GENERAL ZOOLOGY. 5 



The dense and beautiful vegetation has been ably described by Mr. Charles 

 Moore,* and Mr. John Duff,f °f ^he late Forest Branch, Department of 

 Mines. 



The latter says : — " There are probably few islands of similar size possessing 

 so rich and varied a flora as Howe Island, handsome banyan and other trees, 

 shrubs, palms, pandanus, and dwarf ferns growing everywhere in great 

 abundance and luxuriance." 



Touching the magnificent Banyan trees to be seen on Lord Howe, Mr. 

 Charles Moore remarks : — " The most remarkable plant, however, upon the 

 Island is a species of Ficus, and the only one of the genus found there. 

 Along the whole extent of the flat and richest ground, on the south-west side, 

 this noble tree grows in large numbers — very rarely in exposed situations — 

 but marks distinctly an inner zone of vegetation, being protected on every 

 side by belts of trees of various descriptions. It possesses to an extraor- 

 dinary degree the branch- rooting characteristics of the famous Banyan of 

 India, Ficus indica. From its high wide-spreading branches adventitious 

 roots are produced, which descend to the ground, then rapidly enlarge and 

 become in the course of time huge stems drawing nourishment from the earth 

 for the support and increase of the parent branch, which, as it extends, 

 produces similar root-stems, the tree by this means covering a very large 

 space of ground. In some instances the original stem had perished altogether, 

 the branches becoming separate trees, each with numerous root-stems, and 

 forming by the whole a beautiful amphitheatre of considerable dimensions." 



Again, Mr. Duff's observations are interesting : — " These old trees are 

 certainly the most remarkable and interesting features in the vegetation of 

 Howe Island, their large columnar roots descending from the horizontal 

 branches, often from a height of 50 to 60 feet, and at distances of 4 to 

 6 feet apart, forming a series of supports to them, each root having the 

 appearance of being a separate tree. Some of the largest of these old trees 

 are reputed to cover an area of 2 to 3 acres." 



Mr. Moore further states that " every part of the island is covered with a 

 dense vegetation, the undergrowth being kept comparatively clear by pigs 

 and goats, which are allowed to roam at large." At the present time the 

 aspect of the island is very different ; the domesticated goats have been 

 abolished by mutual consent on the part of the Islanders, and the pigs 

 penned up, whilst the wild goats and pigs are confined to the two extremities 

 of the Island. Now the scrub and brush is of the most copious description, 

 and renders travelling, except along the beaten tracks, both tedious and 

 difficult. 



It may, perhaps, not be out of place to refer here to the palms growing on 

 the island. Both Mr. Moore and Mr. Duff have recorded four species. % Up 

 to an altitude of 400 feet the Thatch Palm (Xentia Forstwiana,) grows, but 

 it flourishes luxuriantly along the shore flats, in the form of groves. The 

 Curly Palm (X. Belmoreana), on the other hand, extends as high as 1,200 feet 

 on the sides of Mounts Ledgbird and Grower. The third species, the 

 Umbrella Palm (X. Canterburiana) , is first met with at about 1,000 feet § 

 and continues to the summit of the highest of the two mountains, Mount 

 G-ower, at an elevation of 2,840 feet. The last and smallest of these handsome 



* Sketch of the vegetation of Lord Howe Island. Hill's Lord Howe Island, loc. cit. x 

 p. 17. 



t Report to the Hon. J. Bowie Wilson, Lord Howe Island, Report on Present Statei 

 &c. 1882, loc. cit., p. 8. 



X Sketch of the Vegetation of Lord Howe Island, loc. cit., p. 19. 



§ These are the heights given by Mr. Duff. 



