August 21, .1964 Palumbo: (cont.) “Land plants were collected by soils men, but did have a chance to look over and photograph the vegetation. The island looked undisturbed. seen, most with good growth. feet tall Eight species of plants were The tallest trees were about 15 (Messerschmidia and Pisonia), chewed by insects. the latter often with leaves Scaevola is abundant as is Lepturus. seen were Triumfetta, Guettarda and Ipomoea tuba. Fleurya, Others One stand of an annual, was seen in a Scaevola thicket. The lagoon algae consisted of infrequent clumps of Halimeda attached to the almost bare dead coral in the region of heavy surf. A few plants of Udotea and Caulerpa were noted. one of the most barren areas seen to date. This is The new coral growth seemed to be excellent, with the massive encrusting coral being dominant. On the seaward flats, near shore, most common being Codium and Halimeda; less frequent, 9 species were noted, the others were definitely and usually mixed with the dominant species. species of coral were seen in this area, Many and probably will con- tinue to increase in numbers of individual colonies, of them appear to be actively growing. " the since most