and shrubs much entangled with vines and creepers. Under these a more or less dense low brush grows and the broad leaved rock fern (a birds nest fern type) covers much of the ground especially in outcrop areas where it forms an almost complete 1 to 2 ft. high ground cover and makes walking amongst the potholes in the rock very difficult. This shallow less fertile area where rock outcrops occur carry a great number of stunted small leaved small fruited banyans which form much of the feeding areas for birds. Elsewhere in this dryer area where gardening operations are carried on a low scrub grows up to 10 and 15 ft. in height, mostly a species of quick growing hard wood and soft wood shrubs and even grass areas. When these areas are used for gardening they become exhausted in a single year and take a number of years, 10 at least to recover and consequently scrub is slow in returning to such areas. This being the case much of the area is in a stunted poorly scrubbed state. Much of these areas has been put under permanent coconut cultivation also. A sub area really belonging to the above area has been formed in the swamp areas by the wet cultivation of taru and by the permanent salt pan areas in the north and south, these pans being more or less the extensions of the tidal lagoon arms which are subject to periodical sea flooding. The pan areas grow a stunted and sparse tussocky type of rush and stunted casuarina trees 6 or 7 ft. in height mostly and very scattered, with one or two poor 2 ft. specimens of the hardier shrubs here and there with odd sinuous ropes of cane vine barely existing at wide inter- vals. Towards the ends of these areas a slightly more robust growth is found with a few pandanus palms at wide intervals. This slowly merges with the areas kept under taru cultivation.