Be 
lated, closely fill the gaps between the tree-trunks. Rope-like liane-stems de- 
pend from the forest-roof swinging in the air, or lie sprawling upon the 
‚stacles, or by the close-growing shrubs or Kar branch; 
: er of BR in er süff a 
Forest. 127 
northern ori&in. Nor does the southern total represent the true condition of affairs 
for 28 species are confined to the North-western and North-eastern districts. 
The species decrease in number with increase of altitude, though others 
enter in which are wanting at a lower lovel. A montane northern forest differs 
considerably from that of the adjacent lowland and has a more southern facies. 
The lowland forests are rarely pure, so far as the taller trees are concerned, 
but there is a mixture of many species. The edaphic association where Podo- 
carpus dacrydıioides is the sole tall tree forms a striking exception. 
b. Characteristics of the mixed rain-forest. 
The mixed rain-forest associations possess so many features in common 
that, in order to avoid repetition, the following details are submitted. 
The trees, shrubs and ferns, with a few trifling exceptions, are evergreen. 
Excepting in the Kauri forest, taxads dominate, so far as the tallest trees are 
concerned. As viewed from without, the evergreen character of the trees, 
and the general absence of bright greens, gives, when seen from a distance 
a sombre aspect to the forest, while the density of their growth altogether 
masks the height of the trees. But a closer view reveals the varied greens 
and it is not difhicult, in some instances, to recognize certain species from their 
colour alone, especially in low, even forests of dry ground. An outside view, 
too, reveals but little of the tropical character of the forest. A few tree-ferns 
may raise their crowns of spreading, feathery leaves above the greenery, or, 
in the N. or C., a nikau palm (Rhopalostylis sapida) peep forth, but that is 
al. But push IKröugh the belt of shrubs, or low trees, that may fringe its 
outskirts, and the vision within will be novel enough to one acquainted only 
with the temperate forests of the northern hemisphere. 
Massive trunks, unbranched for many metres, meet the eye, some covered 
so.thickly with lianes and epiphytes, many of which are ferns and bryophytes, 
that their bark is invisible. Open spaces are few, or wanting. Young trees, 
shrubs of many kinds and tree-ferns 5—ıo m high, growing in clumps or iso- 
ground. The bases of the trees are not infrequently swollen and irregular, 
while their roots spread far and wide over the surface, at times half-buried, 
Or, here and there, arching into the air, and covered with seedling trees and 
hrahe: ferns of goodly size, mantles of mosses and liverworts, lichens and 
sheets of pellucid Zymenophyllaceae. Fallen trees, in various stages of decay, 5 
lie everywhere, and these too, hidden by a garb of water-holding greenery 
are the home of seedlings innumerable. The actual forest-floor is most uneven; 
rotting logs, fallen branches, raised roots, ferns frequently with short. trunks 
and bryophyte- or Hymenophyllum-covered mounds of humus make walking 
laborious. Progress is considerably retarded, too, not merely by the above, ob 
