The North Island flora has hitherto been regarded (in the absence of a knowledge of the South Island flora) as representing the general vegetation of our New Zealand possessions. But the New Zealand Islands extend through thirteen degrees of latitude, and the floras of their northern and southern extremes necessarily present various marked differences. The former flora is more subtropical, and the latter more antarctic in its affinities. The former, morever, is richer in natural orders, genera, and species.