XII, C, 4 Brown, Merrill and Yates: Volcano Island 203 
ness of the area is very evident. In the distance there are scat- 
tered clumps of Saccharum. On the right is seen a low divide, 
which separates this fan from the prominent one north of Mount 
Tabaro. The latter region is very extensive and is the most 
barren large area on the island, there being only a very few 
small tufts of grass present. Photographs of this area taken 
before the eruption indicate a very sparse vegetation at that time. 
The photographs of Mount Tabaro taken before the eruption 
(Plate V, fig. 1, left of picture) also indicate that it was bare 
or supported only scattered clumps of grass. At the present time 
the only vegetation on it consists of very scattered and dwarfed 
tufts of Saccharum. In the left of plate XIV, fig. 2 is a view 
of this mountain. The drainage from the southwestern rim of 
the crater and Mount Tabaro supported some trees and scattered 
grass before the eruption (Plate V fig. 1). Now only a few 
clumps of Saccharum are present in this area (Plate XIV, fig- 2), 
but the slow revegetation is not surprising in view of the scar- 
city of plants before the eruption. 
The growth of Saccharum on the upper slopes of the crater 
and near the rim consists very largely of scattered dwarfed tufts. 
The only trees observed here were a few individuals of Ficus 
indica and one of Acacia farnesiana. Two ferns, Nephrolepis 
biserrata and Ceropteris calomelanos, occur as widely scattered 
and dwarfed individuals on the outer slopes of the crater near the 
rim. Plate XV, fig. 1, shows the entire rim of the crater from 
the southeast. : : 
In a limited area on the northwestern wall, a few meters above 
the floor, there is a sparse development of vegetation consisting 
of Erigeron linifolius, Lygodium japonicum, Nephrolepis biser- 
rata, Ceropteris calomelanos, Odontosoria retusa, Onychium sili- 
quosum, Blumea lacera, Fimbristylis squarrosa, and a single plant 
of Neonauclea bartlingii. Most parts of the inner walls of the 
crater are too steep to support vegetation, but here and there - 
scattered tufts of Saccharum occur. Several trees, probably all 
of which are Ficus indica, occur on the northern wall of the 
crater. The one shown by Gates* is now between 5 and 6 me- 
ters high. One individual of the fern Nephrolepis biserrata was 
observed on the inner wall of the crater near the rim. On the 
floor of the crater there is almost nothing except scattered clumps 
of Saccharum. In a small area in the northwestern part there 
are, besides the Saccharum, scattered tufts of Mariscus stuppeus 
and Fimbristylis squarrosa. Plate XV, fig. 2, shows the walls 
“ Gates, F. C., Philip. Journ. Sci. 9 (1914) Bot. pl. 10, fig. 3. 
