VIII. Survey of the Vertical Regions of the Vegetation. 



Any attempt to classify the veg-etatidn of the island into natural vertical regions will meet with 

 several considerable difficulties. 



The greatest difficulty is due to the fact that the vegetation to a great extent no longer occurs 

 in its natural condition. Many height-limits, which must be assumed anciently to have been better defined 

 than now, have been wholly or partly effaced through the cultivation of the island, the devastation of the 

 forests and not least because of the unrestricted pasturing of sheep and goats, continued during thousands 

 of years. The striking change in the vegetation which may be caused by pasturing goats, is especially 

 known from St. Helena, and also from most of the Mediterranean countries examples exist of the great 

 degree to which these animals may disturb the natural vegetation. On Cyprus the situation is so alarming, 

 particularly with regard to the future of the forests, that the Government in the latter years has been 

 under the necessity of seriously considering the matter, and in 1912 a bill was submitted "to provide 

 for the gradual exclusion of goats from the island".') In 1911 the number of goats on Cyprus was no 

 less than 252 122 — besides 259 614 sheep — , and according to the experience of the foresters the 

 malodorous Anagyris foetida is the only native plant, which the goats refuse to eat. ^) 



The first attempt of classifying in vertical regions the vegetation of Cyprus we owe to the French 

 geologist A. Gaddry, who in 1853 undertook a journey on the island. In the report of his voyage he 

 states that from a mere botanical point of view it would be natural to set up 2 height-regions only: 



1. "Les parties basses et les petites hauteurs" and 



2. "Les grandes montagnes". 



It is not mentioned on which level he thinks to draw the line between these regions. As, how- 

 ever, his work principally intends to deal with the vegetation of the island from an agricultural point 

 of view, Gaudry states that he prefers the following more detailed classification: 



1. "Zone des parties bas.ses", 



2. "Zone intermédiaire entre les plaines et les montagnes", 



3. "Zone des petites hauteurs", 



4. "Zone des hauteurs moyennes", and 



5. "Zone des pins on des montagnes les plus élevées." 



However, nor for these zones absolute height-limits are indicated.^) 



The German botanist E. Hartmann has in 1905 suggested the following classification: 



1. "Kustebene und Vorberge bis zu einer Seehohe von 500 m.", 



2. "Obere Zone des Kalkgebirges bis 800 m.". 



') H. C. LnKACH aud D. .7. Jardine, The Haudbook of Cyprus. Seventh issue, p. 175. Loudon 1913. 

 ^) D. E. HuTCHiNs, Report on Cyprus Forestry, p. 27. London 1909, 

 ') Gaudry, Recherches scientitii|ue3 en Orient, pp. 122 and 18ti. 



