III.—Botany.

Art. XXIX.—On the Flora of the North, Cape District. By T. F. Cheeseman, F.L.S., F.Z.S., Curator of the Auckland Museum. [Read before the Auckland Institute, 5th October, 1896.] Plate XXIII. The extreme north of the Auckland Provincial District, including in that term the North Cape peninsula and the long and narrow strip connecting it with Ahipara and Mangonui, is little known to the residents of Auckland. Nor is this at all surprising. With the exception of one or two runholders, the European population is confined to the diggers of kauri-gum and the storekeepers who supply their wants; there is little or no farming, and practically no permanent settlement. Roads and bridges are unknown, and the usual way of reaching the district is by following the magnificent sandy beach which curves from Ahipara northwards, almost reaching Cape Maria van Diemen. Or the traveller may embark in a diminutive steam-tender that occasionally runs from Mangonui, and which will land him, glad once more to stretch his limbs, either at Ohora or in Parengarenga Harbour. In many respects the district is Uninviting. A large portion is more or less covered by drifting sands; another part, almost equally extensive, is occupied with swamps, varied here and there with shallow lakes. There are no forests worthy of the name; the hills are not high enough to be called mountains, and are mostly bare, barren, and desolate-looking. Its sole picturesque features are the cliffs on the northern coast, with their little bays and minor indentations, and the broad western beach, stretching as far as the eye can reach, and lined from end to end with row behind row of white foaming breakers. The first person to explore the district from a natural-history point of view was the veteran botanist Mr. Colenso, who in 1839 travelled from Kaitaia northwards to Cape Maria van Diemen, and from thence to the Reinga, Spirits Bay, and the North Cape. During the journey he collected several of the plants peculiar to the district, notably Hibiscus diversifolius