NATURE NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18297, 13 January 1923, Page 1 (Supplement)

NATURE NOTES.

THE GREAT BARRIER.

BT 3. DBUMMOND, P.E.S., ff.Z.S.

A geological visit to the Great Barrier Island has convinced Mr. J. A. Bartrum, Auckland, that it formerly was a continuation of the • Coromandel Peninsula. He describes it as a rugged, elevated, much-dissected mountain mass, about twenty-four miles long, and varying up to thirteen miles wide. BhyoHte lavas lend themselves to the evolution ofwierd pinnacled crags and sheer precipices, which, with alluring whiteness, give a fascinating picturesquenesa to the landscape carved from them. Islets and reefs that thickly fringe the shore" line represent extensions of land-masses not yet cut down by the attacks of waves. On the western side, "youthful, precipitous, lofty cliffs form an immature " coast, except where they are interrupted temporarily by bays, and by deep, narrow entrances to the wonderful and beautiful Pitzroy Harbour.'' He found streams actively building deltas at the heads of bays, -and noted an absence, even in land-locked Fitzroy Harbour, of the mangrove-dotted mud-fiats common in most North Auckland harbours.

On the eastern side, th© coast, which is more exposed. to the vigorous attacks of the waves there than on the western side, haa been cut back much more regularly. Formerly several harbours similar to Fitzroy Harbour were on the east, out they have been shut off from the open sea by spits or barrier beaches. Lagoons formed by the process hav a been largely obliterated by blown sand, or swamp, or some other filling. Mr. Bartruni was impressed by a conspicuous feature of the lanuscape on the northern wail' of the Awana Valley. Seen from open country near the top of a ridge, at a distance of little less than a quarter of, a mile, • it looks like a great vertical wall probably 100 feet high, built of horizontal columns, apparently of rhyolite.

A native plant that is in bloom now, and should continue in bloom until the autumn, is worth close, attention, on account of a peculiarity in the colours of its flowers. It belongs to the family of the nightshades. Its Maori name, poro-poro, has been corrupted by settlers, inexcusably, into " bullibull." Botanically it is Solanum aviaculare. It is a leafy shrub, with leaves occasionally lOiri. long. It grows in both islands. Its flowers usually are dark purple, but individual plants are found sometimes with white flowers. More than twenty years ago, Mr. T. F. Cheesemah, Auckland, noted that individuals at Buckland, Manakau County, with white flowers . had ' a different aspect from that of individuals with purple flowers. Later, Mr. W. Townson, examining the species at Pukekohe, Franklin County, found that no individuals with purple flowers ever produced a white flower, and that individuals with white . flowers have , pale green leaves, • much thinner and ■ more delicate in. texture than the leaves of purple-flowered individuals, and have a. slender and more graceful anpearance. When seeds of white-flowered individuals, collected by Mr. J. Graham, were planted in the Patumahoe school garden, about 30 plants were raised, and all had white flowers and other : characters of white-flowered , individuals. The facts lead Mr. Cheeseman to ,believe r that the white-flowered New Zealand Solanum; is a stable variety, and should be distinguished by" a name "of its own. '•* Further observations, probably, will confirm this opjnion., .:'-•'".'■'. '.;,- '■■[.'■. --:" ; X A" : ;. : : ;'

A comparison between A the flowers of the poro-poro and the flowers . of. the potato, Soianum tuberosum, which came originally from the Cordilleras., of Peru and 'Chile I ,' proves a close relationship,between those plants, in spite of the if act that their native countries are far apart. Another New: Zealand nightshade, Solanum. nigrum, the black nightshade, is a cosmopolitan. . It is one of the world's weeds. Its range in New Zealand, where it is fairly plentiful, extends from; North Cape to Central Otagb. Its small" white, drooping flowers, in evidence throughout the New Zealand summer, contrast with its , black, , sometimes red, berrie* Although these are used for - tarts in the Old Country, botanical text-books' state that they are a virulent poison. ■■<

The tobacco plant, Nicotiana Tahacum, which occasionally escapes from cultivation, in rich warm soils \in the -North Island, is on the list of introduced members of the nightshade family that have established themselves - in.:. :i New Zealand; also the Cape gooseberry and the henbane. , The kumara, . Ipomam balatus,, sometimes known as the ''sweet potato," is not a potato, but a member of the con.r volvulus, family. It is not in the list of native New Zealand plants, as j; botanists agree that' the Maoris introduced it from Polynesia during their 'migrations several hundred year 3 ago. '\ Once ; their chief vegetable food, it still is grown 'fairly extensively by them in the North Island. Its : native country Is - uncertain.. : A connection of it, ■'Ipomcea palmata, is a twiner with lovely purple flowers, darker in the centre than at the edges', which beautify . the .Kerraadec Islands and »ea cliffs, from the North Cape to the Bay of Islands and Hokianga from December to April.

- A correspondent, who does not supply his name, confirms Mr. L. M. Monekton's statements that some Maoris have superstitious dread of green lizards. He states that there is a belief amongst them • still that souls of departed Maoris travel as lizards to To Beinga, Spirits' Bay, and from cliffs there leap into the other world. He knows of miners who were bothered bv inquisitive Maoris, and who kept them off by tethering a lizard in the drive. Otago and Southland Maoris did not give Mr; H. Beatie, of Gore, much satisfaction when He asked them as to their feelings, towards .lizards. An old man said to him, "I never.heard of .-. the .tuatara herebut I have seen a lizard two feet long, „ It was on the ■ top of one of ' the Hokanui hills. Because I had had a bad dream the night before, I killed it with a big stone, lighted a fire and burnt it. . It was the biggest lizard I ever saw. An old man told me afterwards that I was wise to. kill ■ and burn it as it prevented any evil happening to me on account of my dream. Some of the old Maoris used lizards for food. They made pete of the lizards, which came 'when their names were called, and which slept alongside their owners. A pet lizard, Te Horo-mokai, ; was kept at a village near Kaitangata, but was lost." - ■* lizard about two ; feet long, probably, was a tuatara, or an exaggeration.

Mr. Eldson Best states that the tuatara was the only reptile eaten by Tuhoe Maoris before Europeans cams. They haa no superstitious feeling towards the tuatara or ithe mokomoko, which, apparently, is the common brown lizard, found usually under stones and logs, but, -strangely, : it was regarded as an - evil omen to see any other species of lizard. They believed that :; tuataras were pro-: duced by birds. One species of , lizard was believed to be the parehj of the shin-' ing cuckoo. Lizards were sometimes selected as guardians of property in Tahoeland, apparently on account of the ear they caused. A lizard was placed in a tree much frequented * by. birds, to warn off poachers., Some places were noted; for the numbers of tuataras they produced. Tuataras were collected at Mount Edgecombe, placed in baskets, taken alive to the village, and cooked and eaten; hut the food seems to have been reserved for ,men, as a belief was held that if women tasted it thev would he attacked by many tuataras, and, probably, would jperiali*