Hill. — Rntomahaiui and Df strict rtvixited. 287 



reclothed with vegetation adapted to the physical conditions at present 

 existing. 



An interesting question arises as to what the future of the volcanic 

 area is Ukely to be with Rotomahana as a centre. When Mr. Percy Smith 

 wrote in 1893 the lake was 985 ft. above sea-level, and had risen 420 ft. in 

 less than eight years. Sixteen years have since elapsed, and Rotomahana 

 has risen an additional 65 ft., has largely extended its area, and is now 

 within 30 ft. from the lowest point in the direction of Lake Tarawera ; 

 and in the meantime much of the devastation caused by the eruption has 

 been obhterated — so much so that a stranger unacquainted with the facts 

 of the eruption would fail to realize that within so short a period as twenty- 

 four years an entire district, occupying thousands of square miles, was 

 affected by the material from a volcanic explosion, whilst tens of thou- 

 sands of acres of land were covered with mud and volcanic debris and 

 all vegetable and animal life destroyed. 



And yet this process of destruction and renewal is ever active. The 

 Tarawera eruption is not the only one that has taken place in the history 

 of vulcanism in this Island. Similar eruptions have taken place in the 

 Waiotapu Valley, at Rotokawa, and Wairakei, in the Waikato from 

 Tapuharuharu to Orakeikorako, and in Taupo itself. The Taupo Plateau 

 has been covered and built up of products from explosions such as those 

 of Tarawera Mountain and Rotomahana Lake. Nor should the student 

 of vulcanism separate the Tarawera country from the other portions of 

 the volcanic district, the old as well as the new ; but this aspect of the 

 question must be left for discussion until the second portion of my paper 

 on the Taupo Plateau is considered. There my desire is to throw out a 

 suggestion as to the reclothing of the earth's surface with organic life 

 following a period of great volcanic activity. It has always been a 

 puzzle- — nay, a mystery — how new plants and animals appear at the 

 outgoing of one formation and the incoming of another. All traces of the 

 previous forms of Hfe are not destroyed but new species come in and old 

 ones die out. Does an eruption like that of Tarawera and Rotomahana 

 afford any clue to the answer ? It seems to suggest a possibility. 



In times gone by explosions have been on a much grander scale than 

 are now experienced, and much larger areas of country were affected. 

 Organic hfe must have suffered, and at times have been almost destroyed ; 

 and adaptation to the new environment was enforced on the flora and fauna 

 that were not swept away. Surely there is some probabihty that the life 

 within special areas would be largely affected in this way, and when the 

 forms of life extended from other districts and came within the limits of the 

 conditions existing following an eruption a merging must take place so as 

 to conform to the new conditions. Could animal and vegetable hfe undergo 

 marked modification by such means ? It may be possible, but it is difficult 

 to put the matter to a test. 



A separate inquiry into the botany of the Taupo Plateau may provide 

 some suggestive matter, as showing speciahzation or variation from specific 

 types ; and now that attention has been called to the subject some botanist 

 of leisure may think an inquiry on this point may not be unworthy of his 

 observation. 



