520 ALTERATION IN FLORA SINCE 



completely off it, it has been found possible to re-grass certain areas 

 and if this policy is persisted in, the country will be again redeemed 

 and vegetation will largely reassert itself. 



The Town Belt of Dunedin is an interesting tract of ground, 

 of limited extent, on which it has been possible to study the changes 

 in vegetation which have taken place during the last half century. 

 I have had it under close observation since 1871. The Belt is a strip 

 of land only a few chains wide which surrounds the city, and is of 

 very diversified character. Its total area is about 500 acres. In 1871 

 considerable changes from its primitive condition had already taken 

 place, for settlement began in 1848, the gold rushes to Otago began 

 after 1863, and the heavy bush was everywhere cut out, not only 

 outside the limits of the town, but even within the Belt itself. Most 

 of the timber that would burn had likewise been destroyed. But 

 there gradually sprang up a feeling that the Belt must in future be 

 preserved intact as much as possible, and it is now many years since 

 anything in the way of plants or timber has been carried out of the 

 area. It has also been strictly preserved from cattle, sheep, etc., and 

 the few rabbits which have occasionally managed to exist, have been 

 too few to do any damage. Thus it comes about that the changes 

 which have more recently taken place have been largely due to other 

 causes than fire and animals. One of these is no doubt the firming 

 of the ground in many parts by people moving about on it, the 

 opening up of the undergrowth and consequent drying of the surface, 

 and the consequent disappearance of the masses of symbiotic fungi 

 which are so characteristic of unbroken forest. Another cause has 

 been the great increase of introduced fruit-eating birds, which have 

 spread plants with succulent fruits very extensively. 



The following native species which were not uncommon in various 

 parts of the Belt in 1871, have not been found for some years past: 



Plagianthus divaricatus, Forst. Corysanthes macrantha, Hook. f. 



Elceocarpus dentatus, Vahl. Gastrodia Cunninghamii, Hook. f. 



,, Hookerianus, Raoul. Arthropodium candidum, Raoul. 



Pennantia corymbosa, Forst. Echinopogon ovatus, Beauv. 



Nertera setulosa, Hook. f. Poa imbecilla, Forst. 



Galium tenuicaule, A. Cunn. Hymenophyllum dilatatum, Swartz. 

 ,, umbrosum, Sol. ,, scabrum, A. Rich. 



Aspenda perpusilla, Hook. f. flabellatum, Lab. 



Senecio sciadophilus, Raoul. Tunbridgense, Smith. 



Microseris For s ten, Hook. f. unilateral, Willd. 



Teucridium parvifolium, Hook. f. multifidum, Swartz. 



Mentha Cunninghamii, Benth. ,, bivalve, Swartz. 



Korthalsella (Viscurn) Lindsayi, Engl. Trichomanes venosum, R. Br. 



Podocarpus ferrugineus , D. Don.(?) Asplenium flabellifolium, Cav. 



spicatus, R. Br. Todea hymenophylloides, A. Rich. 



Dacrydium cupressinum, Soland. Ophioglossum vulgatum, Linn. 



Bulbophyllum pygmeeum, Lindl. Botrychium ternatum, Swartz. 



Corysanthes rotundifolia, Hook. f. Tmesipteris tannensis, Bernh. 



