to the possession of valuable karaka-trees, the fruit of which was a staple and much-liked article of food, … nearly all the older karaka-trees on the island are marked with devices indicating their special ownership—a fact of very great interest… . These figures are very rude, but were evidently sufficient for the purposes of the owners.” Captain Mair,* Trans. N.Z. Inst., 1876, vol. ix., p. 621. in the discussion which followed on the reading of the above paper, did not agree with Mr. Travers regarding the individual ownership of the karaka-trees, as these trees covered a third of the island, and their fruit must have been more abundant than the small number of the inhabitants could consume. Dr. Cockayne, who has recently explored the island botanically, draws attention to the large number of trees in the bush, and is evidently of the opinion that the karaka is indigenous; so the question as to whether the tree was indigenous to the island or was planted there by the early inhabitants is as much in doubt as ever. Lately a number of the marked trees have been cut down, and there are now several examples of the carvings in the Christchurch and Wellington Museums, and for a photograph of one of the oldest and most characteristic I am indebted to Mr. J. J. Kinsey, of Christchurch. It represents, in the conventional manner found in old cave paintings, a human being. It has been deeply cut through the bark of the tree down to the wood. The photograph is an excellent one, and shows the rounded swelling of the new growth of bark very well. Most of the other specimens that I have seen have had the figure indicated by incised lines, and are probably much more modern than the one figured. In connection with this marking of trees, it should not be forgotten that the Rev. R. Taylor† Te Ika a Maui,” 2nd ed., p. 20. states that sacred trees are common on the east coast of New Zealand. In the Bay of Plenty, he says, they are generally to be discerned by being painted red, or bound round with garments, or having rags suspended from their branches. Although there is every probability that these trees were karaka-trees, it is not so stated. If they had not been “on the coast,” the usual habitat of this tree, we might have concluded that the trees were reserved, or tapued, by chiefs for the sake of their bark for tanning purposes, or for their timber, such as are still to be seen in the Urewera country. The following extract from the first-quoted paper is an interesting part of the botanical history of the genus: “Corynocarpus was established by the Forsters in 1776 (Char. Gen. Pl. Ins. Mar. Aust., p. 32, t. 16), and, although the descrip-