remains of Blechnum minor from the forest floor and such rare species as Griselinia and Coprosma foetidissima. The area is comparatively inaccessible and little visited; changes in deer population and in browsing pressure were obvious several years before the start of Government culling operations, and appear to have continued without appreciable interference up to the present. There is evidence here of large changes in deer population towards a balance with the environment. The abundance of kiwi probings in soft ground throughout the upper forest of this area is worthy of mention. Though the birds themselves have not been seen an abandoned nest has been found. Another abandoned nest in the Oamaru Valley suggests that kiwi are frequent in both areas 1 and 2. Historically the Tapapa Block was a noted kiwi-hunting area. Red Beech Forest. In strong contrast with the upper (mountain beech) zone there is now (1952, 1954) a considerable deer population in the lower (red beech) zone. Close browsing of trees of Nothopanax spp., freshly barked but dying or recently dead, indicates that this infestation has not been of long duration. The close contouring tracks and the behaviour of the animals suggest that mainly Japanese deer are present, but this opinion needs more expert confirmation. Overmature red beech forest with a discontinuous canopy and practically no evidence of regeneration is an unexplained feature of north-facing slopes of the Mangatainoka Valley. Kanuka. Several unusual pure kanuka (Leptospermum ericoides) stands occur in the Makino Valley and in the Mohaka Valley adjacent to it. These were first noticed on aerial photographs. One in the Mangaturutu tributary was examined and appears typical. On steep slopes of coarse rock fragments, tall kanuka, some 50ft high and of diameter about 12in abruptly replaces red beech. Much light reaches the floor, which carries a low xerophytic undergrowth, principally Leucopogon fasciculatus and Coprosma rhamnoides with some Carpodetus and Pseudowintera colorata.. The remains of one such kanuka stand suppressed by red beech occurs on a shady (south-eastern) face, but the other, with an exposed aspect, appears comparatively stable. There is no trace of a former beech cover and no evidence of beech seedlings advancing under the kanuka. The abrupt change to soil at the margins suggests that a series of rock falls is the cause of the formations, and the even age of the kanuka suggests a single cause, possibly an earthquake, opening several steep faces simultaneously. Riparian Silver Beech. Both down the Ngaruroro and in the tributaries of the Mohaka (the main valley being occupied by manuka scrub) silver beech occurs well below its usual range. The general pattern is of the dispersal of seed by water, but silver beech may occur as a component of red beech forest as much as 500ft above the waterway (e.g., in the Manson country) and as much as four miles up side valleys from the main river (e.g., in the Makino valley). On the boundary of Area 1 (Mangatainoka) it forms stands pure except for scattered podocarps. Elsewhere on the river margins it is associated with mountain beech, which usually dominates. On the Ngaruroro slope of the Manson country, silver beech makes up about 20% of the trees both on the margin and in the adjacent red-beech forest. Saplings and seedlings are plentiful. Scattered trees extend down both rivers into Area 3. Area 3. South-East Kaweka Practically the whole of this area, which includes the main crest of the range, has been affected by stocking and burning from the 1870's onwards, and as a result it is now a patchwork of induced communities which defy coherent description.