368 Transactions. 



descends to about 909 m. altitude, and here it may lie for about 

 a week. From this it can be seen that the subalpine scrub will 

 never be exposed to the heavy weight of snow which will be 

 borne by the alpine plants proper, and that it will have usually 

 no protection from the numerous frosts of winter and from 

 those others which may occur at any season of the year. 



During five months of summer the whole of the Seaward 

 Kaikoura Mountains are clear of snow, although occasionally 

 at Christmas there remains a small patch on the south-west 

 flank of Mount Kaitarau, close to its summit. Often, however, 

 in December, November, and October there may be a fall of 

 snow on the mountains which disappears in the course of a dav 

 or two. 



As for the rainfall, Dr. Gunn points out that even at the base 

 of the mountain it is greater than at Kaikoura, and higher on 

 the slopes it must be much greater still. My experience of 

 Mount Fyffe during my first visit gave me some idea as to the 

 climate of that mountain. When the wind blew from the sea — 

 a very common wind — the mountain rapidly became enveloped 

 in mist, which turned into rain of greater or less violence. On 

 one occasion, only a few drops of rain fell at the base of the 

 mountain, but above, the fall was so heavy as to cause a creek, 

 dry in the morning, to flood the road on either side of its course 

 in the afternoon for a distance of more than 15 m. The day on 

 which I climbed to the summit of Mount Fyffe was quite clear 

 in the morning, but at noon a mist gathered on the summit, 

 and in an incredibly short time the rain came down in torrents, 

 and so continued during the whole descent. 



(c.) Floristic and Ecological Details regarding the Members of the 



Scrub. 

 To come now to the life-forms of the plants. Cassinia 

 albida is, so far as has been recorded hitherto, confined to the 

 Kaikoura Mountains and their vicinity. It is especially dis- 

 tinguished from C. vauvilliersii, of which Kirk considered it a 

 variety, in the tomentum of the under surface of the leaf, which 

 is white or yellowish-white, and not fulvous as in this latter 

 species, and this character gives the shrub a most distinct ap- 

 pearance. There are two forms of C. albida — the one with a 

 thin covering of hairs on the upper surface of the leaf, which 

 is not noticeable without close examination, and does not in 

 the least veil the green of the leaf ; the other covered with a 

 mat of fine white hairs on the upper surface of the leaf, so as 

 to give the whole plant the appearance of being covered with 

 dust or afflicted with a mildew. This form, though not nearly 

 so common as the type, is to be encountered everywhere, and 



