20 Papers. 



fast killing out the species of Panax, which are completely barked up to 

 4 ft. or 5 ft. from the ground. Horses will also bark the shrubs of this 

 genus. 



The Waipakihi River (the main source of Lake Taupo and the Waikato 

 River) rises in the Kaimanawa Mountains, and flows through them for 

 some eighteen miles before emerging into the plain. The upper reaches 

 drain some thousands of acres of pumice-flats, the Kaimanawa Range, 

 although of old sedimentary formation, having been plentifully peppered 

 with pumice from the contiguous volcanic area. The pumice-flats contain 

 material in which rabbits may easily burrow, and they have accordingly 

 taken possession in their thousands. The flats are at an elevation of from 

 3,000 ft. to 3,500 ft., and are covered with a shrubby growth of Veronica 

 buxifolia, V. laevis, V. tetragona, and V. salicijolia (family Scrophulariaceae), 

 or with tussocks of Poa caespitosa and Festuca rubra and Danthonia Kaoulii 

 (family Gramineae), with smaller plants between, such as Raoulia australis, 

 Acaena sp.. &c, and Aciphylla Colensoi. It is difficult, owing to the ravages 

 of the rabbits, to say what the flora of the grass-flats originally was. Pro- 

 bably a number of finer grasses have been eaten out. and evidence is not 

 wanting that food is scarce. Little piles of the leaves of Veronica salicijolia 

 were seen near the bushes, which may be attributed to rabbits nibbling the 

 stalks off and leaving the blade. Many plants of Aciphylla Colensoi (family 

 Umbelliferae) had been eaten down to the heart. The harsh Festuca rubra 

 tussocks seemed to have suffered less than other grasses, but even these had 

 been occasionally attacked. At Waipahi (Kaimanawas), just above the 

 bush-line at 4,400 ft., on the hillside, Danthonia Raoulii was the sole sur- 

 vivor, and that had been badly eaten, possibly by wild horses as well as 

 by rabbits and pigs. 



These two valleys, though widely separated, are excellent examples 

 of natural sanctuaries, including extensive river-flats walled in by steep, 

 heavily bushed mountains, the only natural outlet being a long, winding 

 gorge where the river issues into the plain. The floras of these valleys are 

 rapidly changing in character owing to the attacks of imported animals, 

 which, because of difficulty or illegality of access to the valleys, are not 

 kept in check by man. 



One effect of imported animals may be to restrict the more edible plants 

 to situations beyond their reach. A species, therefore, which is able to 

 adapt itself to any station may by compulsion be restricted to one. For 

 instance, lepidium oleraceuw (" Cook's scurvy-grass " — family Cruciferae) 

 has been eaten out along the Wellington Coast, and is now r generally only 

 to be found growing on inaccessible rock-faces. Similarly, Senecio Greyii 

 (family Compositae), although able to grow on any soil, as testified by its 

 presence in most collections of native shrubs, at Mukumuku, Palliser Bay, is 

 restricted, possibly chiefly ow r ing to goats, to stations which would lead the 

 ecologist to class it as a chasmophyte. One may see abundance, of this 

 beautiful free-flowering plant growing on the cliffs, but it is with great diffi- 

 culty that specimens may be secured. A common plant of littoral rock- 

 faces is the grass Agropyrum scdbrum, which is greatly relished by sheep. 

 It is being eaten out possibly on the central volcanic plateau of the North 

 Island and elsewhere. At Alexandra, Central Otago, this grass assumes the 

 habit of a tussock-grass, and is then better able to resist close cropping. 



It is, indeed, on the littoral that the evidences of the destructive influence 

 of animals on vegetation are most readily found. The long winding coast- 

 line of South Wellington Province affords a commonage where both domestic 



