Tuhinga 10, 1998

The history and development of foreign ethnology collections in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

Roseanne Livingstone

ABSTRACT: The history of foreign ethnology (excluding Pacific) collections in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (Te Papa) is compared to that of three other New Zealand metropolitan museums: Otago Museum, Canterbury Museum and Auckland Museum.

The collections in all four museums have followed a similar pattern of development, although each museum has its own unique history. As a result of its early policy and practices, Te Papa has smaller, more disparate collections than the other three museums and, unlike them, acquired nearly all its foreign ethnology material passively.

Joseph Hooker, Charles Knight, and the commissioning of New Zealand’s first popular flora: Hooker’s Handbook of the New Zealand Flora (1864-1867)

D. J. Galloway

ABSTRACT: The Handbook of the New Zealand Flora (1864-1867) was commissioned by Joseph Hooker at Kew by the New Zealand Government at a cost of £600. The project was supported and closely monitored by Charles Knight, New Zealand’s Auditor – General, who helped provide Hooker with the financial means for this major botanical undertaking. Begun in 1863, the work appeared in two volumes. The first, published in August 1864, dealt with the flowering plants and ferns, while the second volume (which appeared in 1867) covered bryophytes, algae, fungi and lichens, and provided a list of introduced plants as well as an index of Maori names for New Zealand plants. The circumstances leading to the production of the Handbook have not hitherto been published. The process is now documented from contemporary correspondence held in the archives at Auckland, Kew (Royal Botanic Gardens) and Wellington.

Algal type material and historical phycological collections in the Herbarium at Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa

W.A. Nelson, L.E. Philips and N. M. Adams

ABSTRACT: The phycological collection housed in the Herbarium of Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa (WELT) contains scientifically and historically significant material including type specimens, primarily of New Zealand species of macroalgae; a set of W.H. Harvey’s Australian Algae; and algal specimens from the Thompson/J.G. Baker herbarium. The holdings of type material and Harvey duplicates are listed in full. There are 197 type specimens listed, of which nine are foreign taxa (holotype: 16, isotype: 105, lectotype: 2, isolectotype: 37, syntype: 30, isoneotype: 2, paratype:5). Lectotypes specimens for New Zealand taxa housed in the Agardh herbarium, Lund, are designated for eight taxa. The extent and nature of material within the Thompson/Baker collection is outlined.

Marine algae of the West Coast, South Island, New Zealand

Don Neal and Wendy Nelson

ABSTRACT: The West Coast of New Zealand’s South Island is a windward shore that transects a westerly temperate ocean current system. The coastline structure is very much dominated by its history of glaciation and tectonic uplift, and it’s high sediment loading, which combines to the marine region a distinctive ecological character. Within the region, three ecological districts (Buller, Westland and South Westland) can be distinguished. Although the biomass of seaweeds on the West Coast’s rocky shores and estuaries is often reduced by heavy sediment abrasion and other influences, over 175 taxa are recorded from historic and recent collections in the region. Significant features of the region’s algal flora are hard to discern on the basis of existing knowledge, but include the virtual absence of some common New Zealand species, and extensions to the known distributions of others.

A revised checklist of New Zealand liverworts and hornworts

David Glenny

ABSTRACT: An alphabetical checklist of New Zealand liverworts and hornworts is presented. Listed are 72 taxa newly described for the New Zealand hepatic flora, and 36 taxa additionally recorded for New Zealand since 1975. A guide to recent literature and anindex synonyms is provided. A new combination is made for Phaeoceros coriaceus.

Records of Cook Island lizards

B. J. Gill

ABSTRACT: The distribution of lizards across the islands of the Cook Islands group in the South Pacific, is documented by a listing of museum voucher specimens. Some islands have not been fully surveyed for lizards, but, to date, 14 species are known from the group – eight geckos and six skinks.