dacrydioides). Miro (P. ferrugineus) is infrequent. Maire (Olea lanceolata) occurs in association with podocarp forest, and there is even one record of the lowland-forest liane Rhipogonum. Beech Forest. In the smaller islands of forest, mountain beech is generally dommant though well below its usual altitudinal range, but some red beech is frequently present. In the large forest areas there is a well developed red-beech zone. There is a tendency for forest to extend into the surrounding manuka scrub, which tendency is particularly marked on the McIntosh Plateau, where scattered saplings, mainly of red beech and totara, appear above the scrub over a wide area. The isolation of the plateau probably accounts for this, as it has escaped the scrub fires which have repeatedly swept the Blowhard, though there also the tendency for beech to advance into scrub has been observed. Scrub Land. The dominant vegetation is manuka scrub, gnarled and stunted in exposed positions, tall and dense in shelter, growing on several feet of pumice soil which has been blown or washed out into frequent scars on which little or no vegetation has become established. These scars appear to have developed as a result of grazing and burning and to be still extending, to judge from the rate of exposure of roots and the undercutting of adjacent hummocks. A considerable proportion of kanuka (Leptospermum ericoides) which may be as high as 50 per cent. is of significance in view of its resistence to manuka blight, which has recently (1956) been identified in the area. A 1946 fire made a clean burn over a considerable proportion of the Blowhard. This was followed by the dominance of bracken fern, even where it had been suppressed by manuka, and ten years later fern still tends to dominate, though manuka is coming through it. Quadrats have been established both in this 1946 fern and in the adjacent manuka scrub, to study the stages of reversion in the immediate future and probably the effect of manuka blight at a later date. Where manuka scrub is established and not too dense there is a considerable undergrowth, with Oleria furfuracea and a number of heaths prominent. The Olearia appears to be able to dominate manuka on shady faces but to remain stunted in exposed situations. Tussock. Though tussock is not mentioned in early accounts, there is a certain amount of Danthonia rigida and Festuca novae-zelandiae, and a little Poa caespitosa scattered over the area today, and they were probably a more important element in the 1870's and 1880's, when large numbers of sheep were grazed on the Blowhard, Black Birch, and McIntosh. At the present day two areas of Danthonia rigida tussock exist, one of a few acres in a hollow on the Blowhard, the other a much larger natural clearing in beech forest (Littles Clearing) on the flat summit of the Black Birch Range. Only half the clearing is in tussock; the lower half, which 33 years ago was a spectacular Celmisia meadow, is now dominated by manuka scrub. These appear to be successions following burning, and succeeded each other in a comparatively brief period. River-bank Communities Ngaruroro-Taruarau Confluence. A strikingly distinct lowland community occurs in a restricted area of river terrace and cliff at the Ngaruroro-Taruarau confluence, altitude 860ft. On the terraces Myoporum laetum is dominant, with Alectryon excelsum and Leptospermum ericoides common. Lianes are abundant, mainly Tetrapathaea tetrandra, with Mühlenbeckia australis and Parsonsia heterophylla present also, and there is a close but somewhat xerophytic undergrowth consisting of Coprosma rigida, Teucridium parviflorum, Urtica ferox and some Rubus squarrosus. Clematis afoliata occurs in the vicinity though it has not been recorded in this particular community.