T. KiKK. — DisplacevLent of Species in Neio Zealand. 17 



of renewal, since the surface-soil, being charged with resin, 

 becomes so intensely heated that all fallen seeds are destroyed, 

 and the site of the forest becomes a desolation, which, after a 

 short interval, is partially covered with an unattractive weedy 

 growth, the seeds of which have been introduced in the wool 

 or hair of animals, or the wings of birds, or blown by aerial 

 currents, after a time to be slightly relieved by patches of 

 bush-lawyer {Buhus australis, Forst.) or other uninviting 

 plants. There is probably no greater scene of desolation in the 

 colony than the sites of the large kauri forests in the Kaipara 

 district and on the Cape Colville peninsula. In cases like this 

 the direct and intentional agency of man compresses into a 

 brief space a far greater amount of destruction than would be 

 effected by natural agencies during many centuries. 



In.jury caused by Cattle. 



Whenever cattle gain access to the forest they browse upon 

 the young shoots, while they consolidate the soil, thus pre- 

 venting the germination of seeds and consequent renewal; this 

 renders the atmosphere dry, and eventually leads to the de- 

 struction of the older trees, although no actual clearing may 

 have been made by man. 



Next to man, however, the chief agents in this destructive 

 work are the slieep and the rabbits. Some districts are eaten 

 almost bare by these close feeders, little being left except the 

 tough bases of the silver-tussock {Poa cczspitosa, Forst.) and 

 the wiry, ligneous stems of Muhlenbeckia and similar plants ; 

 even the woolly leaves of some species of Celmisia are often 

 closely cropped, the result being that the more delicate plaiits 

 are all but extirpated over large areas. In a few localities 

 goats have been equally destructive. I have been informed 

 that the tainui {Pomaderris apetala, VaVd.) has been com- 

 pletely destroyed at Kawhia, where it was formerly abundant, 

 and is now restricted to the south head of the Mokau Eiver 

 and the Chatham Islands. 



Injury caused by Eats. 



Some plants formerly plentiful have been to a large extent 

 destroyed by the pig and the rat [Mus rattus, L., and M. 

 decumanus, L.), as the curious orchid [Gastrodiacunningliamii, 

 Hook, f.), the tubers of which are highly nutritious. This 

 plant has become very rare in districts where the black rat is 

 plentiful. On one occasion, in 1874, I found three remarkably 

 fine specimens, quite 2ft. in height, with tubers Gin. or 7in. in 

 length, and placed them in what seemed a safe place in a hut 

 at Omaha, but during the night they were carried off by the 

 rodents. Both the pig and the grey rat feed upon the fleshy 

 roots of the larger Umbelliferae. 



