422 J. w. BEWS. 



all the above. Certain species are peculiarly characteristic 

 of rocky situations, but these are not so frequent on the coast 

 belt as in the midlands. The species are Encephalartos 

 altensteinii, E. ghellinckii, E. villosus, Olea verru- 

 cosa, Meesa lanceolata, Plectronia ciliata, Carissa 

 arduina, and the Euphorbias detailed in the general list 

 given above. The type again gives way to close scrub and 

 forest. 



(g) Thoen Veld. — This type advances towards a thorny 

 scrub, which appears to be the climax for the drier areas on 

 the north coast around Verulam and again north of Stauger 

 towards the Tugela and in Zululand. The factors Avhich 

 determine it have already been outlined, viz. the greater 

 range of temperatures, the slightly lessened rainfall, the full 

 exposure to dry, hot " foehn " winds, and the nature of the 

 soil with a hard shale usually near the surface. The domi- 

 nant species are the Acacias, Dichrostachys nutans, and 

 the Euphorbias (see general list above), but as the succession 

 advances many of the less hygrophilous species also come in 

 though they do not manage to assume dominance. The type 

 as it occurs near Verulam is illustrated in PL XXIV, tig, 1. 



7, Coast Scrub. 



(The initial stages of the forest sere, PI. XXIV, fig. 2.) 



This unstable transitional type is more mesophytic than the 

 thorn scrub. It is widely developed, and formerly was very 

 extensive, but at the present time, since so much of it has 

 been cleared to make way for sugar-cane, it is patchy. It 

 follows in the hydrosere after vlei grasses, and in the xero- 

 sere after Tambookie associes, or it is formed from mesophytic 

 tree veld as described above. On steep, rocky banks or in 

 dongas and ravines it often develops at a much earlier stage 

 of the succession, following immediately on lithophilous vege- 

 tation. Even the taller trees may sometimes be the earliest 

 arrivals, their seedlings finding the necessary shade and 



