484 
PACIFIC SCIENCE, Vol. XX, October 1966 
The grass cover was sampled near each of 
the soil pits and on the steep side of the hill at 
transect 2. A series of 10 plots was cut along 
a line at right angles to the direction of the 
main transect or following the contour, the 
plots spaced three paces apart. In a few cases 
burnt areas made a deviation of the scheme 
necessary. A plot was delineated by a frame of 
28.3 X 70.7 cm, comprising an area of 0.2 m 2 
(Figs. 6 and 7). The grasses were cut at about 
1 cm above the ground, and the species were 
kept separately. Some plots seemed to contain 
also some material from earlier seasons. The 
samples were dried in sun and wind for several 
days, keeping them indoors at night, after which 
they were weighed. At this stage they could 
still have held up to 10% moisture, but this 
drying at least made the samples mutually 
comparable. In addition, in each plot records 
were made of the total cover of the tussock 
bases as left after cutting; the number and the 
diameter of the base of the tussocks per species ; 
the length of some of the longest culms; and 
the area covered by leaf litter, algae, grit and 
gravel, and stones. Moreover, a series of 10 
plots gave frequency figures for the species. 
The production per series, expressed as the 
average dry weight per sample plot of 0.2 m 2 , 
appeared to be very variable and the 95% con- 
fidence limits to the means showed that only 
the series with lowest production significantly 
differed from the four with highest production. 
Also, the figures for Theme da australis, the 
only species with consistently high frequency 
and showing a tendency to increasing produc- 
tion downslope, failed to show significant dif- 
ferences. 
Because of these nonsignificant differences, 
series have been combined in groups, according 
to the relative importance of the species in the 
composition of the sward (percentage of species 
in total dry weight of a series). Three series 
remained separate because of their strongly 
deviating composition ; the others were in- 
Fig. 6. A plot on the lower hill slope of site 1, containing three and a half tussocks of Sehima nervosum 
(in centre and at left) and one of Themeda australis (at right). 
