198 FRANK C. GATES 



season, nor to any noteworthy extent in the dry season follow- 

 ing. Revegetation began in earnest in the second rainy season 

 with the invasion of the strand, at places along the northern 

 coast and at the southern corner of the island, by the beach 

 morning glory {Ipo7noea pes-caprae) and a legume {Canavalia 

 lineata) of similar appearance. At lower altitudes in the same 

 rainy season grass plants appeared simultaneously on several 

 of the slopes facing north and east. Talahib {Saccharu7n spon- 

 taneum indicum), which forms fully 75% of the grass on the 

 island, is exceedingly abundant on the mainland, less than 10 

 km. distant. It seeds profusely at a time when the monsoon 

 wind is favorable for distribution to the island. In the north- 

 western part of the island the dominant grass is Themeda gigantea. 

 With no opposition, grass rapidly became established and spread 

 in all directions, producing a dense stand at lower elevations. 

 In October, 1913, except for one small patch of grass on the 

 crater rim, there was no vegetation above 175 meters. The 

 densest vegetation was below 100 meters. By December of 

 that year the density of the grassland had increased and new 

 clumps were found at higher elevations. In April, 1914, fur- 

 ther advance was very conspicuous. Clumps of Saccharum 

 were present on the slopes leading to the crater rim, at a few 

 places on the rim, and even for about 10 meters down in the 

 crater, as well as on all the higher ridges leading from the crater 

 towards the north. The density had increased to a closed 

 stand well up to 150 to 175 meters and even higher in a few 

 places. At the southern end of the island, the grass was like- 

 wise spreading, but less rapidly. While in December, 1913, 

 there were no plants whatsoever on the eastern and western 

 slopes — the scenes of severest devastation — in April, 1914, 

 about 50 isolated clumps of grass had put in appearance near the 

 shore on the western slope and a somewhat greater number on 

 the sides of the gullies near the shore on the eastern slope. 



A little later than the appearance of grass in the second rainy 

 season, but simultaneously over considerable areas, avevectant 

 shrubs and small trees appeared in the grassland and to a lim- 

 ited extent also on bare ground. Ficus indica and Morinda 



