274 Transactions. — Botany. 



large bushes of Coprosmas mixed with Aspidiiwi vestituvi ; 

 but these two latter are not so tall as the tussock. At dis- 

 tances of about every i2rn. the ground is cut by deep gullies 

 having running streams in their bottoms, their sides covered 

 with scrub and their bottoms filled with a dense mass of 

 Ligusticum latifolium, L. antipodum, and Stilhocarpa polaris. 

 The Danthonia tussock has been already described. As for 

 the Coprosmas, they consist within of dense masses of bare 

 interlacing twiggy branches. On the periphery alone of such 

 bushes is the actual green part of the plant, and this leafy 

 zone only penetrates into the plant for perhaps 7 cm. at most. 

 Looking from the north side of Lyall's Pyramid at the slopes 

 bounding the opposite side of the fiat valley tilled with tussock 

 and tussock scrub, they are seen to be curiously marked below 

 by brown tussock meadow on the ridges, while very irregular- 

 shaped masses of scrub or tussock scrub define the main and 

 tributary gullies. Above all this is an even formation of sub- 

 alpine tussock meadow. Passing through the tussock scrub, 

 and keeping at a uniform height on the hillside, crossing in 

 the meanwhile gully after gully full of vegetation as described 

 above, wetter ground than the average is here and there en- 

 countered. Such contains a different assemblage of plants to 

 the tussock scrub proper, and should really be described under 

 another head, but for convenience' sake it is dealt with here. 

 It is especially instructive in showing how a change in the 

 water-content, even in a region where all the normal soil is 

 fairly saturated with water, will at once bring about a marked 

 change in the vegetation. On such a spot, which was spe- 

 cially examined, the Danthonia tussock, although still present, 

 was much reduced in size ; Pleurophyllum speciosicvi and 

 Pleur. Jtookeri were very plentiful ; Lomaria procera carpeted 

 the ground in many places and gave a character to the whole. 

 The common Dracophyllum was dotted about, but here again 

 a characteristic plant of another formation was much reduced 

 in size, the plants bemg less than 30 cm. in height ; in other 

 places the carpet consisted of a small Jwicus {J. scheuzeri- 

 oides ?), liverworts, mosses, Coprosma repens, Helichrysum 

 prostratum, Ligusticum antipodum, tufts ol Lycopodiinn varium 

 or Lycopodiuni fastigiatum rising up here and there ; while 

 everywhere Coprosma bushes, these much stunted, were scat- 

 tered about. Large breadths of Hymcnojyhyllum viultifiduvi 

 and hummocks of mosses and liverworts about 30 cm. in height 

 were abundant, while the ever-present lichens, both foliaceous 

 and fruticose, gave colour, their whites, yellows, and browns 

 contrasting finely with the many luies of green. In some 

 places water trickled over and in others stones cropped out of 

 the wet peaty ground. Finally, there were many large clumps 

 of Buibinella rossii. 



