Methods of Surveying Vegetation. 23 1 
of squared paper, and each 100-foot square is mapped on a single 
leaf. The form of squared paper which we have found useful in this 
connection is ruled down to tenths of an inch, whilst every fifth 
line is slightly, and every tenth line strongly emphasized by deeper 
printing. A 5-inch square is ruled off in the book for the mapping of 
a 100-foot square, giving a scale of The physical features are 
put in first and then the boundaries of the different plant-associa¬ 
tions, those which are to be recognised having been previously 
agreed upon and designated by symbols. Any point within the square 
can be at once identified in the map by means of imaginary per¬ 
pendiculars dropped from known points on the sides, so that the 
surveyor, by standing at the point he wishes to mark, can get two 
assistants to fix his position by optical squaring from the side lines. 
In practice, by placing sticks at intervals of 20 feet along the side 
lines before he begins to map, the surveyor can soon judge his 
position in the square with sufficient accuracy, without resorting to 
the use of the optical square. After salient points are marked, the 
actual boundaries can be rapidly drawn by eye with considerable 
accuracy. Meanwhile detailed notes are made on the vegetation 
included in the square, and representative plants are collected,, 
labelled, and pressed. 
In this way a map of the whole area is constructed in sections 
on a scale of ant ^ can be dealt with as required. The fact that 
the data surveyed at once take shape as a map in the field is an 
attractive feature in the method of squares, since it eliminates the 
operation (necessary in the method of an ordinary chain-survey) of 
plotting field-book measurements at home. The automatic test of 
accuracy given by the fact that errors are at once evident to the eye 
in the ranging of the corner posts has already been mentioned 
and is another advantage. Finally the confusion which results in 
the taking of “off-sets” from ordinary survey lines where compli¬ 
cated features have to be mapped, is entirely avoided by this 
method of self-contained, but connected, units of area, 
To secure a uniform notation of the squares the left-hand 
bottom corner-post may conveniently give the designation to the 
square. That is to say, in the case of squares above the base line 
of the two corner-posts on the perpendicular which lies towards the 
zero-point of the base line, the one nearer the base line denominates 
the square ; in the case of squares below the base line it will be the 
one remote from the base line. In mapping, the denominating or 
index-post of the square should occupy the left-hand bottom corner 
