Easy and quick analytical techniques of X-ray fluorescence spectrometry for carbonate rocks were investigated. The analyzed elements are SiO₂, TiO₂, Al₂O₃, total Fe₂O₃, MnO, MgO, CaO, Na₂O, K₂O, P₂O₅, Sc, V, Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Rb, Sr, Y, Zr, Nb, Ba, La, Ce, Nd and Pb. These elements were determined on a single glass bead made of a mixture of 1.2 g of sample powder without prior calcination, 6 g of Li₂B₄O₇ flux and about 35 mg of LiI releasing agent. Synthetic standard samples for calibration of a spectrometer were prepared from pure chemical reagents and were fused to glass beads likewise. Although loss on ignition during the fusion resulted in deviation of the flux/sample ratio of these glass beads, reliable calibration lines were obtained by theoretical corrections for matrix effects, flux/sample ratio and spectral line-overlap based on a fundamental parameter approach. Analytical results of GSJ geochemical reference samples were in good agreement with the recommended values and showed sufficient precision and sensitivity.

The type specimens of Thecla caelestis Leech, 1890 and Zephyrus melli Forster, 1940 are examined and figured. The lectotype of Thecla caelestis Leech, 1890 is designated.

Characteristics of the deteriorated spaces, which were defined as the spaces that the degree of naturalness in vegetation was decreased from 1983 to 1996 at the urban green spaces, were evaluated from some indices such as their area, elevation, slope degree, naturalness, and so on by using the frequency distribution in Kitakyushu City. Most of the spaces were characterized by the woodlands, smaller than 5 ha in area, lower than 200 m in altitude and smaller than 3° in slope degree, abutted on the urban green spaces of smaller than 600 ha in area. The ranks of naturalness, which were defined by the degree of naturalness in vegetation, were predicted by the single regression for choosing one of their indices that showed the highest correlation coefficient as the predictor variable. The map indicating the probability of the urban green spaces in the future were drawn by overlapping the ranks of naturalness and two kinds of spaces specified by the City Planning Law (the Urbanization Promotion Area or the Urbanization Control Area). The quantitative indicator for managing the urban green spaces in the city was showed by the map.

All stems taller than 2 m were investigated in eight isolated secondary evergreen broad-leaved forests in urban Kitakyushu City. Some community parameters, such as total basal area and density of stems, were similar among plots. Castanopsis-type forests and Lauraceae-type forests were classified by the physiognomy of the plots. Cluster analysis based on total basal area of each species belonging to each layer (canopy and understorey) also showed that the similarities among plots were very small except for three plots which had relatively similar distance values, although the results for the classification did not correspond with those classified by physiognomy. Some important components in old-growth evergreen broad-leaved forests, such as Camellia japonica and Cleyera japonica, are hardly able to maintain their populations in the study area. Lack of these species might not be attributed to fragmentation of the forests but to the past human disturbance regime in the area. The effect of fragmentation to species diversity for trees taller than 2 m in height was not clear in the urban area studied.