Chilton. — Canterbury College Mountain Biological Station. 335 



its moisture in heavy rainfall on the western slopes of the Southern Alps. 

 At the Cass the wind, though fairly dry, is still cool : it is often strong, 

 and is frequently accompanied with showers of rain, with corresponding 

 effect on the vegetation. Farther to the east the wind continues, soon 

 assuming the dry hot character that makes it so disagreeable on the 

 Canterburv Plains. The station is fairly well protected from the cold 

 south-west winds. 



In the winter snow frequently falls, and may cover the ground for some 

 days, but it seldom lies for any long period of time. The ground around 

 the station was covered with a thin coat of snow on the 13th June, 1914, 

 and there were two slight falls towards the end of November in the same 

 year. The neighbouring hills are, of course, much more frequently covered 

 with snow which remains on them for much longer periods than on the lower 

 portions. 



The building that has been erected is a substantial cottage, strongly 

 built to withstand the prevailing north-west winds. It contains a large 

 living-room, with fireplace, cooking- appliances. &c. and is fitted with cup- 

 boards and shelves and the necessary accommodation for field laboratory 

 work. There is a sleeping-room with bunks capable of accommodating eight 

 students, and a small room with two bunks for the teachers or leaders of 

 the parties. It is hoped in time to form at the station a small working 

 library of books required for field-work, and collections of preserved material 

 of plants and animals from the surrounding districts which could be worked 

 up either at the station itself or elsewhere. The station can be readily 

 reached from Christchurch by a train journey of about four hours" duration. 

 At present the train service is on alternate days only, but probably before 

 long there will be a daily service. 



The foregoing account will, I think, show that the Canterbury College 

 Mountain Biological Station is eminently suited for the purpose for which 

 it was established, and that the vegetation of the surrounding district 

 offers great opportunities and many problems to the botanists of the future. 

 There is every reason for hoping that by the students of the College and 

 by other workers there will be produced a long series of notes embodying 

 the residts of observations and experiments made at the station, and that 

 the expense of its establishment and maintenance will be far more than 

 repaid by the value of the results attained. 



I am greatly indebted to Mr. W. F. Eobinson, Lecturer on Surveying 

 at the School of Engineering, Canterbury College, for the preparation of 

 the map accompanying this article, and to Messrs. Foweraker and Nelson 

 for the photographs. 



DESCRIPTION OF PLATES. 



Plate V. 



Fig. 1 . The station building seen from the north-east ; behind is the railway-station, 

 and in the distance the valley of the Cass. (P. S. Nelson, photo.) 



Fig. 2. General view ; showing the swamp and Grasmere Stream in the foreground, 

 the shingle-fan with the station building on the right, and the snow-clad 

 mountains beyond the River Waimakariri in the distance. (P. S. Nelson, 

 photo.) 



Plate VI. 



Fig. 3. The station building seen from the south-west, with the patches of beech forest 



behind. (C. E. Foweraker, photo.) 

 Fig. 4. View of the shingle-fan, looking towards Mount Sugarloaf r tussock, Aciphylla 



squarrosa, and Discaria toumatmi in the foreground ; beech forest and mountain 



scrub in the distance. (C. E. Foweraker, photo.) 



