Volume 14 Australasia - dana ward's homepage

FaUXA of XEW ZEA1.A.SJJ. 439gum much valued for the preparation of varnish. But it has been recklessly cutdown, owing to the excellent quality of its timber as a building material ; wholeforests have been cleared in the construction of the new towns, and before measureswere taken, to re-plant the clearings, the species itself was in danger of. beingexterminated. The climate appears to have also contributed to reduce the rangeof this tree. Along the banks of the Molyneux, in the southern part of SouthIsland, the ground contains large quantities of kauri gum, although at present thespecies is confined to the province of Auckland in North Island. The fossilresinous substance collected in the southern regions of New Zealand looks as freshas that derived from living plants; j'et long ages must have passed since the pinesproducing it have gradually receded some 600 miles northwards. The old gum,being more compact, is much more highly valued than than obtained from treesstill standing, and trading companies have been formed for working the richdeposits in various parts of the country.FautvA of New Zealand.The indigenous fauna is no less original than the flora, and is supposed bygeologists to comprise only a single mammal, a species of otter, whose traces wereseen by Von Ifaast, and which was pursued by other explorers, without, however,being captured. The Maori rat, now utterly exterminated by its European rival,appears, as the natives assert, to have been introduced by themselves, as was alsothe dog, which was nowhere found in the wild state. There are neither snakes nortortoises in the archipelago, and even the batrachians are represented only by asingle species confined to one locality on the east coast of North Island. I ii^ards,however, abound, and compri.se as many as twelve .«pecies occurring in no otherpart of the world. One of these, the hnffcria piincfafa, numerous in an islet in theBay of Plenty, is of very peculiar form, somewhat intermediate between theordinary lizard and the crocodile; hence, although quite harmless, it was regardedwith a certain superstitious awe by the Maori.Before the introduction of European species the New Zealand rivers were almostdestitute of fi.sh. Some, however, of the native forms are remarkable for the vastextent of their range. Such are an eel found also in China, Europe, and the WestIndies, and a trout, which is likewise met in the streams of Tasmania and SouthAmerica. One of the great curiosities of the New Zealand biological order is aspecies of caterpillar (xp/iwrin Rohertsi), which burrows a hole at the foot of a tree,and in which a tall fungus then takes root and grows above the surface of theground.Of the New Zealand fauna the most remarkable class is that of the birds,which is very rich, comprising altogether about 150 species. One-third of theseare peculiar to the archipelago, and constitute seventeen or eighteen absolutelydistinct genera, some presenting some very curious features. Such is the hitia, akind of starling {heteroJorha Gouldi), the male and female of wh'ich have entirelydifferent beaks, the one straight, the other curved quite round like a sicJvle. Butthe essentially characteristic bird is Ijbe famous khvi [apteryx), absolutely wingless