Page:Manual of the New Zealand Flora.djvu/31

Rh included many singular and prominent species, and the genus Traversia (now reduced to Senecio) was named in his honour by Sir J. D. Hooker. He contributed many papers and addresses more or less relating to the botany of the colony to the Transactions of the New Zealand Institute, and was an earnest and assiduous supporter of botanical research up to the time of his death in 1903.

The well-known geologist and explorer Sir Julius Haast first landed at Auckland in 1858. Meeting Dr. Hochstetter, the geologist to the "Novara" expedition, he travelled with him through the greater part of the interior of the North Island, subsequently visiting portions of the Nelson District. After Hochstetter's departure, he accepted an engagement from the Nelson Provincial Government to explore the western and southern portions of the province, a work which occupied the greater portion of 1860, and during which he became familiar with the alpine vegetation of that part of the colony. In the following year he was appointed geologist for the Province of Canterbury, and at once commenced a series of expeditions into the then little-known Southern Alps for the purpose of studying their geology and physical structure, and of forming botanical and zoological collections. The botanical results, with which we are alone concerned, proved to be most important, and cast a flood of light on the nature and distribution of the alpine flora of the colony. I quite concur with Sir J. D. Hooker's opinion that it is difficult to imagine how Sir Julius Haast, with so many and such arduous duties as surveyor and geologist, could have personally effected so much for botany as he has done. Most of his botanical work was performed in the years between 1860 and 1870, but his interest in the subject remained undiminished until his death in 1887. His name is appropriately commemorated in the genus Haastia, the three or four species of which rank amongst the most curious and remarkable in the flora. His collections were either forwarded to Kew or distributed among European museums, but few being retained in the colony.

Dr. Lauder Lindsay, a well-known British botanist, visited New Zealand in the summer of 1861–62, and spent nearly four months in investigating the botany of eastern Otago, the district examined stretching from Dunedin to the mouth of the Clutha River, and inland to Tuapeka. The results of his journey were published in 1868 under the title of "Contributions to New Zealand Botany," with four coloured plates. Dr. Lindsay gives the total number of species collected at 612, of which 199 were phænogams and 413 cryptogams. The memoir contains much information of value, the critical notes in particular being copious and interesting.

Mr. John Buchanan arrived in New Zealand prior to 1860, taking up his residence in Dunedin. He at once commenced an assiduous study of the native vegetation, making many important discoveries and collecting large suites of specimens. In 1862 he accepted the