GENERAL ZOOLOGY. 5 



Tho dcnso and beautiful ve2;e tat Ion has been ably described by Mr. Charles 

 Moore,* and Mr. John Duff,t of the late Forest Branch, Department of 

 Mines. 



The latter says : — " There are probably few islands of similar size possessing; 

 so rich and varied a flora as Howe Island, handsome banyan and other trees, 

 shrubs, palms, pandanus, and dwarf ferns growing everywhere iu great 

 abundance and luxuriance." 



Touching the magnificent Banyan trees to be seen on Lord Howe, Mr. 

 Charles Moore remarks : — " The most remarkable plant, however, upon the 

 Island is a species of Ficics, and the only one of the genus found there. 

 Along the whole extent of the flat and richest ground, on the south-west side, 

 this noble tree grows in large numbers — very rarely in exposed situations — 

 but marks distinctly an inner zone of vegetation, being protected on eA^ery 

 side by belts of trees of various descriptions. It possesses to an extraor- 

 dinary degree the branch- rooting characteristics of the famous Banyan of 

 India, Fiais indica. From its high wide-spreading branches adventitious 

 roots are produced, which descend to the ground, then ra])idly enlarge and 

 become iu the course of time huge stems drawing nourishment from the earth 

 for the support and increase of the parent branch, which, as it extends, 

 produces similar root-stems, the tree by this means covering a very largo 

 space of ground. In some instances the original stem had perislied altogether, 

 the branches becoming separate trees, each with numerous root-stems, and 

 forming by the whole a beautiful amphitheatre of considerable dimensions." 



Again, Mr. Duff's observations are interesting : — " These old trees are 

 certainly the most remarkable and interesting features in the vegetation of 

 Howe Island, their large columnar roots descending from the horizontal 

 branches, often from a height of 50 to GO feet, and at distances of 4 to 

 6 feet apart, forming a series of supports to them, each root having the 

 appearance of being a separate tree. Some of the largest of these old trees 

 are reputed to cover an area of 2 to 3 acres." 



Mr. Moore further states that " every part of the island is covered with a 

 dense vegetation, the undergrowth beiiig kept comparatively clear by pigs 

 and goats, which are allowed to roam at large." At the present time the 

 aspect of the island is very different ; the domesticated goats have been 

 abolished by mutual consent on the part of the Islanders, and the pigs 

 penned up, whilst the wild goats and pigs are confined to the two extremities 

 of the Island. Now the scrub and brush is of the most copious description, 

 and renders travelling, except along the beaten tracks, both tedious and 

 difilcult. 



It may, perhaps, not be out of place to refer here to the palms growing on 

 the island. Both Mr. Moore and Mr. Duff have recorded four species. J Up 

 to an altitude of 400 feet the Thatch Palm (Kentia Forsferiana,) grows, but 

 it flourishes luxuriantly along the shore fiats, in the form of groves. The 

 Curly Palm (K. Bclmoreana), on the other hand, extends as high as 1,200 feet 

 on the sides of Mounts Ledgbird and Gower. The thii'd species, the 

 Umbrella Palm (A'^. Oanterhuriana), is first met with at about 1.000 feet § 

 and continues to the summit of the highest of the two mountains, Mount 

 Gower, at an elevation of 2,840 feet. The last and smallest of these handsome 



* Sketch of the vegetation of Lord Howe Island. Hill's Lord Hoive Idand, loc. ci(., 

 p. 17. 



t Report to the Hon. J. Bowie Wilson, Lord Howe L-ikmd, Report on Present State, 

 <£■(•. 18S2, loc. cit., p. 8. 



X Sketch of the Vegetation of Lord Howe Island, loc. cit., p. 19. 



§ These are the heights given by Mr. Duff, 



