Records of the Canterbury Museum Volume 29 2015 

Terry R Hitchings, Tim R Hitchings, Matthew D Shaw

ABSTRACT: New Zealand mayflies form an important component of the freshwater aquatic fauna, being of particular interest to conservationists, bio-geographers, recreational fishermen and all people with an environmental concern for the health of rivers and streams. The database lists more than 10,800 records largely based on Canterbury Museum’s mayfly collection. For the 39 species with previously published maps, more comprehensive maps with many additional datapoints are now given. A further 11 wholly new maps for recently described species are added. The database is at present being expanded to incorporate uncertainty estimates of site location data, and the data for Canterbury Museum specimens is being transferred to the Vernon Collection Management system, which will aid specimen retrieval. These additions are explained. The possible conservation status of some mayfly species is discussed.

Roger Fyfe, Kyle Davis

ABSTRACT: The presence of large quantities of moa egg shell in a number of archaeological contexts has been interpreted as testimony that eggs formed a substantial seasonal component of the moa hunter diet as well as serving a wide range of other functions such as grave goods and raw material for artefacts. Despite the archaeological potential of eggshell, apart from moa, the analysis of eggshell in archaeological sites in New Zealand is to date non-existent. Eggshell is almost impossible to reliably identify taxonomically based on morphology alone and even where it has been retained, archaeological eggshell is often archived without taxonomic identification. This paper utilises ethno-historical evidence to establish that the eggs of a wide range of species are known to have been exploited in Te Waipounamu (the South Island) of New Zealand. The eggs of seabirds in particular, offered a significant resource that remained a seasonal focus of economic activity until the early twentieth century. The application of scientific advances in eggshell identification techniques are reviewed for their potential to be used to overcome perceived problems with the interpretation of eggshell in archaeological assemblages in New Zealand.

Julian Vesty, Joanne Cobley

ABSTRACT: This research report analyses the eclectic yet incomplete archives of the Christchurch Psychical Research Society held at Canterbury Museum and the Macmillan  Brown Library, University of Canterbury. The Society, active in the early decades of the twentieth century, was part of a wider international spiritualist movement situated on  the border of science and religion. This report presents a critical reading of the Society’s scrapbook evidence collated by its leader, Edgar Lovell-Smith, between the 1920s and 1940s. Through these ephemeral fragments and in particular the ritual of the séance, the authors attempt to better understand what can be learnt about psychical research in Christchurch, a historical hub for reformist and alternative spiritualist movements, in the interwar period. The research methodology combined family history with a critical and descriptive reading of archive documents on a topic – Spiritualism – frequently overlooked by mainstream academic historians. Drawing from key secondary alternative religious literature we sought to uncover how investigations into the paranormal by the Society were simultaneously embraced and questioned by its members.

The full volume of Records of the Canterbury Museum 31.