Ernhiiiical Boliiii.//.] 



SUBANTARCTIC ISLANDS OF NEW ZEALAND. 



233 



latter nn'. ;i,l)iiiidoned, and new ground is ready for plant-colonisation. This is 

 evidently a tVirly rapid process. The first plant to settle down on the wet and 

 heavily manured ground, with its guano, feathers, and rotted birds and eggs, is the 

 succulent-leaved Crassuki moschata* which soon may form great patches 3 m. or 4 m. 

 across. Where the ground is wet and strongly manured this plant grows with an 

 astonishing luxuriance. Occasionally there may be a cushion or two of the coastal - 

 rock plant Colobavtiiu.s niu.scui(l('s.-[ Then, as the manure liecomcs less powerful. 



Tussock Tiieadfjw in frout. (Ilrmi'i Lijttllii forest lu l)ark«^rouu(l. 



the grass Pun foliosa gains a footing, and in coui'se of time there is once more a 

 meadow. 



If the enormous number of penguins be taken intcj consideitition, there can be 

 little doubt that through their agency the plant-covering of the Snares has been 



* Normally a halophyte. 



t This is an excellent example of a plant apparently limited (o and specially adapted for an 

 abnormal station being able to establish itself mider absolutely different circumstances, which, also ab 

 normal, and severe in a quite different direction, at first forbid the presence of other plants, but which 

 latter, arriving as the conditions become normal, quickly oust the plant in question, not because its 

 life-form is unsuitable, but because the new-comers are more in harmony with the environment, and 

 yet have not nearly the capability for enduring extremes as the plant which they replace. 



