STEWART ISLAND

Southland Times, Issue 19459, 26 January 1925, Page 5

STEWART ISLAND

ITS VALUE TO THE SCIENTIST. PLANT AND BIRD LIFE. AN INTERESTING LECTURE. In his opening lecture at the Teachers' Summer School, now in progress at Stewart Island, Mr W. Martin, Headmaster of the Training College at Dunedin, gave some very interesting particulars concerning the plant and bird life on the Island, and spoke of the unique position which the Island occupied from a botanical and a geographical point of view. In opening he dealt with the early history of the Island and mentioned that in 1770, when Captain Cook discovered it, he reported that it was not an island but a peninsula, but subsequently when Captain Stewart of the ship Endeavour began to visit it, he corrected that impression and became closely associated with its progress in the now far distant past. Mr Martin went on to mention that everything pointed to the fact that the Island was at some time or other connected with the mainland and that it also formed part of a huge continent with which the Chatham Islands in the north and the Auckland and Campbell Groups in the south were also joined. Such a conclusion he said was founded on scientific grounds, and further proof of this fact was afforded by the plants to be found both at Stewart Island and the other places mentioned. NATURAL HISTORY. Dealing with the natural history of the Island Mr Martin stated that Dr. Lyall, who was surgeon on the ship Acheron, was the first scientist to make a collection of the plant life on Stewart bland, and though his collection was limited in extent, it had proved a very valuable one. It was not until about 1880 that the next real step was taken to ascertain the botanical value of the Island, and then the Hon. G. M. Thomson of Dunedin, and Dr Peirie, now of Auckland, who was then Chief Inspector of Schools in Otago, had commenced very important investigations in the matter of dredging the various inlets and also in exploring the different parts of the Island life. Thus it could be said that less than 50 years had passed since the subject was first taken in hand in a systematic way. He emphasised the point that the bush to be found on the Island was absolutely virgin and species of plants which were only found elsewhere in the Dominion, in the remote parts of Westland, South West Otago, and the King Country, were fairly abundant in Stewart Island. He deprecated any attempt being made to introduce pests such as the rabbit and the stoat etc.,- as these would speedily destroy the bush and the birds. In that connection he was very sorry to think that deer had been liberated in the southwest portion of the Island, because it was well nigh impossible to shoot them on account of the density of the bush, and there was no gainsaying the fact that these animals were doing an incalculable amount of harm. SHOULD BE A SANCTUARY. In his opinion, said Mr Martin, it was the biggest blot on the progress of events in the Island when such a step had been taken and some scheme to eradicate them should be undertaken by all scientific bodies. There was reason to believe that every form of bird life still existed as in the very early days, and the kiwi, weka, crow, canary and fern bird, which were practically extinct in all other parts of New Zealand were quite common on the Island. For the sake of posterity, he considered that the whole Island should be reserved as a sanctuary, and all foreign animals or plants strictly debarred from finding a home there. Just as efforts were being made to preserve the Bluff Hill for the sake of its rich botanical and geological specimens, so should all interested bodies and the residents themselves, take active steps to secure typical blocks of land covered in its original vegetation in various parts for the sake of future generations. It was a crying shame that the bush should be so carelessly thrown away because a portion of it was required for the benefit of the sawmiller. IDENTIFICATION OF FERNS. When the teachers attending the Summer School were at Kaipipi on Friday afternoon, Mr W. Martin took the opportunity after lunch of giving a brief talk on “Ferns and How to Know them.” In introducing the subject he showed the place of the fern in the scheme of life, and among other things showed that the true fern plant, that is, the plant equivalent to the flowering plant, was a minute heart-shaped prothallus rather than the large growth commonly known as the fern. Proceeding. Mr Martin gave a practical description of the fern and demonstrated its several structures. The frond, he said, was connected to the horizontal rhizome by a strip corresponding in position to the stalk of a leaf. What in a leaf was called midrib, was in the fern known as rachis. The terms pinnuls, sorus, spore case and spore, were also explained and demons’rated ho that anyone interested would be able to intelligently read up further explanations. Mr Martin then went on to give a simple talk on how to indentify ferns ns brackens, hard ferns, spleen worts and the like, and of the 65 varieties of fems to be found on Stewart Island, close on 50 were rapidly grouped and reviewed individually. The generic name, he said, was always determined from the position and arrangement of the spore clusters found on the margin or the undersurface of the frond, the distinguishing or specific name being determined by considerations of shape of frond, nature of the surface, hairy or smooth, winged or wingless stripes and the like. Thus if the spore cases occurred in round unprotected clusters or sori, the fern was a polypody, if they former! a more or Jess continuous line around the margin it was a bracken, but if they occurred in grooves and lying at an angle with the midrib, they were spleen worts and so on. Ferns which were known as hard ferns, or otherwise Blechnum, were recognised by the presence of two types of frond, and filmy ferns by the peculiar ©unlike spore ferns were also briefly explained as well M the local tree and umbrella i xuoae

species which m'ght be t ran planted, and what would only wither and die were pointed out, and the lecturer specially asked the teachers present to use their influence in checking the stupid vandalism carried out by numerous people who plucked every beautiful fern that they came across. If people would only restrict themselves to spleenworts, hardferns and shield ferns, they would find that these were both beautiful and easy of culture, most of the other.! requiring special attention in this respect.

Mr Martin throughout I • i.- . his remarks wth numerous diagrams and actual specimens gathered u. u- . -

ing bush, which proved a most suitable classroom for the purpose.