Art. XXIX.—On the Occurrence of Poa litorosa Cheeseman on Herekopere Island. By D. Petrie, M.A., Ph.D. [Read before the Auckland Institute, 11th December, 1912.] In the early summer of last year Mr. H. Guthrie-Smith, of Tutira (Hawke's Bay), kindly sent me some live tufts of native grasses from Herekopere Island (off Stewart Island). Among these was a piece that, on flowering this season, has proved to be Poa litorosa Cheeseman, a grass that was thought to be confined to the subantarctic islands of New Zealand. Along with this came a piece of Poa foliosa Hk. f., which the late Mr. Kirk collected on the same island a good many years ago, as well as pieces of two other grasses, one of which is a new species and is described in another paper contributed to this volume. This extension of the range of Cheeseman's species is of considerable interest, as it adds an additional link to the already well-known connection between the floras of New Zealand proper and of the subantarctic islands. The grass is likely to occur at the Snares. The flora of this isolated group is still very imperfectly known, and a careful exploration of its botany is urgently needed.

Art. XXX.—Note on the Pollination of Rhabdothamnus Solandri A. Cunn. By D. Petrie, M.A., Ph.D. [Read before the Auckland Institute, 11th December, 1912.] In a short paper in vol. 35 of the Transactions I described the mode of pollination in this species, and came to the conclusion that the flowers are pollinated by the agency of birds, though no direct evidence of this was at the time available. It is with much satisfaction that I can now submit such evidence. Mr. M. Fraser, of New Plymouth, who spent his boyhood in the Upper Waipu district of Auckland Peninsula, writes me that in the early days of settlement this shrub grew in great abundance on the loamy river-flats of the Waipu district. He again and again observed the tui visit its flowers to feed on the abundant nectar secreted by them. His attention was specially attracted by the patient and dexterous efforts of the bird to maintain its foothold on the slender naked branches, and its cleverness in swinging its body and twisting and stretching its neck and fluttering its wings till it succeeded in inserting its bill into the flower. The struggle that led to the sucking of the nectar amply explains the occasional rupture of the corolla, to which I appealed as evidence that the flowers are pollinated by birds. Since the original paper was written I have never lost an opportunity of examining the flowers of this interesting plant, and have seen nothing to conflict with the account there given of the remarkable mechanism that makes auto-pollination impossible. It is one of the most beautiful adaptations to prevent auto-pollination that I am acquainted with.