Cockayne. — Botanical Excursion to Southern Islands. 307 



and, of course, sheep also can range, and have most probably 

 ranged, over it. Such spots are specially instructive, because 

 these burnt and unburnt portions of the formation can be ob- 

 served side by side. An account has been given, when deal- 

 ing vvith Campbell Island, of this vn-gm formation, so no 

 more need be said on this head. The burning would, in the 

 first instance, destroy all the plants and parts of plants which 

 were above the surface of the ground. Some would be killed 

 outright, and others spring up again from their underground 

 parts. At the time of my visit the former tussocks were 

 indicated by rotten dead masses of leaves, &c. The Gojnosma 

 bushes were a mass of dead interlacing branches, v^hich 

 showed most admn'ably the manner of growth of those shrubs. 

 The floor of the formation beneath such dense bushes had for- 

 merly been quite bare, there being neither space nor light 

 enough for plant-life. Now the floor beneath such Goprosvia 

 skeletons is most densely covered with the pale bluish-green 

 Acana ; but frequently this is mixed with Epilohmvi limicBO- 

 ides and Stellaria decipiens. Such new growth is usually of 

 extreme closeness. In the new formation Aspidium vestitum 

 is abundant, having come up again from its rootstock after 

 being burnt to the ground. On the ground between the Go- 

 prosma skeletons and the Aspidium is much Acana, while 

 Epilohium linnceoides and Stellaria decipiens are exceedingly 

 abundant. In this case, again, the plants tohich give the stamp 

 to the physiognomy of the original formation are no longer 

 p)rescnt, lohile certain plants present in no great abundance 

 before, arid which have corne tq) from seed, are noio dominant, 

 the Aca,na especially being on the point of becoming a "weed" 

 in the eyes of the farmer. This changing of indigenous plants 

 into weeds by disturbing the balance of nature is well shown 

 in Chatham Island, where, even in ground constantly grazed 

 by sheep, Accena novce-zealandice is extremely abundant (23, 

 p. 306), while the frequent burning of bog-vegetation has 

 finally led to the common bracken — Pteris esculenta — occupy- 

 ing large areas where formerly it hardly existed, and hinder- 

 ing the growth of grasses available for stock (23, p. 307). 



Where the Dracophyllum scrub of the lower levels has 

 been burned Accena also is making great headway, though 

 here also Aspidiimi vestitum remains. Most probably such 

 burning of scrub will in time transform the whole scrub 

 formation of the island, except in deep gullies, into meadow of 

 some kind or other. 



From the above it is very easy to see that Campbell Island 

 will be a very different place in a few years' time, so far as its 

 plant-formations and plant inhabitants are concerned, if the 

 island continues to be a sheep-run. Possibly none of these 

 latter will be altogether destroyed, unless it be Danthonia 



