TOPOGRAPHICAL, ECOLOGICAL, AND TAXONOMIC NOTES. 317 



Mr. A. H. S. Lucas. It was also noted some distance 

 inland at Gosford State Nursery in a swampy patch, creep- 

 ing among the rank undergrowth. In this situation the 

 rhachis of the inflorescence, in common with the leaf- 

 stalks, has elongated in response to the influence of shade 

 and moisture. 



On the southern side of the lagoon entrance the dune 

 embankment rises abruptly to a height of 25-30 feet. On 

 the plateau at the northern end is a shallow depression, the 

 remnant of the usual valley, which has been levelled for 

 the greater part of its length by the deposit from a huge 

 wind-torn rent in the embankment further south. This 

 hollow harbours a shrubby vegetation, among which Myo- 

 porum insulare R. Br., a floriferous, halophytic plant with 

 succulent fruits, occupies a prominent position. This 

 species, which is closely confined to the coast, is replaced 

 a short distance inland at Brighton-le-Sands by its arboreal 

 congener, M. tenuifolium Forst. var. acuminatum Benth. 

 Elceodenclron australe Vent., also found in the depression 

 favours the coastal brush, and is only occasional on the dune. 



Southwards the embankment is disrupted to its base, the 

 cavity extending 100-200 yards along the front and a 

 similar distance inland. On the floor of this gap Festuca 

 Httoralis is in undisputed possession. Its colony, originat- 

 ing on the southern side of the breach under the lee of the 

 broken embankment, has spread over the greater part of 

 the denuded area, its tufts plentifully sprinkled upon the 

 bare territory into which no other species has yet ventured r 

 and working seawards to a point well below high water 

 mark. The Fescue has already raised a low uneven bank 

 in the centre of the excavation by the previously explained 

 process. The displaced sand deposited on the rearward 

 slopes has buried the smaller shrubs and undergrowth, a 

 few trees of Banksia integrifolia, and Casuarina glauea^ 



