Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/24

xx and was issued in 1832, under the title of "Essai d'une Flore de la Nouvelle Zélande," accompanied by a folio atlas of plates. Richard included not only the species collected in the two expeditions of Duperrey and D'Urville, but also most of those obtained by Forster in Cook's second voyage. Altogether 380 species are enumerated, 211 of which are phænogams and 169 cryptogams, 51 of the latter being ferns. It is the first publication dealing with the flora of New Zealand as a whole, and possesses considerable merit, so much so that it is to be regretted that so little use of it has been made by New Zealand botanists.

Early in the nineteenth century a trading intercourse sprang up between the North Island and Sydney, and by degrees a small European settlement began to form at the Bay of Islands. This led to occasional visits from colonial botanists and explorers, and much additional information was thus obtained respecting the flora. In 1825 Mr. Charles Eraser, Government Botanist and Superintendent of the Sydney Botanical Gardens, landed for a day in the Bay of Islands, and made a small collection of plants. In 1826 his successor, the indefatigable Allan Cunningham, paid a visit of over five months' duration. Through the assistance afforded by the resident missionaries he was able to explore the greater part of the Bay of Islands district, and to visit Whangaroa and Hokianga, making extensive and valuable collections. In 1833 his brother, Richard Cunningham, arrived in H.M.S. "Buffalo," which had been sent to New Zealand by the Admiralty to obtain a cargo of kauri spars for experimental purposes. He also spent nearly five months in travelling through the Bay of Islands, Whangaroa, and Hokianga districts. In 1838 Allan Cunningham paid a second visit, remaining at the Bay of Islands through the whole of the winter and early spring; but the precarious state of his health prevented all active work, and his collections were consequently small. He returned to Australia in October, 1838, utterly exhausted and worn out, as his biographer says, "by twenty-five years of unwearied exertions and laborious travel," and after lingering a few months, died at Sydney in June, 1839.

During a short visit to England, Allan Cunningham had prepared for publication a sketch of the Flora of New Zealand, entitled "Floræ Insularum Novæ Zealandiæ Precursor; or, A Specimen of the Botany of the Islands of New Zealand." The first part of this work appeared in the "Companion to the Botanical Magazine," Vol. ii.; the remaining portions in the "Annals and Magazine of Natural History," Vols. i. to iv. In it Cunningham enumerates the whole of the species published by Forster and A. Richard, including also some of Banks and Solander's plants which had been described by other botanists. To these he adds the new species discovered during his first visit and that of Richard Cunningham. Altogether the "Precursor" includes the names of 639 species, of which 394 are phænogams and 245 cryptogams. Although