(3) (4) Sand-dunes and Coastal Rocks.

There are scarcely any sand-dunes on the peninsula, except those at Sumner, and only small areas of sandy beaches; consequently there are few sand-plants to be noted. So far as I know, Spinifex and Pimelea arenaria, are quite wanting; and Scirpus frondosus, Convolvulus Soldanella, Euphorbia glauca, Carex pumila, and other sand-plants by no means common. On the coastal rocks Mesembryanthemum australe is abundant, with Tetragonia expansa and T. trigyna, often trailing downward for many feet. Rhagodia nutans occurs less commonly, and more rarely still Lobelia anceps and Lepidium oleraceum. Vittadinia australis and Tillaea Sieberiana are abundant here and inland; but I have seen Tillaea moschata in only one place. On the wetter rocks Samolus repens and Selliera radicans reappear, often with the fern usually called Asplenium obtusatum, a species which requires further study.

The drier coastal rocks and the adjacent clay banks, as has been pointed out to me by Professor Wall, are the home of certain species of rarer ferns, and produce a little plant association which is as uncommon as it is interesting. In addition to Asplenium obtusatum and A. lucidum the following ferns, though found elsewhere, particularly haunt such situations: Cheilanthes Sieberi, Nothoclaena distans, Polystichum Richardi, Polypodium (Cyclophorus) serpens, and Adiantum affine. The last-mentioned has, of course, been much destroyed by picknickers and pleasure-seekers, and I know only one or two spots at the edge of Lyttelton Harbour where it may be now obtained, though it is common in the less frequented bays of the peninsula.

Professor Wall writes thus to me: “There is a very peculiar and special feature of the bluffs and steep slopes surrounding Lyttelton Harbour, which deserves mention. A hard, barren rim of baked clay occurs between the tussock land above and the rock below, in which grow Cheilanthes Sieberi and Nothoclaena distans. Potts^† describes the formation very exactly, calling the material ‘cob.’ In many places this rim is now invaded and overshadowed by other vegetation, but the primitive state is still to be seen