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The Kohuroa Heath. '■ This is a fern-clad hill surrounded by forest. Small, fastigiate manuka, 3 ft. or more tall, ises for about 20 in. above a dense undergrowth, the plants all touching one another and making i close mass, which has the following composition : Cleichenia circinata is abundant, its fronds horizontal and the segments arching upwards, yellow-green in colour and flecked with broxvn, the wiry fronds all entangled together. Above this arches the bracken, which is usually not so tall as the manuka. Standing up for more than 2 ft. abox-e the Gleichenia at intervals of 6ft. or more are the erect, sparsely or moderately branched plants of Weinmannia sylvicola. the leaves almost yellow, horizontal and semi-horizontal, pinnate, xvith four or five segments, and having dark, purplish-brown, brittle stems about i in. in diameter. These contrast most strikingly xvith the dull-green, or at times reddish, small-leaved Leptospermum and the dark-green bracken. About the height of the Gleichenia, or a little more, are large quantities of the erect, yellow-green, conifer-looking Lycopodium densum, with its much divided branches given off abundantly from the main axis. Forming part of the undergroxvth is a good deal of the small form of Blechnum capense, it also of a yellowish-green hue. In some places, rising even 3 ft. or more above the manuka or rather taller than the Weinmannia, are fastigiate bushes of darkish-green DracophyUum Urvillcanum, the almost black, and stiff, slender, main stems, and wiry, twiggy, semi - erect branches, contrasting with the nearlj vertical green leaves and their dark-purple apices. Darkgreen, smooth, terete steins of Schcenus brevifolius emerge from the general mass. In places, and covered with its pure-white blooms, is Epacris pauciflora, the dull-green and reddish small leaves, which at times are quite reddish-purple, and its xvhite flowers, giving a special character to the scene. Here and there is an upright tussock of Dianella intermedia, or a spreading one of brightgreen Gahnia Gaudichaudii, or a pale yelloxv-green shrub of Styphelia fasciculata, while at the margin of the forest Cordyline Banksii. raised on a slender trunk from 3 ft. to 6 ft. tall, is common." The Heath on Summit of Omaia Hill. ■■ This was probably originally low forest, with manuka dominant, just as noxv exists on its borders and stretches for a considerable distance to the west. The heath itself shows various stages of burning, and, where water can lie, changes its character altogether and becomes a sphagnum bog. The original formation, or, at tiny rate, the first growth after one burning near the margin of the finest, consists of (lull-green Leptospermum scoparium 10ft. tall, the plants very slender and only a few inches apart, mixed with Epacris pauciflora. erect, 5 ft. tall, and of a shining bright-green or reddish colour; bracken (Pteridium esculentum) of equal height; young yellow-leaved Quintinia serrata; the yellow-green, slender umbrella fern, Gleichenia dicarpa, its fronds climbing up through the close undergroxvth; dull-green Lycopodium densum; Blechnum capense; erect Draco ph yll v m C reditu uum ; a little II einmannia sylvicola, conspicuous through its yellow leaves: and some long-stemmed Nothopanax arboreum,. Here and there are tussocks of the pale-green Astelia trinerve. "Where the heath has been burnt several times and is exposed to sun ami wind, bracken, knee-deep, is dominant. The soil in places shows through this covering, and it is dotted about with young DracophyUum Urvillcanum, young Epacris pauciflora, and young manuka. Through the whole fair-sized tussocks of Astelia trinervia are scattered about at rather irregular intervals of from 3 ft. to 9ft. apart, forming tufts of pale green, 2!) in. tall and 43 in., more or less, in diameter. The Astelia is frequently red or reddisli-piirple near the extremities of the leaves, or these may be bright reddish-purple over the whole surface. There is also an occasional pale yellow-green Weinmannia sylvicola, the height of the bracken : and there are some clumps of Dianella intermedia, with yellowish-green arching leaves: small plants, a few inches tall, of the brownish-leaved Gaultheria antipoda and the erect-growing DracophyUum UrviUeanum, its long, narrow, pointed leaves held vertically and more or less stained witli red. " In another part of the heath the umbrella fern, here not climbing but forming a close mass, its horizontal leaves interlacing and pale-gieen in colour, replaces the bracken. Tussocks of the sedge Schcenus tendo are common. Where the ground becomes boggy the Gleichenia is still dominant: there are hummocks of sphagnum, and the small club moss Lycopodium latcralc forms a mat." On the east of Puketurahu and close to the forest is a possibly virgin piece of heath formation growing on a steep slope. The tall bushes of juvenile Weinmannia, their yellowish leaves giving them a striking appearance, arc everywhere, and between them DracophyUum, Epacris, bracken, Dianella, Styphelia fasciculata, Lycopodium densum, Caultheria antipoda, I'imelea laevigata, Pomaderris phylicosfolia, the two rush-like species of Schcenus, and numerous green dumps of the Hat-leaved and -stemmed Lipidosperma lateral, . " On the edge of the forest are Persoonia torn, Coprosma robusta, Senecio Kirkii, Olea Cunninghamii, Rapanea I'rvillvi, small totara, Dysoxylum. Knightia, Litsea cidicaris, and Cordyline Banksii, here with a tall and slender trunk. (Photo IS.) ■■ Between the eastern boundary of the Forest Reserve and the sea the low hills, intersected with many gullies, large and small, are covered everywhere with a dull-coloured mantle of the northern heath, ami, although beyond the limits of the forest, a few words as to the vegetation of this area seem necessary. The formation keeps a more or less uniform character, and is made up of all the heath-plants previously noted, together with others, some of which, such as EpUobium juiiceum. Lycopodium volubile, L. cernuum, Dauthonia svmiann ularis. Geranium microph yll ii m. Drosera auricu/ata, II ydjocot yle asiatica, Lindsaya linearis, Coriaria ruscifolia, and Pelargonium aus/rale, occur also within the forest-area. The presence or absence of certain plants also, to a greater or lesser degree, changes its physiognomy, for instance. Pomaderris Edgerleyi a not everywhere, but increases in quantity as the coast is neared, as also does the parasite Cat-