484 MISS L. 8. GIBBS ON THE 
NosrocACEX. (Mr. Wm. West.) 
Nosroc COMMUNE, Vaucher. 
Victoria Falls, bog edge of Rain Forest and Livingstone 
Island, abundant. Sept. 200. 
Distrib. Cosmopolitan. 
In round green gelatinous balls, varying in size from that of a 
marble to a cricket-ball. On cutting open, these balls show 
a white matrix. <A very polymorphic species, which occurs in 
almost every latitude. 
PLANT ASSOCIATION AT THE VICTORIA FALLS. 
In considering the surroundings of the Victoria Falls from 
a botanical point of view, three distinct regions may be 
recognized, due rather to edaphic than geological conditions. 
The first is the Veld, or open Forest growth, which obtains 
through the whole of Southern Rhodesia, extending as far as eye 
can see on both sides of the Zambesi River. 
The second region seems to be limited to the immediate banks 
of the Zambesi River and islands above the Victoria Falls, in 
which the dominant plant is Kugenia guineensis. 
The third would include the bog edge of Livingstone Island 
and that of the opposite Rain Forest, with the famous Rain Forest 
proper, and Knife Edge, where Eugenia cordata predominates. 
The Veld. 
The surrounding country js a flat basalt plateau, over 
3000 ft. above the sea-level, through which the Zambesi River 
is gradually eutting its way back, in a series of zigzags which 
correspond to parallel planes of weakness iu the basalt. The 
soll, where there is any, is composed of white sand, which is 
supposed to have been blown down from higher up the river. 
It supports an open, deciduous, forest-growth, the trees being 
larg. r in size than is the case nearer to Bulawayo and in the 
Matopos. Botanically it might be called a tree steppe, locally it 
is always the “ veld.” Where irrigation is possible the soil is 
fertile, fruit-trees and vegetables having been grown with success. 
On this veld, in September, of the trees aud shrubs, Oncoba 
spinosa, Ximenia caffra, Diplorrhynchus mossambicensis, Royena 
pallens, Olax dissitiflora, Bolusanthus speciosus, and Vitex 
Jlavescens were found in flower; also in the vicinity of the 
