hemispherical, then expanded and more or less resembling a human ear in shape, sessile, thin, soft and flexible when moist, rigid when dry, 3–8 cm. diameter; hymenium glabrous, uneven with anastomosing ridges and folds, dingy flesh-colour, then blackish or dark-brown; externally showing irregular wrinkles, minutely but densely tomentose, greyish-olive, often brownish when dry; spores smooth, hyaline, continuous, sausage-shaped, slightly bent; 20–25 × 7–9 μ.

On dead branches; in Europe most abundant on Sambucus.

New Zealand. Australia, Tasmania, Madagascar, South America, Cuba, Mexico, United States.

Distinguished from H. polytricha in having the pileus and hymenium wrinkled and veined. Auricularia mesenterica differs in the shaggy zoned pileus. Edible.

Hirneola hispidula, Berk., Exot. Fung., p. 396; Austr. Fung., p. 206; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 8323.

Campanulate, then expanded, sessile, oblique, thin and flexible when moist, rigid when dry, 8–12 cm. across; hymenium dark-brown, even, or more or less veined; externally covered with a dense velvety pile, yellowish-brown or with an olive tinge, even or slightly veined; spores sausage-shaped and slightly bent, hyaline, continuous, smooth, 19–24 × 7–8 μ.

On dead wood. New Zealand. Australia, Mauritius, Ceylon, South America, Java, Hong Kong.

A large and fine species, somewhat variable in form and colour, sometimes narrowed at the point of attachment into a stem-like base. Hymenium sometimes with a purple tinge. Often growing in clusters of 2–6. Known more especially by the hairy pileus being almost hirsute, and the hairs longer than in other species.

69. Septobasidium, Pat.

Effused and resupinate, coriaceous, not moist or gelatinous; hymenium separating from the lower stratum; basidia transversely septate, curved, sterigmata borne on the convex side of the basidium; spores hyaline, continuous.

Septobasidium, Patouillard, Journ. de Bot., 1892, p. 63.

Superficially resembling Thelephora, but readily distinguished by the transversely septate basidia.

Septobasidium pedicellatum, Pat., Journ. de Bot., 1892, p. 63: Sacc., Syll. xi, no. 743. Syn., Thelephora pedicellata, Schweinitz, Syn. Carol., no. 108; Sacc., Syll. vi, no. 7188; Cooke, Austr. Fung., p. 180; Hdbk. N.Z. Flora, p. 611.

Resupinate; rather soft and elastic, densely fibrous, thick, basal layer composed of fascicles of hyphÆ, tawny-cinnamon, margin whitish, radiating; hymenium paler, forming a thin separable pellicle which is often cracked irregularly; basidia curved, transversely septate, springing from a broadly pyriform basal cell; spores oblong, hyaline.

On branches of living and dead trees of various species. New Zealand. United States, Cuba, Brazil, Ceylon, India, Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia.

Art. II.—Transpacific Longitudes.

By Otto Klotz, LL.D., F.R.A.S., Honorary Member, New Zealand Institute.

we obtain for Sydney 10 h. 4m. 49.355 s. ± 0.088 s. The Canadian value is 10 h. 4 m. 49.287 s. ± 0.058 s. Difference, 0.068 a. = 1.02″ = 84 ft. for the latitude of Sydney—that is, the first girdle of the world closed within 84 ft.

New Zealand.

The longitude of Wellington is discussed in the report of 8th August, 1884, of the Surveyor-General of New Zealand, and in Appendix No. 1 of that report Mr. C. W. Adams fully describes and tabulates the result of the determination for the difference of longitude between Sydney (Australia), and Wellington. The time-determinations of this series are of a high order, and deserve every confidence. At the time (1883) the siphon recorder had not been introduced on the cable, so that the clock-beats were sent by hand and the deflections of the reflecting-galvanometer were noted by eye. As Mr. Adams says in the above appendix, “I received them at Wellington by reflecting-galvanometer, but, instead of noting each signal by ‘eye and ear,’ I simply tapped the key and recorded each signal on my chronograph”—that is, as soon as the motion of the light-spot had impressed itself on the brain, the key was tapped to record the event. Although many trials were made for “the loss of time in receiving signals,” and the results are inconsistent amongst themselves, yet the lack of self-recording cable-apparatus is the weak point in the 1883 determination for difference of longitude. The range for difference of longitude for the 1883 determinations is satisfactory, but of course may involve constant errors without affecting the range. As we shall presently see, the inter-agreement between the difference of longitude between Sydney and Wellington obtained in 1883, and that in 1903, when the siphon recorder was used, is remarkably close.

As Mr. T. King, observer at Wellington, has so fully given the evolution of “the longitude of the Colonial Observatory, Wellington,” in the “Transactions of the New Zealand Institute,” vol. xxxv, 1902, pp. 436-47, it is not necessary here to cover the same ground.

As has already been explained, the determination of the longitude of Southport (Australia) and Doubtless Bay (New Zealand) is free from personal equation, and, so far as the Canadian work is concerned, these two places are necessarily better determined than places dependent upon them. In other words, Doubtless Bay is better determined in longitude in the Canadian arcs than is Wellington; for Wellington to be as well determined as Doubtless Bay would mean perfect observations and perfect exchange of time-signals between the two places, which is of course impossible, no matter how good the work.

Art. III. — Notes on the Flesh-eating Propensity of the Kea
(Nestor notabilis).

By W. B. Benham, Professor of Biology, University of Otago.

that the exaggeration would be very great. Surely we may credit these men, directly concerned as they were, with sufficient intelligence to investigate the facts with enough care to convince themselves that the losses were due to keas.

It has been suggested that it was in the interests of shepherds and so forth to exaggerate the loss, so that the bonus on kea-beaks might be kept high. I should imagine that ‘cute men of business, and Scotchmen to boot, would scarcely be so befooled by their men.

The Kea seen at Work.

I have been asked by incredulous folk, “Has any one ever seen a kea at work on the sheep?” I was at one time unable to answer this question, till I investigated the subject, but thanks to my correspondents I am now in a position to say, Most certainly; on plenty of occasions have the birds been seen on the backs of sheep, and shot while at work pecking away at the wool and flesh. (See letters at end of this article.)

Several people—viz., Reischek(5), Fraser, Bell—have examined the crop of the bird and found wool and mutton therein.

I will quote from some of my correspondents' letters in answer to my questions:—

J. Campbell writes, “I was coming down the Matatapu when I saw a mob of sheep rushing about as if a dog was disturbing them. When I got nearer I saw a flock of birds hovering over the sheep. These were keas. I stopped and watched for a few minutes, and presently I saw a sheep singled out from the others and make towards some rocks with a kea planted on its back. By running under rocks and rubbing against them the sheep got the bird off its back; but the same [bird] or another was soon on again. This went on for some time till the sheep became exhausted.”

A. Fraser writes, “I have seen the kea attacking the sheep and also eating into a sheep when the latter was stuck in deep snow. I have opened scores of keas' crops and found wool and meat therein.”

J. H. King says, “I have often seen the birds at work on a sheep, and have shot them while on the sheep's back. I have seen a flock of twenty or thirty birds attack a mob of sheep in high precipitous country. The kea would harass them until one bird would suddenly alight on a sheep's back holding on to the wool of the rump. The sheep so attacked, would separate from the mob and rush frantically about: it would either go over a bluff or drop down from exhaustion.

The kea, which had still held on, was joined by several others, and they soon destroyed [? devoured]^* the sheep.”

Again, Mr. Cameron writes, “When 'snow-raking'—that is, taking sheep from high country—keas would gather round the sheep in great numbers, attack one or more quite close to us shepherds. A sheep would get frightened, run out of the flock with one or half a dozen [!] keas on its back, kill or wound it severely before they would let go.”

The majority of my correspondents give a similar account of the facts, and several of them—Messrs. Bell, Cameron, King, McGregor, McKenzie—state that they have often seen keas on the sheep's back; and most of them give details as to occasions on which they have shot the birds while at work.

It must be borne in mind that some of my informants are and always have been managers, and so are less likely to have had the opportunity of witnessing the attacks than the shepherds; and, further, as Mr. Ford states, the attacks are frequently, if not usually, made during the night, and therefore, unless specially watched, their attacks are rarely witnessed. Nevertheless, all the men to whom I wrote have actually seen the bird at work. My correspondents are all, I believe, trustworthy witnesses, and I see no reason to doubt the truth and accuracy of their statements.

Area of Country affected.

The kea is confined to the South Island, and occurs only in the high mountainous parts—i.e., along the Southern Alps and other high ranges. But it is not throughout this country that the kea has been a nuisance to sheepowners. In travelling through Marlborough or in North Canterbury my inquiries met with a negative reply—indeed, some of the men to whom I put the question scoffed at the idea of the bird doing serious damage to sheep. From further inquiries, however, I find that it has been known for some years that along the eastern flanks of the Alps in Mackenzie country, Canterbury down to Earns-law, near Lake Wakatipu in Otago, various sheep-stations have suffered loss from the attacks of the bird. Thus, I have records from Mount Cook Station and Ben Ohau Station, in the first-named district; while the Wanaka, Hawea, and Wakatipu districts yield abundant evidence of the existence of carnivorous keas. And one of my correspondents (Mr. King) gives the Takitimo Mountains as the southern limit. Further, during the present year the farmers of Amuri County, in North

Canterbury, met in conference at Culverden and decided to petition the Government to increase the bonus on kea-beaks.

In the Otago Daily Times for the 16th February, 1906, we read that “the keas have been very numerous in the mountainous parts of Amuri County during the last two years. They have descended on the Amuri highlands from the mountains, and several landowners stated that the losses of sheep attributed to these birds had increased from about 7 ½ to 8 per cent. last year to 15 per cent. this year. Musterers brought reports of having seen sheep killed by keas,” &c., &c.—a repetition of the course of events well known in Otago. While from the same newspaper for the 22nd March, 1906, one learns that on the West Coast, too, the kea is at work: “At Mahitahi, Bruce Bay, in South Westland, Mr. T. Condon lost last year 150 sheep, which he believed to have been killed by keas. He had seen the bird at work on the sheep. … There has been no complaint of the birds attacking the settlers' flocks in the more northern sections of the Coast—as, for instance, round the Franz Josef Glacier.”

But even within the limit of distribution of the kea many stations seem to be free from its attacks. Thus, Buller(13) quotes H. Campbell as stating that, in 1868, when he was suffering from the attacks at Wanaka, the keas were not attacking the sheep at another station owned by him, some thirty miles away, “at the same altitude (4,000 ft. to 5,000 ft.), in the same district, and where the birds are plentiful”; and my own inquiries quite bear out this evidence of the sporadic distribution of the habit.

Is every Kea carnivorous?

I put this question to my correspondents, and the replies render it impossible to give a definite answer: for whereas Messrs. Bell, Cameron, Ford, and Holmes believe that every kea in a district indulges in the habit—as “the old birds teach the younger directly they are fledged,” writes Ford—there are some of my informants who take the opposite view, that “only the more daring bird's” attack sheep (McGregor); that “the habit is peculiar to individual keas in a flock” (McKenzie); and this view is held by Mr. Green of the “Hermitage,” Southern Alps; and I am inclined to share the latter opinion, for if every kea in the district were to become carnivorous the loss to sheep-owners would be much greater than it is.

There are many stations, as I have stated, in the area occupied by the kea whose owners have apparently no fault to find with the bird, and even in those districts where they are most troublesome it is probably only certain birds that are

the victims of this craving for flesh. It is—as some of my correspondents put it—only the more daring and older birds that attack the sheep. Just as, in India, there are only certain tigers that, unprovoked, indulge in human flesh—the “man-eaters”—so, amongst the keas, we must recognise certain “sheep-eaters,” though whether their number is on the increase seems unascertained.

The Kea is still at Work.

It will be seen from the letters that the kea is still at work in, at any rate, certain districts, whereas in some of those stations at which they were formerly a pest the birds at present appear to be less addicted to the habit. This may be owing to the fact that on certain stations it is no longer profitable to keep sheep (see King's letter), or because possibly the “sheep-eaters” have migrated to other regions. At any rate, at Hawea, D. Bell “shot three keas attacking living sheep on the 12th January, 1906—shot one on the sheep's back. I shot eight keas during the term we were mustering in January, and their crops were full of mutton.” And he says that “they kill sheep now as much as ever.” Other evidence from Makarora is to the same effect: “The sheep still come in more or less wounded, and even with the entrails hanging out, and when killed for food, as many as one in four present healed wounds in the back” (Ford). But one thing seems certain, that the birds now go more thoroughly to work, and make a more complete “job” of it than in old days. Then the sheep were usually merely wounded. True, the wounds may have been serious, and some of the sheep died of their wounds. But nowadays the carcase is devoured, the bones are left picked clean. Mr. D. Bell sent me the arm-bones (humerus) of sheep from which the keas had actually extracted the marrow. In each of the four bones sent, a more or less triangular hole had been neatly made by the kea, just below the “head.” (Plate IV.)

Mr. King writes, “One thing has been noticed lately by those who were among the sheep in high country—viz., that the keas when they kill a sheep now pick the carcase clean; leaving nothing but the skeleton, the skin almost turned inside out.”

Mr. Bell also refers to this increase in the damage done to individual sheep. It has been suggested by Taylor White(8) that originally the bird merely sucked the blood, but that it soon discovered that the flesh itself is good to eat, and, as we learn, now recognises the “importance of being thoroughly in earnest” by devouring the entire carcase.

It will be remembered that Wallace states that the bird showed a marked preference for the “kidneys,” and it is very popularly supposed that it makes a special effort to obtain these organs; but, as the majority of my correspondents point out, this is an error. It is a mere accident that the bird, in certain cases, makes its first attack in the region of the kidney, for it is on the rump that the bird finds it most convenient and safest to settle, and naturally pecks at one side or the other of the backbone, working through to the underlying kidney. But, as-a matter of fact, the bird will commence the attack at that part of the sheep which is most prominent: if a sheep be lying on its side in a gully or elsewhere the kea commences at the side of the abdomen.

The eclecticism of the kea is in that exaggerated, as has already been pointed out years ago by Huddlestone and by Taylor White; but such a legend dies very hard indeed.

The Method of Attack.

The method of attack is varied. It may be (a) on the moving sheep; (b) on a fallen sheep; (c) on a snowed-up sheep.

Perhaps the best account of the first method is that contained in Mr. R. McKenzie's letter: “I have seen a kea attack and hang on to a living sheep. The bird flew on to a sheep's back, and commenced driving its beak through the wool into the flesh—not necessarily just over the kidney, as is supposed to be the custom. The frenzied sheep jumped and ran about in any direction for dear life, then, separating itself from the mob, made a direct line down a steep slope, and in its mad career finally dropped over a precipice, until which moment the bird held on with its claws, its wings slightly extended as if to steady itself or to be ready to fly off at any moment. The instant the victim left terra firma the bird relaxed its hold, but was observed to fly almost straight down as if bent on securing the sheep. Both were then lost to view.”

Similar statements occur in other letters (Bell, Cameron, McGregor), and have been made to me by shepherds and others orally.

(b.) A sheep will sometimes, in coming down hill, roll over and perhaps lodge in a gully or elsewhere, and be unable to rise. The kea will then attack. I quote from a letter to the Otago Witness, November 22, 1905, written by Mr. J. A. Wraytt, of Gareton: “When travelling along the bridle-track down the east side of Lake Wanaka I saw a sheep some 50 yards below, kneeling down with its head poked under a shelf of rock. There was a kea on its back, and about half a dozen sitting

on the rocks close by. On going down to the spot I found the sheep, which was or had been a strong, fat one, with most of the wool stripped off its back and lying around in small tufts. There was a large hole through the sheep's loins, into which the kea kept diving and filling its mouth. The others had apparently had their fill, as their heads were drenched with blood.”

(c.) Frequently when the sheep are snowed up, and weakened no doubt by want of food, they will fall victims to the birds. Thus Mr. E. Cameron writes, “A snowslide carried a sheep with it. I happened to be on the hill about the time it happened. It was all covered with snow but its nose and one hind leg, but still alive. The uncovered leg was eaten to the bone—not a scrap left on it—with half a dozen keas fighting over it.”

The kea is known to be a very fearless bird, and we have a record in Mr. King's letter: “One man, who has had a good deal of experience in the high country, tells me that on one occasion, at Lake Ohau, in the Mackenzie country, he saw two keas attack a mob of sheep standing in the yards at the wool-sheds of that station. Shearing was going on at the time, and this was seen by all the shearers present. The birds were shot.”

The sheep do not necessarily die from the attack, for, as mentioned, the animals are frequently observed to present healed wounds when being shorn; and cases are known in which part of the intestine has been actually torn away, and the broken end has adhered to the edges of the hole in the body-wall, so as to form a new exit for the dung. Such a case is recorded in Buller's work, and one of my correspondents—Bell—states that he has met with two instances of it.

The sheep that are selected by the keas as victims are apparently always those in good condition, and with long wool, especially such as have missed a shearing; whereas a newly shorn sheep, or one in poor condition, is never attacked. One readily understands the choice of a well-covered sheep, as it affords a firm foothold for the bird.

Period of the Attacks.

The attacks are most frequent in the spring and winter—when presumably the natural food of the bird is scarce, or covered with snow—but by no means are they confined to these seasons. Further, it may be noted that the night-time is the period during which much of the damage is done, though the bird is not absolutely or entirely nocturnal.

Any one who has spent a few days in the region of the Southern Alps knows that the birds may frequently be seen

during the day; and many people who have spent a night in the Ball Hut on the side of the Tasman Glacier will recall their noisy habits in the early morning, before the dawn.

The Normal Food.

The kea, like other parrots, is normally a vegetarian, though it includes insects in its diet. At any rate, so it appears from the few reliable statements that exist.

According to that accurate observer, the late Mr. Thomas H. Potts(1), the kea gathers “its subsistence from the nectar of hardy flowers, from the drupes and berries of dwarfed shrubs that contend with a rigorous climate and press upwards almost to the snow-line of our alpine giants. To these food-resources may be added insects found in the crevices of rocks, beneath the bark of trees,” &c.

Mr. Potts also states(2) (“Out in the Open,” quoted by Buller in “Birds of New Zealand,” i, p. 168, footnote) that when the snow covers these subalpine shrubs, and insect-life is dormant, the kea is forced to go lower and lower down the mountains to take shelter in gullies, where it feeds on the hard, bitter seeds of the kowhai [Sophora tetraptera], small hard seeds in the fruit of Pittosporum, the black berries of Aristotelia fruticosa (the “native currant”), as well as on the fruit of the pitch-pine and the totara.

The most detailed bill of fare is that given by Huddlestone(6): it includes the grub of such insects as the weta (Deinacrida) and cicada, which are to be found in the ground. “Besides grubs, they fed on the berries of various alpine shrubs and trees, such as the snowberry, Gaultheria, Coprosma, Panax [= Nothopanax], the little black seed in a white skin of Phyllocladus alpinus, the Pittosporum with its hard seed in a glutinous mass like birdlime, and the red berry of the Podocarpus [nivalis], also on roots of various herbaceous plants—Aciphylla squarrosa and A. Colensoi, Ranunculus lyallii, celmisias, &c.”

My own observation, while in the Southern Alps this year, adds to the list the orange berries of the low-growing heath Leucopogon fraseri. Two birds were feeding on these berries within two yards of where I was sitting: they eat the juicy part of the berry, putting out the skin and usually the “seed” also, which I found afterwards on the ground, though now and then I heard the bird crack the seed, so that occasionally, at any rate, it swallows this.

Both Potts and Huddlestone refer to it eating the “hard seeds” of Pittosporum and Podocarpus; but I wonder whether this is habitual; why should they neglect the juicy covering?

Mr. Cameron writes, “The food of the kea is berries, roots of

spear-grass (Aciphylla) and cabbage-tree [Cordyline], and snow-grass [Danthonia sp.]”.

Several of my correspondents note the fact that keas eat “roots,” though they are not in agreement as to what the roots are. Mr. Taylor White (8) suggests—though, on what evidence does not appear—that the bird feeds on “lichens which cover the rocks in high mountainous regions.” This, it seems to me, would be a very innutritious diet, and it is little likely that, in the presence of a fairly abundant choice of juicy berries and other fruits, the bird would touch so poor a food. But it appears from his article that there were no berry-bearing subalpine shrubs in the locality he was acquainted with. Certainly around the “Hermitage,” in the Mount Cook district, the subalpine scrub is abundant, and lichens would, one imagines, be the last resort of the bird.

Mr. McGregor writes, “I have watched a kea picking grubs out of a dead tree, and frequently noticed them picking into the earth for roots, with their beaks.” But none of the above observers, or, so far as I can ascertain, any one else, seems to have examined the crops of any of the birds in an untroubled district—where, that is, the carnivorous habit has not shown itself—so that it is difficult to determine with absolute certainty the whole range of the normal diet of the bird.

The Origin of the Carnivorous Habit.

The above being its normal food, how has it come about that the bird has taken to eating mutton? Various suppositions have been put forward. One of these may at once be disposed of. It has been suggested that the kea mistook a sheep lying down for the plants termed by settlers the “vegetable sheep” (Raoulia mammillaris and R. eximia)! Thus Mr. (now Judge) F. R. Chapman wrote some years ago (7), “It is said that the keas tear them (the plants) up with their powerful beaks, and that these birds learnt to eat mutton through mistaking dead sheep for masses of Raoulia.”

Now, as a matter of fact, these large species of Raoulia do not occur in the Wanaka district, nor on the Southern Alps in the neighbourhood of Mount Cook. None of my correspondents, all of whom know the country round Wanaka well, mention the plant as providing any sort of food for the kea. I think that Mr. Chapman must have been misled. Further, it is extremely doubtful (see later) whether the keas devour “dead” sheep—i.e., such as are found lying on the hills, that may have died of “natural causes”—one, in short, that the birds have not killed themselves.

grub eater, has been observed to devour mutton. Travers (3) states that “They are fond of raw flesh, and I have seen them hovering in front of a sheep's pluck hung on a tree… eating fragments which they tear off, giving preference to the lungs.”

At the time that Wallace referred to this new food-habit of the kea it was the only case of the sort known. But a closely analogous instance has been described for an African starling, the “rhinoceros-bird” (Buphaga), which formerly fed upon ticks and insects infesting the skin of herbivora. But a few years' ago the cattle-plague decimated the herds of wild and domestic cattle, antelopes, &c., and it is now found that the bird, thus deprived of its natural food, has become carnivorous. It pecks holes in the skin of healthy beasts, and even eats their ears off, causing wounds from which the animals frequently die—at any rate, causing considerable damage (9).

Correspondence and Inquiries.

I wrote letters containing a series of questions to some fifteen persons, whose names had been given to me by various people as likely to have first-hand acquaintance with the bird and its depredations. These fifteen persons are, or have been, actively engaged in connection with sheep-runs in the neighbourhood of Lakes Wanaka, Hawea, and Wakatipu, and elsewhere. I have received replies from ten, which replies are embodied in the present article.

To these ten gentlemen I am extremely obliged for the courtesy and readiness with which they gave me every information I asked for:—

Dougald Bell, now owner of Hawea Lake Station, has had thirty-three years experience of sheep-farming in the district round Lakes Wakatipu, Hawea, and Wanaka. His first observation was in the Hunter Valley (Hawea) in 1874; his last, in 1906, at Lake Hawea.

Ewan Cameron, of Pembroke, was shepherding on the Crown Range in 1868; and has had experience of kea-attacks on the Matukituki, and Matatapu, and right branch of the Shotover.

John Campbell, now of Cromwell, at one time shepherd at Wanaka West.

William Ford, at one time shepherd on Mr. H. Campbell's station, has ever since been sheep-farming in the Wanaka district.

Alexander Fraser, now Stock Inspector in Nelson, was at one time sheep-farming in the Wanaka and Hawea districts (1871-83), and suffered severe losses of sheep from kea-attacks.

M. Stuart Holmes, now of Kakanui, has been sheep-farming since 1874, and was at one time manager of Lake Wanaka Station (1881-82).

John King, of Pembroke, was at one time engaged as “kea-shooter” on H. Campbell's station in the “seventies,” and has had a long experience in that district.

James MacDonald, now a farmer at Dipton, Southland, at one time head shepherd on Henry Campbell's station at Wanaka.

Robert McGregor, of Hawea Flat, speaks of the attacks at Triplet Peaks, Lake Hawea, from 1877 to 1883.

Roderick McKenzie, now of Birchwood, Southland, was part owner in 1889 to 1891 of Hawea Lake Station.

In addition to these correspondents, have received information of kea-attacks from Mr. James W. R. Green, now porter at the Hermitage Inn, Southern Alps. He had been employed as rabbiter at Mount Cook Station, and has shot keas while attacking sheep. And from some other sources I have obtained information.

In addition to answering a series of questions which I sent them, several of the above gentlemen wrote letters containing their personal experiences, which appear to be of Sufficient interest to entitle them to be placed on record.

1. Mr. Dougald Bell.
“Hawea Lake Station, 20th February, 1906.

“In reply to yours of the 20th November re keas killing sheep … I can safely say that they kill 5 per cent. of the flocks in all the country that is infested with keas. As a matter of fact, this season in my small flock [number not given] during the time we were mustering I personally counted twenty-five sheep killed by keas; I also shot three keas killing a live sheep. I shot one of them on the sheep's back, tearing away at the kidney-fat and meat. [The majority of my correspondents do not lay stress on this, and no doubt Mr. Bell merely means that the bird was tearing away at this region.] After I shot the keas, the sheep, a big, strong, half-bred wether, which was holed all along the back and ribs, managed to get up and walk away, but he would be sure to die, as he was too much holed and worried to live. I shot eight keas during the time we were mustering in January last, and they were all full of mutton in their stomachs [crops].

“There is another matter I should like to point out to you about keas: when they have eaten all the flesh off the bone, then they tackle the shoulder [i.e., humerus] and leg bones, and take all the marrow out of the bone by chipping the bones

with their beaks until they obtain an entrance. I am sending you four shoulder-bones, some old, and some fresh ones killed last winter. [One of these is here figured.]

“There is also another point: Two sheep came in during mustering at Hawea Lake—a ewe and a wether—which had been attacked by keas some time during the season. Each had holes in their backs, and the main gut had been cut through and pulled up through the backs; the gut had grown to the [skin of the] back and [a new anus had been formed] which caused a black streak down each flank where the droppings fell out. One of these cases happened in the year 1887 and the other in 1899. It was in the month of January that they mustered in each case, and brought into the station for shearing when [the above facts were] noticed.

“I have had thirty-three years' of experience with keas, and so know a little about them. I first came up here in 1873. When the keas first started to attack sheep they used to pull a tuft of wool off the back of the sheep over the kidneys for a while before killing [I presume he means that they merely tasted the flesh and left the sheep], but now it is very different, as nearly every sheep they tackle they kill outright.

“There is a lot of country in this locality that could be stocked with sheep if it were not for the keas: but it is not safe to put sheep on it, as the birds would kill half of them.”

2. Mr. Ewan Cameron.
“Pembroke, 28th September, 1905.

“The first notice of keas killing sheep in Wanaka was in 1868 by James McDonald, head shepherd for Mr. Henry Campbell, owner of Wanaka Station at that time … Mr. Campbell wrote a letter to the Dunstan Times describing the destruction that keas were causing among his sheep, with the result that all the people in that part of the country laughed at him.

“In that year I was shepherding in the Crown Range, and after reading Mr. Campbell's letter I saw at once what was killing my sheep. The place of attack is nearly always on the loin, behind the last rib; they [keas] tear down to the kidney, pull out the entrails, and sometimes leave the sheep without killing it. It is a common thing for sheep to come into the yards with their entrails hanging over the side; also with new wounds, or old ones healed up.

“[As an instance of the ferocity of the keas, I may mention that] One season, at the head of the Matukituki, I had four hundred sheep that did not come in at the proper time for shearing. I put them in a safe place after snowfall at the beginning

of winter: when I went to shift them on the 1st September [I found that] the keas had killed two hundred of them: a good many were devoured, and some not touched but with the usual wound above the kidneys.

“Rose Bros. had a run on the Matatapu, a continuation of the same range I was on. They mustered their sheep (about three thousand) in the beginning of winter, left them in a large mountain paddock at night, and next morning found thirty-five killed.

“They [the keas] do most of the damage at night. On another occasion, on my own run, a snowslide carried a sheep with it. I happened to be on the hill about the time it happened, and saw the sheep still alive but covered with snow except its nose and one hind leg: the uncovered leg was eaten to the bone, not a scrap [of flesh] left on it, and half a dozen keas fighting over it.”

3. Mr. John Campbell.
“Cromwell, 13th August, 1906.

“I have much pleasure in telling you what I know of this wonderful bird. I first saw the kea in the Wanaka Lake district in '68…. I was shepherding at this time on what was then called ‘Campbell Station’ (Wanaka West), and often killed numbers of keas when out on the mountains towards nightfall…. As regards their attacks on sheep, I think I was the first to see the kea on a sheep's back. The shearers often drew our attention to a scar on the sheep's hack opposite the kidneys, and being on the same place on each sheep, some thought it was a disease (for some were found dead wounded in the same way). The kea was not at all suspected until some time afterwards.

“I was coming down the Matatapu (boundary between Wanaka and Wanaka West Stations)^* when I saw a mob of sheep rushing about as if a dog was disturbing them. When I got nearer I saw a nook of birds hovering over the sheep. These were keas. I stopped and watched for a few minutes, and presently I saw a sheep get singled out from the others and make towards some rocks with a kea planted on its back. By running under rocks and rubbing against them the sheep got the bird off its back, but the same one or a fresh one was soon on again. This went on for some time till the sheep was exhausted. I

then went down and drove away the birds and examined the sheep, which had the wool and flesh torn by the birds in the same spot as that previously noticed by the shearers. This solved the mystery, and when I related the story to the station-manager and fellow-workers they were greatly surprised to learn that the kea was the culprit….

“I am convinced that the chief reason why the bird attacks the sheep in that particular spot is because it is the only place that it can perch for any length of time without the sheep putting it off.” [He does not believe in the keas seeking after the kidney-fat.]

4. Mr. Alexander Fraser.
“Nelson, 2nd August, 1905.

“In reply to yours of the 22nd ultimo, I was engaged sheep-farming in the Hawea and Wanaka Lake district between 1871 and 1883. Suspicion arose in the first-named period that keas were attacking sheep, suggestion being that they learnt it from picking at sheep-skins and carcases hung on gallows. I lost some thousands of sheep from keas. I have seen the kea attacking the sheep, and also eating into a sheep when the latter was stuck in deep snow. I have opened scores of keas' crops and found wool and meat therein. I have laid poison in dead sheep in snow, gone back later and found dead keas; also have often-poisoned keas with mutton suet [poisoned, I presume]. The natural food originally of the kea was berries, and grubs and insects it dug out of the ground. The burning of the alpine country probably diminished its natural food. They breed inside broken rock. Never found a nest. Keas are very numerous between the above dates, though shot and poisoned by the thousand.”

5. Mr. John King.
“Pembroke, 22nd July, 1905.

[Part of this letter has already been quoted above, and many of the facts contained in it are incorporated in the general account. It continues:] “I have seen sheep snowed up on the ranges, and on one occasion I counted twelve dead out of about fifty, and numbers of keas sitting about on the rocks gorged, very much after the manner of vultures. On another occasion I was with Mr. Campbell and some of his shepherds who had a large mob of sheep in front of them taking them across some hilly country, when we noticed two keas hovering over the sheep. Presently one swooped down on a sheep not 30 yards from where we were. This sheep immediately left the others and rushed past me. I was carrying a gun at the time, and shot the bird

Art. IV.—Notes on the Distribution of Ores in Horizontal Zones in Vertical Depth.

By ProfessorJames Park, M.A. Inst. M.E., M.Inst.M. and M., F.G.S., Director Otago University School of Mines.

[Read before the Otago Institute, 8th August, 1905.]

It has been clearly demonstrated by mining operations in the United States, England, and elsewhere that while in many veins the metallic sulphides are intimately mixed without any definite arrangement, in other veins, particularly those of lead, zinc, and iron, there is a more or less orderly distribution in horizontal zones in a vertical direction: that is, there are certain horizontal zones each of which is characterized by a dominant sulphide.

This arrangement of the metallic contents of a vein in more or less horizontal zones was noticed in Cornwall many years ago; and no better example could be found than that presented by the celebrated Dalcoath Mine, which commenced as a tin-mine, at a lower depth yielded nothing but copper, and again below that, tin.

In the great lead and zinc-mining region of Ozark, in the lower Mississippi Valley, the vertical distribution of the ores, according to Bain,^* is as follows:—

Spurr,^† in his report on Monte Cristo mining district, in Washington, states that the quartz, pyrite, chalcopyrite, pyrrhotite, blende, galena, realgar, stibnite, and calcite show a marked tendency to aggregate themselves in horizontal zones in the order named above.

Rickard mentions the orderly distribution of ores in Colorado.^‡ Weed states that in the Castle Mountain district, in Montana, the order appears to be galena on top, passing into highly zinciferous ores below, and these into low-grade pyrite.^§

Had denudation removed the mushroom caps, the sulphide-bearing necks would now be exposed at the surface.

The well-known Martha Lode, at Waihi, consists of chalcedonic and crystalline quartz, apparently the result of hydro-thermal activity, which at one time probably manifested itself at the surface. There is no overhanging cap.

At the outcrop the quartz is almost pure silica, containing no sulphides excepting a trace of argentite associated with free gold containing about one-third its weight of silver. Above water-level the ore is clean, and free from oxidized products.

In many places both above and below water-level the joints in the Veinstone axe discoloured with films of manganese and iron oxides, which appear to owe their origin to the infiltration of meteoric water from the wall-rock, and not to the oxidation of contained sulphides.

Between the adit level and No. 1 level there began to appear small limonite-crusted cavities in the thin veins of crystalline quartz which traverse the main lode. At No. 1 level there are detached branches of iron-pyrites in the quartz, and at No. 2 level the sulphide ore forms a rib two or three feet thick.

The lode is being worked to a depth of 750 ft. below adit level; and although there has been an increase in the proportion of iron-pyrites, there has been no decrease in the gold and silver values.

A greater measure of denudation than the lode has already suffered would have exposed the sulphide ore at the surface.

In the study of vein-filling it is always well to bear in mind that veins which outcrop at the surface may have been truncated to a greater or less degree by denudation.

After their formation, some veins, through movement of the walls, have been brecciated and recemented by circulating mineralised waters. Such waters, ascending through the crushed vein-matter, would deposit their metallic contents as sulphides through the reaction of primary sulphides contained in the ore.

In this way a secondary concentration of sulphide ore may be effected by ascending waters. The common belief, however, is that secondary enrichment is in the majority of cases the result of the transference of material from the oxidized portions of a vein to a lower level through the agency of descending waters, from which the metallic contents are precipitated by the reducing action of organic matter or primary sulphides.

Art. V.—Notes on the Formation of Zones of Secondary Enrichment in certain Metalliferous Lodes.

By ProfessorJames Park, M.A.Inst.M.E., M.Inst.M. and M. (Lond.), F.G.S., Director Otago University School of Mines.

The property possessed by silica, clay, and porous substances of absorbing metals from dilute aqueous solutions may be an important factor in the formation of zones of secondary enrichment in the oxidized portions of metalliferous lodes. In this we may have the explanation of the rich kaolin ores of silver at Broken Hill, of the concentration of gold in the talcose clays of the lode-formations of Kalgoorlie, and of the copper-bearing shales of Europe and America.

The researches of Emmons,^* Weed,^† and others have thrown much light on the secondary enrichment of vein deposits, and much still remains to be done before safe generalisations can be formed.

Impoverishment of Veins in Depth.

T. A. Rickard, when discussing Professor Posepny's paper on “The Genesis of Ore-deposits,” states that the general non-persistence of ore in depth is a fact capable of proof.^‡ He contends that since heat and pressure are the two factors which increase the solubility of mineral substances, the deep region will favour solution the most, while the shallow zone will favour precipitation owing to the decrease of heat and pressure.

There is much in favour of this contention, and many examples could be adduced in its support in all parts of the globe.

Moreover, progressive poverty in depth below a certain point must be the natural corollary of the general law governing the orderly distribution of ores in horizontal zones in vertical distance through the agency of ascending waters.

In some cases impoverishment in depth is determined by the prevailing geological conditions. Ore-veins which are confined to a single overlying formation often die but or become exhausted on reaching the underlying rock.

A notable example of this is afforded by the hydrothermal veins of the Thames, Tapu, Coromandel, and Kimotunu mining districts in the Hauraki mining region of New Zealand, where the gold-bearing veins are contained in altered andesites which rest on a highly eroded surface of Lower Mesozoic slaty shales and sandstones.

Mining operations have in all cases shown that when the veins which occur near the borders of the andesite-flows reach the basement rock they die out completely, or end in small strings which soon disappear in depth.

The principle of secondary enrichment precludes the continuance of the enriched portion of the vein downward in vertical distance.

When the values of secondary enrichment are added to ore already of a payable quality, the result is a rich shoot or bonanza; but when, as often happens, the secondary values are added to lean ore, then the net result is to render the lean ore just profitable. Hence below the zone of enrichment the ore will be lean and unprofitable.

Absorption of Metals by Clays in relation to Secondary Enrichment.

It has been noted in many mines that the ore in the zone of secondary enrichment is commonly associated with or contained in, a matrix consisting of clay or other finely divided mineral matter. Of this there are no better examples than the kaolin silver-ores of Broken Hill and the talcose gold-ores of Kalgoorlie.

Clays and clayey matter are the natural products of the alteration of rocks and ores in the zone of oxidation, hence their presence calls for no comment. But the frequent occurrence of rich ores in a clayey matrix in the zone of oxidation in certain lodes has led to much speculation as to the relation existing between the clay and its metallic contents.

It has been suggested by some writers that this association is not accidental, nor the result of paragenesis, but due to some quality of the clay. That clay and finely divided matter possess the property of absorbing or extracting metals from their aqueous solutions has long been known; and with this knowledge in mind it has been contended that the clayey matter acting as a porous filter in the lower part of the zone of oxidation has absorbed the metals from the descending solutions, thereby effecting a concentration of the valuable contents.

There is much to be said in favour of this view, but it has still to be determined whether clayey matter is a primary or merely a contributing cause in the formation of zones of secondary enrichment.

Walter Harvey Weed^* early in 1905 described some. experiments made by himself and others in the laboratory of the United States Geological Survey on the absorptive property of clays, &c. The results obtained confirmed the researches of W. Skey

Art. VI.—Notes on the Origin of the Metal-bearing Solutions concerned in the Formation of Ore-deposits.

By Professor James Park, M.A.Inst.M.E., M.Inst.M. and M. (Lond.), F.G.S., Director Otago University School of Mines.

tion with respect to the action of meteoric waters, and admits that the rôle of igneous intrusions may be very considerable.^*

It has been suggested by the opponents of lateral secretion that the metals contained in the silicate minerals of eruptive rocks are not primary but secondary constituents. According to their view, lateral secretion is only a process of concentration.

Ascension of Solutions.

According to this theory it is assumed that the material which fills a lode has been brought in solution from great depths, and not derived from the rocks in the immediate vicinity of the lode.

In his classic memoir on “The Genesis of Ore-deposits,” the late Professor Posepny, an ardent supporter of the ascension hypothesis, laid great stress upon the occurrence of sulphur and cinnabar at Sulphur Bank, California, impregnating a decomposed basalt, and still mildly in process of formation from gaseous emanations and hot mineral waters.

Similar conditions exist at Steamboat Springs, in Western Nevada, where we have an example of a mineral vein in process of formation. The matrix is banded siliceous veinstone, containing iron and copper sulphides, sulphur, and metallic gold.

Sandberger, who was an equally strenuous supporter of lateral secretion, objected to this view on the ground that he knew of no spring which deposited mineral incrustations on the walls of their channels. He regarded the Sulphur Bank and Steamboat Springs phenomena as exceptional.

Becker, who made a special examination of the deposits at Sulphur Bank and Steamboat Springs, strongly opposed the views of the extreme ascensionists. And with regard to the origin of the deposits he expressed the following views: “The evidence is overwhelming that the cinnabar, pyrite, and gold of the quicksilver-mines of the Pacific Slope reached their present positions in hot solutions of double sulphides which were leached out from masses underlying the granite, and the granite itself.”^† Further on he says, “I regard many of the gold-veins of California as having an origin entirely similar to that of the quicksilver-deposits.”

Becker's views postulate a new hypothesis lying midway between the ascension and lateral-secretion theories, and now

receive more general support than the extreme views of Posepny and Sandberger.

According to the definition of lateral secretion by the latter, the descending waters became charged with mineral matter by leaching the rocks in the region of vadose circulation. On the other hand, Posepny assumed that the ascending waters became charged at great depths by coming in contact with a deep-seated repository of metalliferous matter, the existence of which is necessarily hypothetical.

The modification suggested by Becker leans towards the ascension theory, and differs only from lateral secretion in assuming a deeper source for the mineral contents of the vein-matter.

Summary.

From the data recorded in the preceding papers we may deduce the following conclusions respecting the genesis of ore-deposits:—

The theories of lateral secretion and ascension of solutions are based on the fundamental assumption that the mineral matter filling cavities was deposited from circulating waters. Their differences lie principally in the different conceptions as to the direction and operation of the circulating liquids.

Art. VII.—Notes and Descriptions of Lepidoptera.

By E. Meyrick, B.A., F.R.S.
Communicated by G. V. Hudson, F.E.S.

fuscous; first and second lines indicated by dark-fuscous interior margins; spots indicated by partial dark-fuscous margins, orbicular roundish, reniform trapezoidal, claviform suboval; median shade more or less marked, formed by dark - fuscous suffusion; subterminal line indicated by well-marked thick dark-fuscous anterior margin; a terminal series of dark-fuscous crescentic marks: cilia whitish, with distinct bars of blackish irroration. Hindwings whitish-fuscous, with suffused fuscous terminal fascia; cilia whitish, base more or less infuscated.

Mount Arthur (4,700 ft.) and Lake Wakatipu, in January; two specimens. Easily known by the whitish ground-colour and strong dark præsubterminal shade.

HydriomenidÆ.

Chloroclystis halianthes, n. sp.

♂. 26–27 mm. Head, palpi, and thorax fuscous mixed with whitish and dark fuscous, shoulders partially suffused with red; palpi 2¼. AntennÆ biciliated with long fascicles. Forewings triangular, costa posteriorly arched, termen little bowed, oblique, subsinuate above tornus; pale fuscous mixed with white and dark fuscous, sometimes partially suffused with pale red, appearing purplish-tinged; normal fasciÆ formed of blackish irroration; median band broad, anterior edge hardly curved, below middle sometimes largely suffused with white and partially with pale red, posterior edge running from before ¾ of costa to tornus, very obtusely angulated below middle, followed by well-marked pale double second line; fifth and sixth fasciÆ little marked, below middle obsolete through contraction of area: cilia fuscous mixed with whitish, distinctly barred with dark fuscous. Hindwings with termen tolerably evenly rounded, hardly prominent on vein 3; pale-grey, towards dorsum sprinkled with black and white.

Lake Wakatipu (Hudson); two specimens. Of the New Zealand species of this genus that have fasciculate antennÆ in ♂, muscosata, antarctica, and bilineolata are green-tinged species, dryas a clear brown species, plinthina and aristias are red-tinged species: halianthes is really red-tinged, but appears purplish, and is allied to the two latter, but larger than either, darker, and easily known by the grey hindwings (in the other two whitish) and differently formed median band of forewings. Probably it varies considerably, like several of the others.

Asaphodes stephanitis, n. sp.

♂. 26–27 mm. Head and thorax yellow-ochreous, with a few blackish scales. Forewings triangular, costa gently arched, termen bowed, oblique, slightly waved; clear light yellow-

ochreous; fasciÆ formed by dentate striÆ of blackish irroration, first and second separated by a suffused whitish line, second obsolete except on extremities; third reduced to a single curved stria, preceded by a white line, and followed by white suffusion above and below middle; fourth of three striÆ, posterior edge with acute short triangular projection in middle, followed by a strong white line; fifth of two striÆ, posterior sometimes very thick and suffused, followed by white subterminal line, sometimes partially obscured; sixth of one stria following subterminal line, terminated above by an oblique subapical suffusion; a blackish terminal line: cilia white, barred with blackish irroration. Hindwings light ochreous-yellow; terminal line and cilia as in forewings.

Invercargill, on sandhills (Philpott); two specimens received from Mr. Hudson. Recalls a small Xanthorhoe clarata, but the resemblance is only superficial.

Xanthorhoe dionysias, n. sp.

♂. 28 mm. Head, palpi, and thorax pale-ochreous tinged with brown-reddish. Forewings somewhat elongate-triangular, costa gently arched, subsinuate in middle, termen rather bowed, oblique, not waved; pale greyish-ochreous, towards costa suffusedly tinged with reddish-ochreous; basal area indistinctly striated with dark fuscous irroration; median band defined anteriorly by two curved similar striÆ, posteriorly by three curved dark striÆ enclosing two lines, first pale, second slightly tinged with reddish-ochreous; within median band are two suffused striÆ connected by a transverse dark-fuscous discal dot, first obsolete in middle; terminal area irrorated with dark fuscous; an interrupted dark-fuscous terminal line: cilia pale-greyish-ochreous, barred with dark-fuscous irroration. Hind-wings elongate, termen rounded, faintly waved; pale grayish [ unclear: ] ochreous, thinly irrorated with grey; a blackish discal dot; a cloudy grey postmedian line; cilia pale greyish-ochreous mixed with grey.

Old Man Range, Dunedin (Lewis); one specimen received from Mr. Hudson. A distinct species, probably allied to aegrota, but not very nearly.

CrambidÆ.

Crambus apselias, n. sp.

♂ 28–30 mm., ♀ 23 mm. Head ochreous - white, face rounded. Palpi 4 ½-5, brownish-ochreous, internally and at base beneath, white, in ♀ very slender. AntennÆ in ♂ filiform, shortly ciliated. Thorax brownish-ochreous, with ochreous-white central stripe. Abdomen whitish-ochreous. Forewings

blue-greenish, and mixed with ochreous-whitish and pale ochreous. Forewings elongate, moderate, slightly dilated, costa gently arched anteriorly, almost straight posteriorly, apex obtuse, termen rounded, somewhat oblique; dark grey, more or leas mixed suffusedly with ochreous-whitish or whitish-ochreous, with a brassy-blue-greenish tinge; first and second lines pale, angulated, margined with darker shades, but sometimes almost wholly obsolete: cilia grey mixed with ochreous-whitish. Hindwings grey, lighter towards base, suffused with darker towards termen; cilia grey, tips whitish.

Lake Wakatipu, 4,000–5,000 ft. (Hudson); two specimens. Larger than the other two species, with the forewings much less triangular, rather oblong, and otherwise quite distinct.

PyraustidÆ.

Scoparia xysmatias, n. sp.

♂. 19 mm. Head dark fuscous. Palpi 2 ½, dark fuscous, lower longitudinal half ochreous-whitish. AntennÆ very minutely pubescent. Thorax dark fuscous, sprinkled with ferruginous scales. Forewings elongate, gradually dilated, costa almost straight, apex obtuse, termen faintly sinuate, rather oblique; dark fuscous, irregularly strewn except on margins with yellowish-ferruginous scales, and partially suffused with black, especially about margins of first and second lines and towards dorsum anteriorly; first and second lines represented by straight undefined series of whitish scales surrounded with yellowish-ferruginous suffusion, strongly converging towards dorsum; a small spot of white scales in middle of disc, followed by a black spot; a well-marked black fascia beyond second line; a few white scales indicating subterminal line: cilia ochreous-whitish, with dark-fuscous basal and grey median lines. Hindwings without hairs in cell; dark grey sprinkled with blackish; cilia ochreous-whitish, with dark-grey basal line.

Old Man Range, Dunedin (Lewis); one specimen received from Mr. Hudson. Probably intermediate between hemicycla and ergatis, but very distinct.

Scoparia autochroa, n. sp.

♂. 21–23 mm. Head and thorax brown, face dark fuscous. Palpi 2⅔, pale brownish mixed with dark fuscous, base whitish. AntennÆ dark fuscous, ciliations ⅔. Abdomen fuscous. Forewings elongate-triangular, costa hardly arched, apex obtuse, termen little rounded, somewhat oblique; brown sprinkled with rather dark fuscous: cilia pale brownish, with rather

terminal fascia, on which the second and subterminal lines appear as whitish shades confluent in middle and sometimes partially obsolete: cilia whitish-ochreous, tips whitish, with narrow basal and broader postmedian grey shades. Hindwings without hairs in cell; pale greyish-ochreous, with suffused dark-grey terminal fascia; cilia ochreous-grey-whitish, with grey basal line.

Lake Wakatipu (Hudson); two specimens. An elegant species, intermediate between cataxesta and tetracyla; to the naked eye obviously bluish-tinged.

Scoparia augastis, n. sp.

♂. 28–29 mm. Head fuscous, crown mixed with whitish. Palpi 3, fuscous, base white. AntennÆ fuscous, ciliations ½. Thorax light fuscous. Abdomen pale greyish-ochreous. Forewings very elongate, gradually dilated, costa posteriorly gently arched, apex obtuse, termen faintly sinuate, rather oblique; rather light fuscous, more or less irrorated finely with whitish; costa and all veins marked by more or less distinct somewhat darker fuscous lines: cilia whitish, with two fuscous lines, anterior interrupted. Hindwings with long hairs in cell; very pale brassy-ochreous; cilia whitish, with very faint greyish subbasal line.

Invercargill, in March, on flowers of Senecio after dark (Philpott); three specimens. Very distinct, perhaps nearest to the Australian nephelitis.

PterophoridÆ.

Platyptilia campsiptera, n. sp.

♂. 17 mm. Head and thorax yellowish-white, metapleura with an oblique black streak, frontal cone of scales moderately long. Palpi 3 ½, white, apical ⅔ externally irrorated with dark fuscous. Abdomen pale whitish-yellow, with a black lateral dot near base, and a few black lateral scales posteriorly. Legs white, banded with dark fuscous. Forewings cleft from ¾, upper segment rather narrow, apex produced, pointed, lower segment much broader, posteriorly dilated; whitish, tinged with pale yellow; costa towards base shortly strigulated with fuscous irroration; a small triangular fuscous spot irrorated with dark fuscous on costa before fissure, not reaching across first segment, and a smaller similar mark on costa between this and apex: cilia ochreous-whitish, spotted with fuscous round lower angle of first segment, and upper angle and termen of second, with a small black scale-tooth on dorsum at ⅔. Hindwings reddish-fuscous; cilia whitish, slightly reddish-tinged, with a blackish basal mark on lower half of termen of first segment, and mere traces of black scales in middle of dorsum of third segment.

Humboldt Range, Lake Wakatipu, at 3,600 ft. (Hudson). Mr. Hudson writes: “In this species the second digit of the forewing is held almost at right angles pointing downwards from the first digit during life; after death the digit assumes the normal position.” This would appear to be a very singular characteristic, which would repay further investigation. The species is allied to deprivatalis, but very distinct.

Platyptilia deprivatalis, Walk. 946.

This name supersedes Haasti, Feld.; I have examined the types.

TortricidÆ.

Epagoge, Hb.

This genus, which differs from Capua only by the absence of the costal fold in ♂, has not been hitherto known from New Zealand, but is well represented in Australia.

Epagoge cyclobathra, n. sp.

♂ ♀. 16–18 mm. Head, palpi, and thorax rather dark fuscous. Abdomen pale grey, Forewings elongate, suboblong, costa moderately arched, apex obtuse, termen hardly rounded, rather oblique; fuscous, slightly purplish-binged, sprinkled with dark fuscous, towards middle of costa suffused with dark ashy-fuscous, towards termen mixed with reddish-ochreous and strigulated with dark fuscous; basal ⅖ whitish-ochreous, marked with several deeper ochreous striÆ, outer edge curved; within this patch an irregular dark-fuscous streak from base of dorsum along costa to ¼, thence proceeding as a curved transverse streak to sub-median fold: cilia grey, with dark fuscous median line. Hind wings light grey; cilia whitish-grey, with darker subbasal line.

Invercargill, in December and January (Philpott); two specimens.

Trachybathra, n. g.

AntennÆ in ♂ moderately biciliated. Palpi moderate, porrected, rough-scaled above and beneath. Thorax smooth. Forewings with rough scales at base, in ♂ with costal fold; 2 from ⅔, 7 and 8 stalked, 7 to termen, 11 from middle. Hindwings with vein 4 absent, 6 and 7 stalked.

Allied to Capua, from which it differs by the rough basal scales of forewings, and the absence of vein 4 of hindwings.

Trachybathra scoliastis, n. sp.

♂. 18 mm. Head, palpi, and thorax brownish irrorated with grey-whitish and dark fuscous. Abdomen fuscous. Forewings

apex greyish-tinged and spotted with blackish irroration. Hindwings pale grey, veins partially dark grey; cilia grey-whitish.

Invercargill, in January (Philpott); one specimen. This, the second known species of the genus, is easily known from the other by the white ground.

PhaloniadÆ.

Heterocrossa iophaea, n. sp.

♀. 18–19 mm. Head, palpi, and thorax dark fuscous irrorated with whitish, face and palpi internally pale ochreous, palpi 4. Abdomen grey, two basal segments whitish-ochreous. Forewings elongate, narrow, costa gently arched, apex round-pointed, termen almost straight, oblique; dark fuscous irrorated with whitish, sometimes more or less mixed with pale ochreous; a series of small dark spots along costa; tufts brownish-ochreous suffusedly edged with black and posteriorly margined with whitish, viz., two near base sometimes surrounded with ochreous suffusion, a transverse angulated series beyond ¼, and five arranged round middle of disc, enclosed space sometimes blackish; a more or less defined angulated dark subterminal line: cilia rather dark fuscous irrorated with whitish. Hind-wings grey: cilia whitish-grey.

Invercargill, amongst bush, from October to February (Philpott); four specimens. Much the darkest species of the genus.

Heterocrossa gonosemana, Meyr.

Further material has convinced me that epomiana, Meyr., is only a variety of this species, and must sink accordingly.

GelechiadÆ.

Gelechia acrodactyla, n. sp.

♂. 15–17 mm. Head whitish-ochreous. Palpi ochreous-whitish; basal joint, lower third of second joint, and subapical ring of terminal joint dark fuscous. AntennÆ serrulate, pubescent, pale ochreous dotted with dark fuscous. Thorax whitish-ochreous, tinged or irrorated with brownish. Abdomen grey. Forewings elongate, narrow, costa gently arched, apex obtuse, termen rounded, rather strongly oblique; whitish-ochreous, irregularly irrorated with brown; plical and first discal stigmata rather large, blackish, plical rather before first discal; brown irroration forms a suffused costal patch beyond middle, and a narrow terminal fascia; cilia whitish-ochreous, with dark-grey subbasal line. Hindwings over 1, grey; cilia pale whitish-ochreous, with grey subbasal line.

Invercargill, amongst bush, local, in November (Philpott); three specimens. Allied to achyrota, but, apart from other characters, achyrota has two blackish rings on terminal joint of palpi, acrodactyla only one.

œcophoridÆ.

Borkhausenia armigerella, Walk.

Specimens sent by Mr. Philpott from Invercargill, in conjunction with the material already possessed, appear to show conclusively that actinias, Meyr., is only a strongly marked form of this species, and the name should therefore be reduced to a synonym.

Borkhausenia perichlora, n. sp.

♂. 21–22 mm. Head whitish-ochreous mixed with fuscous. Palpi whitish-ochreous, irrorated throughout with rather dark fuscous. AntennÆ dark fuscous. Thorax dark fuscous, apical half of patagia yellow-ochreous. Abdomen grey. Forewings elongate, costa gently arched, apex round-pointed, termen very obliquely rounded; ferruginous-brown, towards costa somewhat paler and more ochreous; a yellow-ochreous streak along dorsum from base to near tornus posteriorly whitish, upper edge triangularly indented before middle, with some blackish scales in indentation: cilia ferruginous-ochreous. Hindwings light grey, margins narrowly whitish; cilia whitish.

Invercargill, abundant among Leptospermum, in November and December (Philpott); three specimens. At first sight very similar to basella, but with termen of forewings more oblique, and easily distinguished by the fuscous-mixed head, uniformly infuscated palpi, and whitish cilia of hindwings.

Borkhausenia basella, Walk. (Incurvaria basella, Walk. 492; œcophora ademptella, ib. 698.)

♂. 18–21 mm. Head ochreous-yellow. Palpi ochreous-yellow, second joint except apex, and subbasal and subapical rings of terminal joint dark fuscous. AntennÆ dark fuscous. Thorax dark brown, apex of patagia and a posterior spot ochreous-yellow. Abdomen fuscous. Forewings elongate, costa moderately arched, apex obtuse, termen almost straight, oblique; ochreous-brown irrorated with darker, with a slight purplish gloss; costal edge finely ochreous-yellow except towards base; a whitish-yellowish streak, partly suffused with deep ochreous-yellow, along dorsum from base to ¾, upper edge broadly triangularly indented before middle, with a blackish dot in in-

dentation: cilia brown, irrorated with darker. Hindwings and cilia fuscous-grey.

Wellington (Hudson); six specimens. Distinguished by the uniform dark colouring and pale dorsal stripe; phegophylla, Meyr., is very similar, but much brighter-coloured, and has terminal joint of palpi wholly yellow, without dark fuscous rings; politis, Meyr. (of which I have both sexes) is much more mottled in appearance, with dark stigmata and subterminal line always apparent, and (though occurring in the same neighbourhood) truly distinct, since the antennal ciliations of ♂ are appreciably longer, obviously over 1, whilst in basella they are only 1.

Borkhausenia pronephela, n. sp.

♂. 16–17 mm. Head and thorax ochreous-yellowish. Palpi light yellowish, lower half of second joint dark fuscous. AntennÆ dark fuscous. Abdomen grey. Forewings elongate, rather narrow, costa moderately arched, apex obtuse, termen rounded, rather strongly oblique; yellow-ochreous; a pale yellow dorsal streak from base to near tornus; basal third of wing suffused with brown or dark fuscous except on dorsal streak which is indented by the dark colouring before middle, indentation partially whitish-edged and containing a blackish mark; two ill-defined fasciÆ of fuscous suffusion from middle of dorsal streak and tornus respectively, meeting on middle of costa; stigmata cloudy, dark fuscous, plical beneath first discal; some dark fuscous scales indicating an angulated subterminal line: cilia yellow-ochreous mixed with fuscous, with a fuscous postmedian shade. Hindwings grey; cilia whitish-grey.

Invercargill, on outskirts of bush, in December (Philpott); three specimens. A distinct species, intermediate between the basella and griseata groups.

PlutellidÆ.

Glyphipteryx metasticta, n. sp.

♂ ♀. 11–12 mm. Head and thorax bronzy - fuscous sprinkled with dark fuscous. Palpi ochreous-whitish, with two rings on second joint, and two rings and an anterior streak on apical portion of terminal joint blackish. AntennÆ dark fuscous. Abdomen fuscous. Forewings elongate, rather narrow, costa moderately arched, apex round-pointed, termen very obliquely rounded; 7 and 8 stalked; in ♂ ochreous-fuscous, sometimes partly suffused with bronzy-ochreous, in ♀ dark fuscous with a cloudy whitish streak along dorsum

Art. VIII.—The Increase of Nitrogen in certain Soils due to Nitroculture.

By A. M. Wright, F.C.S. (Berlin), M.Am.C.S.

[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 14th November, 1906.]

This paper is the record of an attempt to determine what increase of nitrogen takes place in soils which have grown a leguminous crop, with and without the aid of nitro-culture, and with and without the addition of sulphate of potash and superphosphate.

• The nitro-culture was obtained from the United States Department of Agriculture, the experiments being carried out with the garden-pea grown on various soils.

• Three soils were experimented with about 1,500 grams of soil being used in each pot.

The following are the conditions under which each soil was treated and cultivated:—

• Experiment 1. The crop grown without fertiliser or nitro-culture.

• Experiment 2. The crop grown with 1 gram sulphate of potash added to the soil.

• Experiment 3. The crop grown with 1 gram sulphate of potash and 1 gram superphosphate added to the soil.

• Experiment 4. The crop grown with the seed inoculated with nitro-culture.

• Experiment 5. The crop grown with the soil inoculated with nitro-culture.

• Experiment 6. The crop grown with the seed inoculated with nitro-culture and 1 gram sulphate of potash added to the soil.

• Experiment 7. The crop grown with the seed inoculated with nitro-culture and 1 gram of sulphate of potash and 1 gram superphosphate added to the soil.

From these experiments it would appear that there is a decided increase of nitrogen when the seed is inoculated with the nitro-culture; further, the increase is greater when sulphate of potash and superphosphate are added to the soil.

Except in the case of peaty soil (Table II), and when combined carbon was added (Table IV), there does not appear to be any special increase of nitrogen by inoculating the soil; and from the results presented in Table II, experiment 5, it is probable that the cellulose in the soil-humus is utilised to promote the growth of the organism and the increase of nitrogen.

The experiments presented here indicate that to a certain extent nitro-culture can be utilised to assist the replacement of the nitrogen removed by crops from the soil.

For permission to publish this paper I have to express my thanks to the Management of the Christchurch Meat Company (Limited), in whose laboratory most of the work was carried out.

Art. IX.—Notes on New Zealand Echinoderms; with Description of a New Species.

By H. F arquhar.
Communicated by A. Hamilton, Director Colonial Museum.

Although it is stated in the preface to the “Index” that I revised the Echinoidea, star-fishes, and Hydrozoa, I am not entirely responsible for the lists of these groups. When the late Captain Hutton was compiling the work, in reply to his request I sent copies of my papers to him, and some notes on the nomenclature of several species, and I offered to revise the lists when compiled, but I did not see them until the book was published.

Ophiuroidea.

Ophionereis schayeri.

This species, which is abundant near Wellington, Nelson, and Auckland, is very widely spread. Professor Kirk, of Victoria College, found it at the Chatham Islands; Mr. Haylock obtained specimens at the East Cape and at the Kermadec Islands; Dr. Ludwig has determined specimens from Juan Fernandez as our species (Zool. Record, 1898, Ech., p. 67); this or a very nearly allied form was described by Mr. E. A. Smith in the Proceedings of the Zoological Society, 1877, p. 92, from the Galapagos Islands, under the name Ophionereis albomaculata; and it occurs freely on the eastern coast of Australia. This is one of the two New Zealand littoral ophiurans which extend northwards into the Indo-Pacific region, the other being Ophiomyxa australis. I have found young specimens on the roots and stems of seaweed (Lessonia and Macrocystis), and it probably came to New Zealand across the Tasman Sea on floating seaweed. The southern branch of the Pacific Equatorial Current, which strikes the north-eastern coast of Australia and is diverted thence southwards and eastwards across the Tasman Sea, assisted by the prevailing westerly winds, has apparently been the means of adding many species to our littoral marine fauna. Our hydroid fauna especially shows the effect of this commingling of Australian forms with those which are peculiarly New-Zealandian.

The distribution of this sea-star appears to indicate a very great amount of vitality. From New Zealand (probably via the Chatham Islands) it has spread right across the South Pacific Ocean and up the western coast of South America in the line of distribution of the great sea-tangle of the Southern Ocean, Macrocystis pyrifera, a line of distribution followed by a considerable number of other southern forms, as pointed out by Professor D'Arcy Thompson in the Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xxii, p. 313. The holothurian Colochirus brevidentis is in the same category if Ludwig's identification of specimens from Juan Fernandez is correct. Professor Kirk also found Ophiomyxa australis at the Chatham Islands.

A number of specimens were dredged up by Mr. Haylock at Cape Maria van Diemen, between the little island on which the lighthouse stands and the mainland, in about 4 fathoms of water, among seaweed and stones.

Ophiopeza danbyi.

This species is given in the “Index” without a reference. It was described by me in the Linnean Society's Journal (Zool.), vol. xxvi, p. 189 (1897), from a specimen collected by Mr. Danby at the Kermadecs, which is now in the Canterbury Museum.

A number of echinoderms are given in the “Index” which are not in my “List.” The reason of this is that Captain Hutton included the species found at the Kermadec Islands and “Challenger” Stations Nos. 170 and 170a. These may be included in our fauna, as the Kermadecs are part of this colony, and their land fauna and flora are essentially New-Zealandian.

Asteroidea.

Gnathaster miliaris.

Having compared Gray's description and figure and Hutton's description of this species, and of his supposed new species (N. rugosus) with Perrier's original description of Goniodon dilatatus, and with Hutton's type specimens in the Colonial Museum, I have come to the conclusion that Hutton's N. rugosus is N. miliaris, Gray; and the specimens identified by Hutton as Gray's species are specimens of Perrier's Goniodon dilatatus. The synonymy of Gray's species G. miliaris will therefore stand as above.

Goniodon dilatatus.

Asterias rodolphi.

This Kermadec species is also given in the “Index” without a reference. A few notes were added by me in the Linnean Society's Journal (Zool.), vol. xxvi, p. 192, to M. Perrier's brief original description, which runs thus: “Very like A. gracialis, L., from which it differs chiefly in the number of rays, which is seven, and the position of the ventral spines near the ambulacral spines, which form a triple and not a double series as in the European species”: Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist., ser 4, vol. xvii, p. 34 (1876). The type, which is in the British Museum, was collected by Macgillivray during the voyage of H.M.S. “Herald” in 1854.

Cribrella ornata.

Professor H. B. Kirk found this species in abundance at the Chatham Islands. He also observed Asterias calamaria and Asterias scabra at the same place.

Echinoidea.

Echinobrissus recens.

This extremely interesting little echinoid occurs in Tasman Bay; specimens may be found on the beach at “The Sands,” near Richmond, after northerly gales. It also occurs pretty freely in the channel at the entrance of Port Nicholson. Mr. Haylock has collected a good many specimens on the beach between Day's Bay and Pencarrow Light, some of them being quite fresh with the spines on. The spines on the abactinal surface are short, slightly tapering, with rounded tips, and longitudinally striated, 1.6 mm. long; those on the actinal surface are longer and finer, the longest, 3.5 mm., being near the mouth. There is a specimen in the Canterbury Museum from the Chatham Islands, and one from Stephen Island. It also occurs in Foveaux Strait.

The genus Echinobrissus attained its maximum development in the later Jurassic and early Cretaceous periods, when its forms were numerous and widely diffused. Two species occur in the Australian Tertiaries, and one (E. papillosus) in the New Zealand Eocene. If this species occurs in Madagascar, as stated by Agassiz in the “Revision,” its distribution is not so remarkable as would appear at first sight, for it is evidently a very old form, and in far distant times—probably before the Cretaceous—Madagascar was much nearer to New Zealand zoologically than it is now. This is shown by the relationship

Art. X.—Note on the Bipolarity of Littoral Marine Faunas.

By H. Farquhar.
Communicated by A. Hamilton, Director, Colonial Museum.

[Read before the Wellington Philosophical Society, 1st August, 1906.]

The littoral marine fauna of New Zealand, in common with the land fauna, consists of several distinct elements. In all or nearly all the groups which have been worked up we find two comparatively small elements, which are nevertheless more interesting than the other parts of our fauna—namely (1) an autochthonic element, consisting of species which are peculiarly Neozelandian in type, and, having no relations in any other parts of the world, are entirely distinct from all other forms; these have arisen in the New Zealand area in extremely remote geological times; and (2) a representative element, consisting of species which are identical or closely allied to species inhabiting the northern temperate or Arctic regions. The latter are known as bipolar forms. The autochthonic element is stronger in the land fauna, but it is also well marked among our marine animals; and, although only a faint trace of the northern element is found among our terrestrial animals, it is much more strongly marked in the marine fauna.

The bipolar forms are thought by some naturalists to be the remnant of a fauna which was cosmopolitan in very early times, when a more equable climate probably obtained all over the world.

Of Hydroida we have six littoral species in New Zealand identical with European forms: Obelia geniculata, Sertularia operculata, Sertularella polyzonias, Plumularia setacea, Antennularia antennina, and Tubiclava fruticosa. Campanularia caliculata var. makrogona, which occurs freely in Wellington harbour, is a distinct species, for it always has the large type of gonangia figured by Bale in the Proc. Linn. Soc. of New South Wales, 1888. It is closely related to the European species C. caliculata, which occurs in Australia. Aglaophenia filicula occurs here and at the Azores; and almost all the genera are European.

The sea-anemone Actinia tenebrosa, which is only found between tide-marks, is the southern representative of, and closely allied to, A. equina. The genera are almost all common to both regions. Two New Zealand species known to me are entirely distinct from all others—namely, Halcampactis mirabilis,

I know little or nothing of the North Pacific fauna, but a comparison on the same lines would be extremely interesting. Then we need an Australian naturalist to give us an account of the character and affinities of the Australian marine fauna. And when our Tertiary fossils have been worked up, a comparison with those of the northern temperate and sub-Arctic regions will perhaps shed a little more light on this exceedingly interesting problem.

Art. XI.—The New Zealand Plateau.

By H. Farquhar.
Communicated by T. King.

Art. XII.—On the Occurrence in New Zealand of Platalea regia, Gould.

By Tom Iredale.

[Read before the Philosophical Institute of Canterbury, 11th July, 1906.]

In vol. ix of our Transactions, Dr. (now Sir) Walter Buller recorded the first occurrence of Platalea regia, Gould, in the colony. That specimen was shot in April, 1875, near the mouth of the Manawatu River, and is now in the collection of birds in the Colonial Museum. In vol. xxvii Sir Walter Buller stated that he had been informed by Mr. Townson, of Westport, that another specimen had been shot, on the Buller River, about January, 1892, and was preserved in Dr. Gaze's collection.

I have now to put on record another occurrence of this fine bird, making the third in a space of thirty years. The specimen, which I now exhibit, was shot on a lagoon near Greytown North, in the Province of Wellington, in the month of May, 1905. This specimen is an immature bird.

As the bird was set up as you now see it when I heard of it, I can only give you the words of the man who shot it. He said, “I was coming home by the side of the lagoon from rabbit-shooting when the bird rose from a hollow just in front of me. I shot it, and was surprised at the bird when I picked it up. I took it along to a friend of mine who dabbles in bird-stuffing, and he set it up for me. I found that it had been seen for some weeks previously flying about the lagoon, and several attempts had been made to stalk it, but all had been unsuccessful owing to its wariness. It had even been christened ‘the white hawk.’”

Art. XIII.—New Zealand Ctenophores,

By W. B. Benham, D.Sc.

Art. XIV.—On the Presence of another Australian Frog in New Zealand.

By George R. Marriner, F.R.M.S., Assistant, Biological Laboratory, Canterbury College.

peculiar whistle, which, when a large number joined in chorus, could be heard for some distance.

This at once aroused my interest, and through the kindness of Mr. H. West, Greymouth, I received five live specimens on the 3rd February, 1906.

On inspection I found that they were small frogs from 1¼ in. to 1 ½ in. in length, and of a brown colour; and in order to get them properly named I forwarded two live ones to Mr. J. J. Fletcher, of Sydney, who has done much work on Australian frogs.

He described it as Hyla ewingii, D. and B., var. calliscelis, and stated that it was included in the British Museum Catalogue of Batrachia (1882), page 406; he also informed me that it is one of the commonest frogs of eastern Australia and Tasmania.

On the 1st March I received about forty more from Mr. H. West, and so had a good opportunity of noticing any variation that might occur between different individuals. When exposed to light they are of a light-brown or even a very pale brown colour; there is usually a broad dark band running down the middle of the back, with two lighter broad bands on each side. The under-surface is lighter, and on the ventral surface of the thighs there is a yellow streak. When buried in the earth, or not exposed to a bright light, they go to dark reddish-brown colour—almost to a dark chocolate; and if one is buried with only a part of its body exposed to bright light, the buried portion turns a dark reddish-brown colour, and the exposed portion, no matter how small it may be, keeps its very light colour, the line of demarcation being very definite.

In the specimens that I received the male seems to be about ¼ in. smaller than the female, but otherwise they seem to be the same externally. The average size of my specimens was about 1 ½ in., but one specimen was about 2 in. in length. The head is large, eyes prominent, and snout short; hind feet are webbed, but fore feet are not so; all the digits have suckers at their tips.

The frogs in my case seem to be more strictly nocturnal than Hyla aurea, for they seldom come out in the daytime, except in wet weather. I kept a large number among some grass in a bell jar for some days; at night-time they could be seen climing all over the sides of the jar, but in the daytime they were almost all invisible. Since then I have kept them in a glass aquarium, with a dish of water and turf, but I seldom see them out in the daytime. Mr. H. West tells me that they are best caught at dusk or later, when they crawl over the grass, &c., and can be located by their peculiar cry, which somewhat resembles a whistle when compared with the hoarse croak of Hyla aurea.

Arboreal Habits.

Hyla ewingii is a true climbing-frog, but according to Mr. J. J. Fletcher it has, at least in Australia, altogether or nearly lost the arboreal habits of a tree-frog. In Westland, however, it still seems to do a fair amount of climbing.

Mr. A. P. Harper, of Greymouth, in a letter to me, gives the following account of their climbing propensities: “I have personally seen these frogs (Hyla ewingii) crawling over black-berry bushes at a height of from six to eight feet above the ground, and also in the middle of a patch of berry, five yards by three at least. They even crawl along the thorny stems. I have also seen them on the macrocarpa and in the branches of the natural creepers on a dead tree-stem. The highest these frogs climb above the ground is, I should say, about eight feet. On one old tree-stem covered with creepers, ferns, &c. (as one so often sees here) there are nearly always some singing-frogs. It is just above a pool which exists in wet weather only. I rather think they climb when the pools are dry, but I am not sure.”

Several that escaped from me on the 9th March I afterwards found clinging to the top of grass-stems about two feet from the ground. Whether the abundance of bush in Westland has stimulated the frog to make use of a power which it has almost lost in Australia is difficult to decide. At any rate, the frog's environment in Westland would certainly be conducive to tree-climbing, and the abundance of undergrowth and creepers would make it very easy work.

Breeding Habits.

Hyla ewingii evidently extends its breeding season into the autumn, for on the 1st March two lots of spawn were laid in the aquarium.

On the 11th and 12th most of the eggs hatched out, and the tadpoles, dark-blue in colour, after swimming about for a little time, finally fastened themselves to the water-weeds or to the sides of the aquarium.

After about three weeks of normal development the tadpoles had grown to about 17 mm. in length.

On the 22nd March I put five into an aquarium, which I shall call A; it was out in the open, about 2 ft. by 2 ft. by 1 ft. in size, and held 4 cubic feet of running water. Five others I put into an aquarium (B) situated in a hothouse. The tank was 2 ft. 8 in. by 15 in. by 7 ½ in., and held about 2 ⅓ cubic feet of standing water. During the autumn they were always visible swimming about in the aquarium, but when the cold weather

came they all disappeared. However, in aquarium B, whenever warm weather prevailed a solitary tadpole would appear from time to time, but in the coldest part of the winter no tadpoles were visible. It seems to me that when tadpoles remain as tadpoles all the winter, they must either bury themselves in the mud or else hide away among the water-weeds at the bottom of the aquarium, for I could never see any sign of them during the cold weather.

In the spring two tadpoles appeared in tank B, and only one in tank A, though no doubt several crayfish, which were living in the same aquarium, were partly responsible for the smallness of the number of survivors in the latter. Though the aquariums had plenty of water-weeds and submerged rocks, there was no place where the tadpoles could find a shallow landing-place where they would need their limbs for crawling, and the result has been that neither the lungs nor the limbs have been developed.

In autumn they would often come to the surface and take in large mouthfuls of air, as most tadpoles do, but since the winter they seem to have no inclination to come to the surface, but act to all intents and purposes similar to fish.

It has been stated that not only will tadpoles keep as tadpoles when reared under such conditions, but that they will increase in size in proportion to the size of the tank in which they are kept. Though three specimens are not sufficient to prove anything, yet the tadpoles in my aquariums do seem to uphold this fact. All of them were about 17 mm. in length when put into the tanks, and now the two in the tank holding 2 ⅓ cubic feet of water are only 25 mm. and 30 mm. respectively, while the one in the tank holding 4 cubic feet of water is now 45 mm. in length.

Distribution.

It seems almost certain that these frogs first made their appearance at Greymouth, whence they have extended inland and south.

From Greymouth they have spread either naturally or artificially up the Grey River for at least twenty-four miles to Ahaura, and very likely further, but so far all the places where I have found them to be present are on the south bank of the river, and none on the north, though it is not at all unlikely that they are on the opposite bank also.

At Brunnerton, eight miles from Greymouth along the river, they are plentiful, and seem to be increasing. No other kinds of frogs are said to be found there.

At Stillwater, nine miles from Greymouth and a mile past

Brunnerton, according to Mr. Mallock there are both the green and brown kinds present, though the latter are more numerous and are increasing.

At Ahaura, twenty-four miles up the river, only the brown frogs are present, and these appear to be increasing.

At the centre of their dispersion, Greymouth, they are said to exist in very large numbers, and seem to be increasing.

The only other place where I have them recorded is Hokitika, twenty-two miles south of Greymouth, and there is no reference to them being found in between these towns, so that it is very unlikely that they travelled overland—indeed, rumour says that they were brought by an unknown person from Greymouth.

At Hokitika Hyla ewingii is now very scarce, if not quite extinct. Mr. James King, of Hokitika, says that ten years ago the big green frog (I suppose Hyla aurea) was introduced, and perhaps this has something to do with the decrease of the brown ones. From what I have seen of the Hyla aurea it would find the small brown frog very eatable, and if it does not stop at eating its own kind there is very little chance of it sparing the small strangers. It is evident that they have not extended in any direction from Hokitika, for I have no place outside of that town where they are known to be present.

Its Introduction.

The next question is to find out how this frog came to New Zealand.

I thought that at first it might be an indigenous frog, but there seems to be no evidence whatever to support this theory. There is no record of it in the early days of settlement, and at all the places where it has been found its origin can be traced directly or indirectly to Greymouth.

As the frog was so common on the east coast of Australia I thought that probably it came over among the ballast of some ship trading between that continent and Greymouth, but this theory was upset on making further inquiries in Westland.

Several of my correspondents say that these brown frogs, Hyla ewingii, were brought from Tasmania by a Mr. W. Perkins in 1875, and through the kindness of Mr. T. Eldon Coates, of Greymouth, I received the report which is generally accepted in that town. He states that a Mr. W. Perkins, who was a barrister in Greymouth for some time, brought some of these frogs from Tasmania in a glass bottle in 1875. They were liberated in a drain in Alexandra Street, Greymouth, whence they have spread to the surrounding country. They have remained in