NATURE NOTES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19418, 28 August 1926, Page 1 (Supplement)

NATURE NOTES.

BOG AND MOUNTAIN PLANTS. BY J. DRCMMO.VC, F.L.S., F. 2.5. An interesting association of three NewZealand plants have been noted by Mr. H. C'arse, Ellerslie, who has helped largely to add to a knowledge of this Dominion's flora. He was the first botanist to observe a strange and remarkable little plant, a minute, slender herb, which forms dense, moss-like tufts from half an inch to an inch high. He saw it on the sandy shores of Lake Ngatu, on the coast north of Ahipara It is known in no other place. Early in this century, Mr. Carse, Mr. E. H. Matthews and Mr. H. B. Matthews noted in a peat bog between Lake Tangonge and sand-dunes that lie along the west coast of Mangonui, three plants. Ono is a iycopod, Lvcopodium Drummondii, one a rare orchid, Corysanthes Carsei, and the other is Lepyroclia Traversii. These three plants were found close together, in a very restricted area. A few years after the discovery, a big ditch was dug through the bog, and the plants soon disappeared. This led to a belief that the Iycopod and the orchid had become extinct in New Zealand, Other circumstances suggested that the third plant could be looked for only in tho Chatham Islands. In 1925, Mr. Carse found that the Lepyrodia was abundant in a peat bog close to Tauhei, near Morrinsville. Mr. Carse visited Tauhei again in November last year. It seemed to him that, as the plant association there was similar to the association in the Tangonge bog, he might there find the Iycopod. He was delighted to find it in abundance. Having found at Tauhei two of the three plants associated at Tangonge, he searched carefully for the third plant, the orchid. His efforts were crowned with success. He saw three of last season's individuals of the orchid, with remains of flowers and with seedlings. In both habitats, the Iycopod and the orchid occur only on parts of bogs burnt off in recent years. This leads Mr. Carse to inquire as to where the spores of the Iycopod and the seeds of the orchid come from. He writes:—"Have they been lying dormant in situ for years, awaiting favourable conditions to enable them to germinate ? The plants are so small and so close to the surface of the ground that tho wind hardly can bo taken as tho factor in their distribution." The Lepyrodia occurs in bogs on the Chatham Islands, and he suggests that some Chatham Islander who wishes to help botany should examine those bogs to discover if the other members of tho strange trio are there also. A branch and flower-head of the New Zealand edelweiss have been sent by Mr. H. F. Chaffey from Upper Takaka, Nelson, with a note that ho has the species growing there. Ho states that it does not grow below 5500 ft. in that district. Since Sir Joseph Hooker named this little perennial herb Helichrysum grandiceps, splendid gold of the sun, sixty-two years ago, it has retained that j grand title, but botanical nomenclature now demands that tho title aptly bestowed by the great botanist should be discarded in favour o£ Leucogenes grandiceps. "The flower-head, when in full bloom," Mr. Chaffey writes, " has a ring of tiny deep golden florets around the central disc, which makes the flower-head very charming and beautiful." Another New Zealand edelweiss that graces the' mountainous district in which Mr. Chaffey lives, and also keeps above the 5500 ft. mark there, is Leucogenes leontopodium. This plant has exactly tho same aspect as the edelweiss of the Swiss Alps famed in sentimental lore, except-that tho flowcr-liea'ds are different in structure. A third New Zealand edelweiss, Leucogenes Grahami, has been reported from only the Mount Cook district. These three species are found in New Zealand only, but their habits closely resemble the habits of the Swiss edelweiss.

Notes on mice in the bush are included in Mr. Chaffey's letter. He states that mice wero very plentiful ovor a large area near his residence from last spring until May,, when they unaccountably disappeared. They did not disappear completely, but previously five, six or seven might be caught in traps every day or night, and when he wrote, on July 19, only one might be trapped in a week. The same conditions were observed in whares further back. During the six months that preceded May difficulty was experienced in preserving food intact in either whare or tent, and " the annoyance of mice running over you all night made sleep a matter of fits and starts." The mice did not confine themselves to habitations, but were seen everywhere in the bush in that area. Their numbers were very great. It is improbable that trapping has reduced them noticeably, and they cannot have died from other causes. Mr. Chaffey believes that the i main body has sought other quarters for the sake of food supplies, They take fair quantities of berries when these are ripe; in the autumn Mr. Chaffey often has seen them in konini or fuchsia trees, eating the sweet and palatable berries. Recent observations, however, have convinced him thfit their chief food is the wetas, strange and very ugly insects. Until fairly soon before Mr. Chaffey wrote these were plentiful in the, trees and in dead timber, and often were found in and near his cottage, but for some three months not one could be seen; a clean sweep had been made of them. Some species of wetas live in trees, but Mr. Chaffey states that they often come out, especially in wet weather. As they probably cause the early decay and •stunted growth of many trees in those forests, Mr. Chaffey believe"?, that mice are beneficient, in that respect at least. Although the only mouse in New Zealand—the house-mouse, Mus musculus, a native of Asia that has spread far and wide, until it has become almost a cosmopolitan—feeds mainly on seeds, grain, fruit and berries, it is practically omnivorous, and will eat or gnaw "many things, from lead-pencils to trees; but Mr. Chaffev's theory that it raids wetas is only a suggestion. The mouse, by the way, is believed to be susceptible to musical sounds, to which it seems to listen with marked attention. Individual mice, there seems to be no doubt, have vocal powers. A lady in England had a mouse that ran up the octave and ended with a decided attempt at a trill. It sometimes tried to trill up the notes. She distinctly saw the expansion and vibration of its throat and chest, as in a songbird. This singing-mouse, when it performed, usually stood erect on its hind feet. The name of a bird which recently arrived at Mrs. E. A. Carter's home, Kikowhakarere, Coromandel, and which is so tame that it has become a member of the family, is a house-myrmh, or Indian mynah, an Indian bird introduced to New Zealand from Australia to help to check the insects in this Dominion. Mrs. Carter describes it as about the size of a starling, to which, by the way, it is related, with a dull plumage, yellow bill and legs, a fawn breast, arid a white-tipped tail. " The most interesting thing about our visitor," Mrs. Carter states, " j,s its habits. It may be seen with the sparrows, looking for grubs and then parading on the beach. If the day is' sunny and the tide is just coming up or leaving the beach, our friend may be seen wading and having a great splash. When I go near the fowlyard it quietly flies to the nearest tree and waits for its share. When I go again at four o'clock I give it dry bread, and off it goes to bed in the macrocarpa. I am getting quite a lot of amusement out of this bird. I have a squadron of feathered pets—seagulls, sparrows, kingfishers, and the little bush canaries—and all expect some attention in the way of meals." j