Cockayne. — Plants of Chatham Island. 297 



from that of the tableland. The undergrowth of ferns is 

 greater than I observed elsewhere on the island. Polypodium 

 rugulosum with fronds 1-5 m. in length, Aspidiwn oculatum 

 of nearly equal size, and Lomaria procera with fronds rather 

 larger than either of the above, form dense masses on the 

 steep well-drained slopes. Asplenium bulbiferum was ex- 

 tremely proliferous ; on one pinna were as many as fourteen 

 young ferns, several of which were 32 cm. long. Some of 

 such young ferns had fronds 8 cm. long, with sometimes three 

 together. This proliferous habit of Asplenium bulbiferum 

 seems evoked by excessive moisture in the atmosphere, for 

 such ferns are met with only in the dampest forests ; but this 

 has not been established experimentally as yet. Tree ferns 

 so tall as to reach into the tree-tops are, as in all Chatham 

 Island forests, very abundant, and, as usual, their stems have 

 a large plant population. 



The most striking feature of the forest is the enormous 

 number of the climbing stems of Rhipogonum scandens. These, 

 together with the closely growing thin liane-like stems of 

 Piper excelsum, made travelling through certain parts very 

 laborious, one having actually in many cases to crawl along 

 the ground for considerable distances. 



Besides ferns, the floor of the forest is covered in many 

 places with the thin-leaved Australinia pusilla, while seed- 

 lings of the different trees are very abundant. Within the 

 forest there are two natural ponds, and one or most likely 

 more open spaces. The ponds, though plainly visible from 

 the summit of the cliffs, I unfortunately missed finding, owing 

 to the density and difficulty of the " bush." 



The open space was covered with Polypodium rugulosum 

 1-4 m. tall, Carex temaria(7) , and Agrostis cemula, with 

 Acana novce-zelandice climbing through the whole. Such an 

 open space, taken in conjunction with the ponds and their 

 surroundings, looks like a remnant of the original vegetation 

 which first took possession of the ground after the landslip 

 and prepared the way for forest trees. This view is supported 

 by the fact that young trees of Plagianthus chathamicus are 

 growing on the open space mentioned above, and that such 

 a place consequently at no very distant date would, if not 

 disturbed, become uniform with the rest of the forest. 



Olearia chathamica Formation. 

 This formation is cecologically related to the drier phases 

 of 0. semidentata bog, but to what formation it is related 

 genetically I cannot suggest. If the structure of the leaf and 

 the general habit of the plant be taken into consideration, 

 there seems no reason why 0. chathamica should not share 

 the same station with 0. semidentata ; indeed, from its larger 



