1922.] Bathgate. — -Changes in Fauna and Flora of Otago. 281 
where George Street bridge now crosses the stream, at Anderson’s Bay, 
Pelichet Bay, and towards Brighton. Cheilanthes tenuifolia was confined 
to the cliffs (since greatly cut away) on the southern side of the entrance 
to Anderson’s Bay. Hymenopliyllum Malingii was plentiful near the summit 
of Mount Cargill, where a little of it may still be found. H. pulcherrimum 
I found only in Morrison’s Creek, a tributary of the Leith, while 
H. aeruginosum (now called H. subtillissimum) occurred sparsely in a gully 
near Burke’s. Pellaea rotundifolia grew in one or two spots in the bush on 
the steep face between the road to the Northern Cemetery and the Botanical 
Gardens, also in the Leith Valley and near Tomahawk. The beautiful 
trailing lycopodium ( L. volubile) was not uncommon in the scrubby bush 
round Dunedin, but owing to its adaptability for purposes of church and 
ball-room decoration it has been completely eradicated in the immediate 
neighbourhood, though it still grows farther afield, as at Whare Flat and 
elsewhere. The sweet-scented clematis (C. foetida) flourished on the Cattle- 
market Reserve, now Montpelier, and parsonsia (P. heterophylla) was 
more abundant on the Belt than it is now. One plant of which the 
extinction would not be a matter for regret is the tree-nettle (Urtica ferox). 
The only place where I knew it to grow close to Dunedin was the shallow 
gully or hollow above what is known as the Second Beach at St. Clair. Tt 
is, I am informed, still abundant on the Portobello Peninsula. 
Away from the city the changes are many, and even more marked, 
especially in Central Otago, where excessive and ill-timed burning of the 
country and the spread of rabbits have changed the very appearance of 
the landscape. Originally it was well grassed, with a good deal of scattered 
scrub chiefly in the gullies. Now in many parts even the hardy tussock 
(Poa caespitosa ) has disappeared, leaving the earth bare, or perhaps occu¬ 
pied by the native scabweed ( Raoulia lutescens) or the introduced so-called 
star-thistle {Centaurea Calcitrapa). For example, the gorge between Clyde 
and Cromwell, now bare and barren looking, when I was familiar with it 
in 1868 had an abundance of tussock and other grasses, including one known 
locally as oat-grass ( Danthonia , species probably flavesceas), which grew 
plentifully among the rocks on the lower slopes, where Captain Cook cabbage 
(Brassica oleracea ) was also found in such quantity that I have known it to 
be gathered when young to be used as a vegetable. The change which has 
taken place can be realized by any one who knows the country now, by 
comparing the present condition of the Manuherikia Valley with the descrip¬ 
tion given in the reminiscences of Mr. Watson Shennan, who, when he first 
reached the valley, exclaimed to his brother, “ Here is the country we are 
looking for ; a land well grassed and watered, a very land of promise.” 
That promise has not been fulfilled as yet, for the flat ground on Galloway 
Station, which they then took up as a sheep-run, when I last saw it was 
almost devoid of vegetation except where a little irrigation had been done; 
but when the irrigation schemes now in progress are completed I have no 
doubt the promise will be more than fulfilled, but in a manner which 
Mr. Shennan probably never imagined. Besides the grass, a good deal of 
scrub grew there, for Mr. Shennan says, “ That night I camped on the 
banks of the Manuherikia River. It was an ideal camping-place, with 
plenty of green grass for the horses, scrub for fuel, and a river of 
the purest water to drink.” He further states that he explored the 
surrounding country as far as to where Clyde now stands, and he “ found 
the country all well grassed and watered, sufficient scrub for fuel for many 
years, but no bush or timber.” How different it is now any visitor to the 
