Lord Howe Isla7td. 
225 
minations. This report is so rare that I think I shall be 
doing a good service by giving almost in full the paragraphs 
relating to the vegetation. 
e 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. These crop off 
the lower branches of the trees, and in too many instances, it 
is feared, have destroyed the smaller kinds of plants altogether. 
The absence of undergrowth, and the very remarkable scarcity 
of Ferns and Orchids, in the lowest and richest parts of the 
island, would indicate a dryness of climate which is not the 
case, as a drought of any great continuance is seldom or 
never experienced here, rain being said to be frequent and 
abundant at all seasons. While the want of undergrowth 
may be accounted for by the action of pigs and goats, yet 
the rarity of the classes of plants referred to cannot be so 
readily explained. Thus, in the rich low flats, extending 
upwards of three miles, where the trees are thickest and most 
lofty, only one Orchid — Dendrobium gracilicaule , F. Muell. — 
and five or six Ferns were all that were observed, and these 
sparingly. At the end of this flat ground towards the east, 
in gullies near the base of the mountains, and up to their very 
summit, Ferns increase in numbers, both as regards genera 
and species. The presence among these of Trichomanes and 
Hymenophyllum would dissipate the notion of a very dry 
atmosphere, and prove at least a greater abundance of 
moisture in proximity to the mountains than occurs elsewhere. 
A second and taller species of Dendrobium was gathered 
at a rather high elevation. This, with the former, and a 
species of Sarcochilus , found sparingly upon trees growing 
on the hilly sides, at the other end of the island, were the 
only representatives of the family of Orchideae noticed. 
One of the most remarkable features of the vegetation is 
the prevalence of Palms, of which there are four species, all 
of which appear to be as yet undescribed. Two of these, 
called by the settlers respectively, “ Thatch Palm ” and “ Curly- 
leaved Palm” [Howe a], and both sometimes * c Cabbage-Palms,” 
