1. A few chains of forest margin protected by the stream appear to have escaped fire in the Ngaawapurua enclave. From a stream margin of Aristotelia fruticosa and Dacrydium bidwillii a slope with an almost closed cover of Dracophyllum subulatum runs up to a hedge of Phyllocladus alpinus bordering Nothofagus cliffortioides forest. Elsewhere Danthonia tussock stops abruptly at the beech margin, which has a strong browse line about 6ft above the ground. Though fire has seldom run any distance into forest, small outlying clumps of beech have been destroyed, some quite recently. The general picture is of an advancing forest kept practically stationary by tussock burning. 2. The only silver beech-fescue margin examined lies near Rouiti Pa, just outside the Kaweka boundary. Evidence of fire was not seen, but the absence of a scrub margin suggests that it has been affected by fire at some time. 3. Both sides of the Mohaka Valley are occupied by manuka scrub with tongues of beech forest on the upper slopes; the pattern appears to be fire induced. At the upper end, particularly in the Mangapapa valley, areas of manuka of different ages trace the pattern of a series of comparatively recent fires the whole slope of Ahikaeaea (4,080ft) is partly bared, with a fringe of second-growth beech, apparently 30 to 40 years old, along the crest. Area 2. Central Kaweka The most interesting feature of the central area is the evidence in the upper forest of a decrease in deer population and changes in the vegetation over the past 25 years. The central Kaweka is a dissected plateau which lies between Te Pukuohikarua Range and the main Kaweka Range; it is in forest apart from a number of tops about the 4,600ft level. On the northern side several large valleys drain into the Mohaka, while the Ngaruroro faces are steeper and shorter. The upper forest is pure mountain beech; below 3,700ft red beech is dominant on the Mohaka slopes and in the Omarukokere valley on the Ngaruroro side, but this latter is on the boundary of the area south of which the distribution of red beech becomes sporadic. Mountain Beech Forest. At the present day the tops above the timber line are dominated by low subalpine scrub with traces of Danthonia rigida tussock. When the mountain beech forest was first observed in 1930, deer were abundant, track systems were exceptionally well defined and the forest interior was eaten out and clear of undergrowth. Dead standing Nothopanax was conspicuous throughout, but living Nothopanax arboreum, Griselinia littoralis, Coprosma foetidissima, C. pseudocuneata and Suttonia dwaricata were noted as being present. When the same route was traversed three years later the lack of traffic on the main routes and the new growth on browsed shrubs was commented on, but no detailed observations were made. A return in 1952, however, discovered a dense regeneration of beech, 6ft to 10ft high, together with abundance of Coprosma pseudocuneata as an under shrub. Nothopanax, Griselinia, and Coprosma foetidissima were now practically absent, though occasional plants could be found in places inaccessible to deer. Further observations made in 1954 showed the absence of beech regeneration between 20 and 40+ years old. Some Coprosma foetidissima and Nothopanax seedlings were seen. Although deer were not seen in the forest and their traces were infrequent, a few were sighted both in 1952 and 1954 on the open tops. Danthonia rigida, once common on these tops, is now rare and the vegetation is now a low alpine scrub dominated by Hebes—H. tetragona, H. buxifolia, and H. laevis—together with Dracophyllum recurvum, Cassinia vauvilliersii, Dacrydium bidwillii, and a wide variety of lower-growing plants. In spite of this preponderance of shrubs examination of the rumen of a deer shot here in December, 1952, showed a remarkably high proportion, fully 50 per cent., of grassy substances, together with recognizable