XII, c, 4 Brown, Merrill and Yates: Volcano Island 181 
by Vidal ® to the small second-growth forests that are widespread 
in the Archipelago. For descriptions of successions on areas 
from which the virgin forest has been removed see Whitford 
and Brown and Matthews.® Parang is usually the result of 
human activity, but on Volcano Island volcanic eruptions may 
have been a contributing factor. 
Parang generally originates in the following manner: ’'VTien 
the original forests are removed and the land cultivated, but 
not intensively, grasses — particularly Saccharum spontaneum 
and Imperata exaltata, tree species, and weeds make their ap- 
pearance in large numbers. These are frequently removed by 
burning, which destroys practically everything except the under- 
ground stems of the grasses so that with repeated fires the 
grasses soon form a solid stand. As the tall, coarse grasses 
make very poor forage, grass areas are frequently burned to 
secure young shoots for grazing animals. Wantonly set fires 
are also frequent. On Volcano island the two latter classes of 
fires were probably more frequent than those set to clear the 
land for cultivation. All three classes of fires, of course, prod- 
uce the same effect. 
Where there are no fires, trees occur ; and the latter come into 
the grass when fires are absent for a short period. When the 
trees begin to form a dense stand, they are again cut down and 
the above processes are repeated. In this way large areas that 
are not intensively cultivated become covered with a mixture 
of trees and grasses. The trees are very different from those 
of the original forest. They are small, attain a height of about 
10 meters, grow rapidly, and are very intolerant of shade. The 
specific composition is very varied. 
In order to obtain an idea of the probable composition of the 
parang on the island before the last eruption we examined a 
long strip of the mainland on the western shore of the lake. 
The principal grass was Saccharum spontaneum (talahib). 
Where the soil was very shallow, the most prominent tree was 
Acacia farnesiana (aroma). On the hills the composition was 
very complex, but the most numerous tree species appeared to 
be Pithecolobium dulce (camanchile) , Eugenia jambolana (du- 
° Vidal, D. S., Catalogo Metodico de las Plantas Lenosas Silvestres y 
Cultivadas observadas en la Provincia de Manila (1880) 9, 10. 
'Whitford, H. N., Philip. Bur. Forestry Bull. 10 (1911). 
® Brown, W. H., and Matthews, D. M., Philippine dipterocarp forests, 
Philip. Journ. Sci. A 6 (1910) 413-561. 
