226 Tin Want of the C<iml>ri<f</,' /h'sfrt'rf 



areas. One of the most striking f these is tin- .u-ia- 



tion. This docs not occupy much -round, but there arc patches 

 scattered about, mostly round villages, so that it seems poibli! 

 that it is one of the expressions of former cultivation. Kndi-ria 

 oristota, Festuca anna and (laliiiin reruin arc the most promi- 

 nent species, with here and there a plant of S-ilene Otifc*. 



Tlie whole is generally kept short by rabbits. Where they 

 make their holes fad nut acre springs up to the exclusion of all 

 else save of a few annuals. But this will be referred to later 

 when the action of the rabbits is discussed. 



Round the edge Carex arenaria is found encroaching upon 

 these grass associations, so that it seems probable that they 

 are one of the last stages in the reversion to heath of origi- 

 nally cultivated land. 



Nor are intermediate stages wanting between this and 

 crops. 



In these the land still retains the original ridge and furrow 

 formation of ploughed land, the vegetation is scattered and 

 there is much bare sand. Some have been sown with - 

 and some have been left to revert naturally. In these last 

 before competition becomes keen Hernia ria ylahm is ex- 

 ceedingly common; in others Senecio Jacobaea occupies the 

 whole field, a mass of yellow, and were it not for the ravages 

 of the Cinnabar moth caterpillar it would spread over the 

 neighbouring county to the exclusion of all other vegetation. 

 The Senecio suffers so much that in bad seasons but few plants 

 ever set their seed ; leaves, flowers and even the softer portions 

 of the hard stems are eaten. Besides these remains of culti- 

 vation, there are other places where either the Carex or 

 Bracken fails, which are either quite bare or are covered with 

 a close crop of Cladonia. This lichen growth probably repre- 

 sents one of the stages in the reappearance of vegetation over 

 deserts made by rabbits. 



The rabbit affects the vegetation in two ways, firstly l>y 

 eating, which in the main is destructive, secondly by burrow- 

 ing, which is both destructive and reconstructive. 



