( 67? ) 



A furtlicr sliidy oC panisiiic fimjui, es|)ec'ially of such as attack 

 Phaner(),i>'ani-seedlings, will probably atford a good explanation of some 

 apparently insoIid)le problems of [)lant distribution, especially where 

 other causes do not sufticientl}' account for the sudden absence of a 

 species under apjiarently favourable oecological conditions. 



Even in mounlain ivgions, where the original vegetation has been 

 completely destroyed by human interference, as for instance in central 

 Java on the Sendoro, where in 1891 miles of country were laid 

 waste by tire, extensive forests of Myrica javanica are formed by a 

 natural process in a relatively short time. When I visited the volcano 

 Sendoro in 1903, and therefore 12 years after the fire, the higher 

 slopes, which in 1891 had been burned down to the rock, were 

 covered with alpine bush, grown up naturally. These slopes, which 

 were situated above the plantations of the Forestry Department, have 

 been referred to in detail in a publication mentioned above. ^) The 

 woods extended for many thousands of acres, especially" on the more 

 humid S. W. side of the mountain, and in many places Myrica 

 jdvanicii was [)redominant to such an extent, that one might have 

 spoken of almost pure Myrica forests. According to information 

 obtained by me on the spot, there appeared in addition to Myrica 

 javanica, as first tree-like pioneer on many of the most completely 

 burned })laces, as soon as one year after the fire Albizzia montana 

 Benth, growing in groups in the midst of an extensive grass wilder- 

 ness. This latter species has also been found by me repeatedly 

 elsewhere, in the alpine regions of Java as one of the very first 

 pioneers of the forest on the burned-down slopes of volcanoes. 



Brief reference may here be made to some results of investigations, 

 which I have carried out in various parts of Java, Sumatra and N. E. 

 Celebes during many years, regarding the characteristics of the Phane- 

 rogam pioneers on volcano slopes after complete denudation by fire, and 

 on other lands in the interior of Java, Sumatra and Celebes, after a 

 similar loss of vegetation, due to other causes (e. g. deserted arable 

 lands). It would appear that, without reference to the height above 

 sea-level nor to the systematic position of the pioneers, the new 

 vegetation is characterised by the following properties, which are 

 related to the abo vemen tioned peculiar oecological conditions : 



1. Without exception the new plants are, by structure and distri- 

 inilion ;vrroi>hytcs, which remain alive under extraordinaril}' unfa- 

 \ourable conditions of water-supply and transpiration. 



') Compaie Koorders Spontaneous and artificial reforestation on the Sendoro 1. c 



